tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post4024307670783730215..comments2024-03-27T15:36:44.737-07:00Comments on Haq's Musings: Superfreakonomics on Status of Indian WomenRiaz Haqhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-53141416768648721722018-12-01T19:43:33.345-08:002018-12-01T19:43:33.345-08:00'Desperate housewives': Why so many young ...'Desperate housewives': Why so many young #women are dying by #suicide in #India. India accounts for almost 40 per cent of #female suicides worldwide — and young, married women are most at risk. #Modi #BJP https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-02/young-women-india-dying-suicide-alarming-numbers/10562076 via @ABCNews <br /><br />Women in India are also 2.1 times more likely to die by suicide than the global average, accounting for 71 per cent of deaths in women aged under 40, according to a study published in medical journal The Lancet.<br /><br />Suicide was the leading cause of death in women aged 15 to 29, with death rates higher among women than men in that age group, it said.<br /><br />The study also found "arranged and early marriage, young motherhood, low social status and domestic violence" were factors contributing to the nation's high suicide rates.<br /><br />"In Western countries a marriage is protective to women but in India it seems that marriage is not protective," said Dr Manjula O'Connor, a Melbourne-based psychiatrist who works closely with Australia's Indian community.<br /><br />"It relates to the patriarchal factors and the level of oppression and lack of autonomy that women feel within a marital situation."<br /><br />University of Adelaide associate professor Peter Mayer, who is an expert on suicide in India, has coined it the "desperate housewives" effect.<br /><br />Though the female suicide rate has actually fallen since 1990, nearly two in five global female suicides are recorded in India, making it a "public health crisis" in the country, Dr Mayer said.<br /><br />As in most countries, overall suicide death rates in India are higher among men than women, at 21.2 and 14.7 per 100,000 people respectively, but globally Indian men account for about 25 per cent of male suicides, the Lancet study said.<br /><br />Dr O'Connor said she believed suicide was also a problem among young women in Australia's Indian community.<br /><br />However, statistics are difficult to pin down, as the Australian Bureau of Statistics does not release information on suicide deaths based on ethnicity or culture.<br /><br />Family violence and murder in Australian Hindu and Sikh communities<br /><br />There are growing concerns about a recent, significant increase in domestic violence in Hindu and Sikh communities, a crisis which has become public in a spate of horrific deaths.<br />Many of those affected were young women who travelled from India to Australia to enter arranged marriages, arriving with "dreams of freedom" only to find their new husband is "coercive or controlling", Dr O'Connor said.<br /><br />"They fight back against the demand for dowry or control over their wages, and when they fight back it leads to family violence," she said, which can compound with stressors such as social isolation and mental health issues.<br /><br />The practice of dowry — common in India and among Indian communities overseas — involves a bride's family giving money or goods to her husband once they are married.<br /><br />A Senate inquiry into dowry abuse in Australia is due to hand down its report on Thursday December 6.<br /><br />Discussion of suicide and related mental illness still carries a heavy stigma in India, with researchers saying it presents a barrier to addressing some of the root causes.<br /><br />"In India the idea that you might have some kind of mental health problem is not only a problem for you, it will affect your sister's ability to get married," Dr Mayer said.<br /><br />"There are all sorts of constraints to one's ability to admit depression."Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-63259680275332906662018-06-27T07:18:10.323-07:002018-06-27T07:18:10.323-07:00#India’s Shame. World's largest democracy is a...#India’s Shame. World's largest democracy is also its most dangerous for #women. #Misogyny in India is not a modern phenomenon. Thousands of women burned to death every year. Millions of female fetuses aborted. #Modi #Asifa #rape #sati #BrideBurning https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/india-s-shame-5b7lzdg60Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-61518051089136481152018-04-27T07:52:01.122-07:002018-04-27T07:52:01.122-07:00India’s abuse of women is the biggest human rights...India’s abuse of women is the biggest human rights violation on Earth<br />Deepa Narayan<br />Tragic rape cases have shocked the country. But the everyday suffering of 650 million Indian women and girls goes unnoticed<br /><br />India can arguably be accused of the largest-scale human rights violation on Earth: the persistent degradation of the vast majority of its 650 million girls and women. And this includes the middle classes, as I found when interviewing 600 women and men in India’s cities.