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Via Nature blogs, I came to know about this challenge jointly being promoted by the Government Department of Science & Technology and P&G – and what is it, but another goodie for us brown-skinned masses – a “better” skin whitening product.
The issue is not about whether companies should manufacture fairness products. Personally, I believe that they are totally unnecessary, but I’m not sure if they promote a craze for white skin or capitalise on an existing prejudice. In any case, I’m not for banning products unless they are physically harmful – beyond that, in a free market economy, it is up to users to banish poor products by not opening their wallets.
The issue is whether a government owned department, which runs on our tax money – should be spending any money at all to help develop a product that privileges one skin type over another. While the market may have its own verdict on fairness creams, certainly the government should not be using our monies to endorse them.
The issue is not, unlike what the current DST secretary contends, about “how much” money is going into the project; if the aim of the DST is to promote scientific research and education in India, I fail to see how development of a fairness cream fits into that – so any money is too much. Yes, the individual researchers(s) working on it may learn something, but does it have any potential for larger application?
The fundamental definition of a public-private partnership is that both come together to build something that benefits the private party (usually in the form of revenue) and the public (in the form of a common resource/skill/ asset).
While it is clear enough how the company would benefit, it looks like we, the public, can look forward to the dubious benefit of yet another “new and improved” fairness cream.
Founder & Chief Editor of Women's Web, Aparna believes in the power of ideas and conversations to create change. She has been writing since she was ten. In another life, she used to be read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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