https://dspace.iiti.ac.in/handle/123456789/14649 2026-10-15T22:05:28Z 2026-10-15T22:05:28Z Mahtha, Ramesh Kumar Menon, Nirmala https://dspace.iiti.ac.in/handle/123456789/19028 2026-09-01T04:26:49Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Narrative mechanisms and the contrivance of violence in Tabish Khair’s The Thing About Thugs and Jihadi Jane Authors: Mahtha, Ramesh Kumar; Menon, Nirmala Abstract: There is an intricate relationship between violence and language, revealing the profound impact of narrativization on the manifestation of both personal and collective suffering. As a narrative construct, language has an inherent insufficiency and incompleteness [Khair 2012. The Thing About Thugs. HarperCollins India], which can transform an individual’s identity through different forms of narrativization, inflicting violence. The human body embraces significant meaning, but with different narratives, one can make it meaningless, a ‘thing’ to commit violence. The paper argues that the act of naming something, even unintentionally, constitutes a form of violence, as it objectifies/ ‘thingifies’ the original essence of the being in question. The narrativization of violence, manifested through the trope of glorification or heroism, when intertwined with fundamental and radical narratives, perpetrates violence by normalizing and valorizing suffering. People also use language symbolically for their own benefit, as certain acts of violence are trivialized or rationalized to make them acceptable, whether for a sacred cause or an evil intention, through symbolic narrativization. By analyzing Khair’s novels Jihadi Jane and The Thing About Thugs, this paper argues how language can perpetuate systemic violence when people narrate it across different contexts, exploring three narrative mechanisms: glorification, thingification, and symbolic narrativization. © 2026 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z Singh, Anima Menon, Nirmala https://dspace.iiti.ac.in/handle/123456789/18893 2026-08-07T12:27:04Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Edges and nodes of print geographies: A spatial-network view of Punjabi publishing infrastructure Authors: Singh, Anima; Menon, Nirmala Abstract: Vernacular print cultures are often analysed as locally bounded literary or linguistic phenomena, yet how these print spheres were structurally formed, spatially organised, and infrastructurally sustained has largely remained unexamined. This article demonstrates that Punjab's publishing world between 1900 and 1969 was a distributed relational infrastructure, organised through a network of spatially distinct places, genres, and institutions whose collective density sustained the region's print culture and enabled its reconstitution in the aftermath of the partition of 1947. Drawing on a compiled catalogue of 4088 titles published in the Punjab region, the study reconstructs relations among publishers, cities and genres to analyse how the publishing infrastructure was distributed across the region using network and diversity analysis. The study draws on Henri Lefebvre's concept of the production of space to treat publishing locations as historically constituted places shaped by institutional density, linguistic composition, and material infrastructure. The analysis demonstrates that Punjab's print world was resilient and capable of reorganisation through a distributed relational infrastructure alongside newly imposed political borders during partition. The findings advance a framework for a relational approach to vernacular print and demonstrate the methodological potential of digital humanities tools for recovering cultural systems. © 2026 Elsevier Ltd

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z Chakraborty, Subha https://dspace.iiti.ac.in/handle/123456789/16474 2026-04-28T12:12:39Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Assessment of the coral habitability status of marine ecosystems along the eastern coast of the Andaman Islands, India Authors: Chakraborty, Subha Abstract: The Andaman Islands, hosting one of the most enriched marine ecosystems globally, have faced significant ecological threats due to various physico-climatic changes over recent decades, adversely impacting approximately 25 mangrove species and 135 coral species. To evaluate these impacts systematically on regional marine ecology, this study develops and applies a coral habitat quality index (CHI) along the eastern Andaman coast using an integrated approach combining key physico-climatic indicators, participatory coastal community appraisals, and geospatial analysis. A total of 187 georeferenced sampling points within a 5 km offshore buffer were analysed for the years 2008, 2013, and 2018. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was employed to prioritise factors influencing coral habitat conditions, with stakeholder-based pairwise comparisons from four distinct coastal community groups forming the basis for CHI computation. Results reveal that the southern zone of the eastern coast has progressively developed into a relatively healthier marine habitat than its northern and central counterparts, with CHI values averaging 1.24 (2013–2018), compared to 1.01 and 1.08, respectively. Notably, offshore zones south of Rangat exhibit the most ecologically resilient characteristics, evidenced by a consistent rise in CHI scores across the study period. The methodological framework presented here enables replication across comparable island and coastal ecosystems, offering a scalable decision-support tool for marine conservation planning, impact monitoring, and adaptive coastal resource governance. Overall, this study advances technical insight into spatio-temporal coral habitat dynamics while supporting evidence-based policy and sustainable marine ecosystem management strategies. © 2025 Elsevier Ltd

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z Mahata, Dinabandhu https://dspace.iiti.ac.in/handle/123456789/16232 2026-04-28T12:12:39Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Assessment of Quality of Life Among the Widowed Elderly Using WHO-BREF Scale and its Social Determinants in the Indian State of Bihar Authors: Mahata, Dinabandhu Abstract: Limited knowledge exists regarding the quality of life (QOL) among widowed elderly in developing countries like India, with a disproportionate focus on general elderly population in existing studies. This oversight results in neglecting the well-being of the widowed elderly, posing a serious public health concern due to the decline in their QOL. This study aims to assess the QOL and investigate the social determinants influencing the well-being of the widowed elderly. The study was conducted as a community-based cross-sectional study throughout 2021–22, the research recruited 201 widowed elderly aged 60 and above. The World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief (WHOQOL-BREF) version tool measured their QOL, and data analysis utilized Microsoft Excel for data entry and STATA version 16.0 for statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics computed means, standard deviations, and frequencies, while inferential statistics employed t-tests, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and a multiple linear regression model to validate relationships among variables. The study revealed an overall QOL score of 42.0 ± 7.40, with scores of 38.6 ± 8.80 for the physical domain, 40.4 ± 8.80 for the psychological domain, 48.4 ± 17.70 for the social relationship domain, and 43.7 ± 10.0 for the environmental domain. Higher scores indicated a better QOL. The findings revealed that the overall QOL had a strong negative association with the age of the widowed elderly. Religion also had a significant negative association with the overall QOL. Conversely, educational status, caste, and wealth status were significantly positively associated with the overall QOL of the widowed elderly. With the advancement of age, the QOL deteriorates. Higher education, higher caste, and higher socioeconomic status of the study participants help them to live a better QOL. Among the social determinants of quality of life examined, age, educational status, caste, religion, and wealth status were found to be the most important factors affecting the QOL of the widowed elderly. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.

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