Daily Mail By Monalisa Das and Harsha Chawla , on 8th March 2012

The power of blogging to draw attention to social issues became apparent some years ago, when the blog, Blank Noise, started by Jasmeen Patheja succeeded in raising awareness about street sexual harassment.

A student of the Srishti School of Art Design and Technology in Bangalore, Patheja decided to post pictures of the perpetrator every time she was harassed.

This move gave rise to many public campaigns by her such as Blank Noise Blogathon, I Never Asked For It, Y R U Looking At Me and Action Heroes.

Today, this volunteer-led project has four blogs, two Facebook groups, a YouTube channel and a Twitter account.

More recently, the Pink Chaddi campaign on Facebook was highly successful in raising people’s hackles against the moral policing being faced by women.

Both campaigns serve as examples of new age activism that has moved from street demonstrations to posting tweets, blogs and scraps on different social issues.

This unique kind of activism is quick to reach out to different groups of people and effective in facilitating real social changes.

MENDING THE GAP

It was a single note posted on facebook that turned into a full-fledged campaign against eve teasers in Delhi’s metro. Please Mend the Gap is a volunteer-led initiative to promote gender equality in public spaces, the brainchild of 26-year-old Rosalyn D’mello.

A writer by profession, Rosalyn was well aware of the perils of living alone in the city, especially while commuting in public transport.

She was deeply shaken when a female friend of hers was harassed by a drunk man while travelling in Delhi Metro a year ago.

Read daily mail article here