On my wishlist

THE  New Year gives us the blank space to fill it up with hope and aspirations after 2015 saw the rise of the intolerant Indian in more ways than one. When we asked people across the board to give us their wishlist, it was a diverse spectrum that unfolded. If a writer wanted more compassion for the creative community and 33 per cent reservation in Parliament for women, she also wanted India to be internationally involved in peace efforts. Fed up with the turmoil of last year, most Indians, understandably, want harmony and progress for their homeland. An artist’s wishlist for 2016 includes the amalgamation of traditional art forms with the contemporary, while a sportsperson aspires for more medals in India’s kitty at the Rio games and more prominence to sports as a discipline. And an entrepreneur bats for a more openminded society to fuel progress. The overall mandate was for peace, tolerance and a stronger, social, economic and the political structure at home and visibility abroad. Time to usher in the New Year is time to at least dream of being a changemaker. We are all are entitled to that.

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A centrestage for women

Noor Zaheer is a writer, researcher and specialist of personal law

Top on my wish list is 33 per cent reservation in Parliament for women. With the BJP in complete majority in Lok Sabha, there should be no problem in passing the Bill. Women have proved their worth at the Panchayat level, where reservation brought women into governance. They have showed innovation and honesty in handling the resources, village community and sensitizing the community. There is no reason that they would not do the same at Centre and state level.

As a writer, I wish the Indian community to show some compassion for the writers, film makers and scientists who have returned their awards as a means of protest. These awards have been earned with perseverance and hard work. It must have been painful to part with something one cherished and believed that it was an honour bestowed by a loving nation. There is no other form of protest possible from people who use the non-violent method of writing to register their emotions about events.

As an Indian Muslim woman who has grown in a secular society, I wish India to openly support of the Kurd women fighters and be louder in condemning ISIS. I wish we could help in supplies to these brave women who have picked up arms to defend humanity. I wish India would participate actively in the peace process all over the world because we can show the world that so many religions, ideologies and philosophies can not only exist together, they can engage in dialogue and exchange and in the process enrich each other. With so many smart cities on anvil, I wish there would also be a few smart villages to show that development can have a rural face and both can exist together.

An active year for Indians

Saina Nehwal was the first Indian to attain No. 1 ranking in the world. At present she is on the second spot. She is the first Indian to win an Olympic medal in badminton

2016 is an Olympic year and I would like India to make its presence felt on the world stage in the most emphatic manner. We have been doing great feats in varied sports for quite some time now and it is high time we explore our full potential and show the world what we can do. It is so heartening to notice that there is an abundance of budding talent all around which is raring to go and achieve great height.

Be it badminton, hockey, shooting, kabbadi or wrestling, I wish in the coming year we get to see and celebrate a lot more new sports stars who will make us proud on the Olympic stage in Rio. I wish and hope India gets many medals, including gold medals, in Rio. A gold medal in badminton would certainly be a cherry atop the cake.

I would love to see even more emphasis being given to sports as part of the school curriculum. Catch all of them young should be our motto not only for this year but in general too. The media has done a fabulous job about creating awareness about the importance of sports and I wish we carry on with the good work in 2016. Let’s make India a sports country. We have been making huge strides in other fields in the past year and the world looks at us with expectations. I wish we attain our full potential in all our endeavours as well.

On a more personal front, I would like myself to be injury-free this year and win everything on offer at Rio. I wish all a very active New Year 2016.  (As told to Amit Kumar)

A stronger social, economic and political structure

Manjot Kaur is a cross disciplinary artist from Patiala has won many awards including the Indian annual art exhibition, Chandigarh

I wish in this year we Indians should come together as one strong, social, economic and the political structure that can touch the greatest heights of science and religion. I would wish to see a perfect amalgamation of the ancient, old and the contemporary living structure, where every human being has the right to live freely!

As a whole, I wish to society should get elevated to a new level of understanding where we live in peace, joy and abundance. The whole thing about tolerance is overrated. I think all we need to do is develop a better understanding of things, people and feelings.  

Being an artist, I would like to see my thoughts, my ideas, my creations take a form to a structure, of a world that is feasible to live. I feel my work should touch every heart, and through my work I am able to bring about the much-needed difference in society. 

Being an artist, I would like to see my thoughts, my ideas, my creations can understand, and build the law of existence in which we act as social human beings, and strive to create to the living structure that we have developed so far as being human.

In addition to this, through my work I wish to do research, site specific long-term projects and short term- site specific art installations, short films and documentaries through the medium of research and different aspects of visual arts at various points of the living structure that we live in. (As told to Jasmine Singh)

A more open-minded year

Shradha Sharma, entrepreneur, Founder and Chief Editor of YourStory.com

I would want people to be more open minded in 2016. True, there are has been a lot of conflict and bitterness in 2015. But from discontent and polarisation, I hope sanity prevails this year. There has been a lot of conversation about internet trolls and online vitriol but I think it is all part of process and a natural evolution. Something positive is bound to come out of it in the end. People will be more mature, less biased. The one positive outcome of the whole affair is that India is coming on board social media. Which is great. It's amazing to so many young people excited about social change and doing something meaningful. I think that energy will definitely percolate to all around us. I think it's in the DNA of India to be embracing and loving. I am very optimistic that 2016 will be a great year for all of us.

For online media, I think in 2016, scale will come from video and mobile apps. These innovations will take content to people beyond the existing audience base. This year we saw a great deal of investment in online media by some prominent names which has buoyed the entire industry. This will make online media more diverse and vibrant. The growing acceptance of niche media outlets shows that people are taking more interest in personalised content. I hope that this will continue in 2016. We should also address language barriers, taking content beyond English and closer to our regional languages. There is so much interest in content and different Indian languages from Urdu to Malayalam, from Hindi to Bengali, as internet penetration grows a more diverse audience will come. Vernacular content looks very promising in 2016. (As (As told to Anurag Chakraborty )

Stop this politics of hatred 

Sambhaji Bhagat is an activist and a poet. He works for the rights of adivasis, Dalits, and contract and migrant labours 

I think the biggest question that stares in the face of Indians is the recent issue of constructing Ram Mandir. Though I think that the very idea of this stands null and void when it comes to determining the development of India, I feel that the government should, for once, cater to the needs and rights of adivasis, Dalits and the minorities. Unfortunately, the present government is backed by the ‘sangh’ (RSS). They play on dividing and spewing hatred among people on the basis of communal and religious differences. This ‘politics of hatred’ will only lead to more tension, riots and bloodshed. This is not going to benefit anyone. I feel that there are more important and impending issues in India that contribute to its development and definitely more important ones than making a Ram Mandir. It’s better to construct a library, school or a hospital, so that people benefit from it.

Also, while taking into consideration the economic condition of our country, the government must, as a democratic machinery, adhere to the Constitution of India. I wish we should focus more on the development of contract and migrant labours, who constitute as much as 54 per cent of India’s population. I only hope that the government makes decisions, keeping in view the holistic development in all spheres. As for me, I will continue to brave my words against injustice, in hope for things to get better in India. (As told to Amarjot Kaur)