<br /><br />https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/27/india-abuse-women-human-rights-rape-girls<br /><br />India is at war with its girls and women. The planned rape of eight-year-old Asifa in a temple by several men, including a policeman who later washed the clothes she was wearing to destroy evidence, was particularly horrific. Asifa’s rape has outraged and shaken the entire country. Yet sexual abuse in India remains widespread despite tightening of rape laws in 2013. According to the National Crimes Records Bureau, in 2016 the rape of minor girls increased by 82% compared with the previous year. Chillingly, across all rape cases, 95% of rapists were not strangers but family, friends and neighbours.<br /><br />The culturally sanctioned degradation of women is so complete that the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, launched a national programme called Beti Bachao (Save Our Girls). India can arguably be accused of the largest-scale human rights violation on Earth: the persistent degradation of the vast majority of its 650 million girls and women. And this includes the middle classes, as I found when interviewing 600 women and men in India’s cities.<br /><br />India’s women are traumatised in less obvious ways than by tanks in the streets, bombs and warlords. Our oppression starts innocuously: it occurs in private life, within families, with girls being locked up in their own homes. This everyday violence is the product of a culture that bestows all power on men, and that does not even want women to exist. This is evident in the unbalanced sex ratios at birth, even in wealthy families. But India also kills its women slowly. This violence is buried in the training of women in some deadly habits that invite human rights violations, but that are considered the essence of good womanhood.<br /><br />The first teaches girls to be afraid of their own bodies. When a girl is not supposed to exist, 1.3 billion people collectively pretend that girls don’t have bodies and especially no sexual parts. If girls do not have bodies, sexual molestation is not possible, and if it does happen, it has to be denied, and if it cannot be denied, the girl must be blamed.<br /><br />Denial of sexuality in homes is another habit that is deadly to girls. Almost every woman I interviewed had experienced some form of sexual molestation. Only two had told their mothers, only to be dismissed, “Yes, this happens in families,” or “No, this did not happen.” Indian government surveys show that 42% of girls in the country have been sexually abused.<br /><br />Speech is another basic human right. To have a voice, to speak up, is to be recognised, to belong. But girls are trained in silence. They are told to be quiet, to speak softly, dheere bolo, to have no opinions, no arguments, no conflicts. Silent women disappear. They are easy to ignore, overrule, and violate without repercussions. Impunity flourishes.<br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-4604236423653425582017-12-12T10:17:58.047-08:002017-12-12T10:17:58.047-08:00A health journal estimates #India underreported al...A health journal estimates #India underreported almost 15 million #abortions in a year. #femalegenocide #savegirlchild https://qz.com/1153722 via @qzindia<br /><br />Abortion is a lot more common in India than government data suggests.<br /><br />A study published this week (pdf) in The Lancet Global Health journal estimates that 15.6 million abortions occurred in the country in 2015, significantly higher than the 701,415 recorded by the ministry of health and family welfare for 2014-2015. Moreover, a staggering 78% (12.3 million) of these abortions were undertaken outside of health facilities, suggesting that Indian women are taking the procedure into their own hands.<br /><br />The study was conducted by a team of authors from the Guttmacher Institute in New York, the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, and the Population Council, New York.<br /><br />To estimate the national abortion incidence, they used data mostly from the 2015 Health Facilities Survey of six Indian states—Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh—NGO clinics, and abortion pill sales and distribution.<br /><br />The authors say that India’s national surveys and official statistics have so far offered an incomplete picture as they don’t take into account abortions by private-sector doctors who don’t work at registered facilities or abortion services provided by professionals of alternative medicine, notably Ayurveda, Unani, and Homeopathy. The government data also excludes untrained providers of abortions and abortion pills that don’t require prescriptions. These pills have become increasingly available in pharmacies from the early 2000s.<br /><br />“Most abortions are happening without prescriptions and outside of facilities via chemists and informal vendors, which suggests the need to improve facility-based services,” the authors write. While abortion pills can be effective and safe when administered correctly, they say it is unclear if Indian women are getting the right information and using them properly.<br /><br />In conservative India, where talking about sex remains a taboo, previous studies have shown that the use of contraceptives has been declining. More people are turning to morning-after pills and abortions despite the potential health risks. While the study was unable to determine the reasons for the high rate of abortions in India, they accounted for one-third of the pregnancies in 2015. And almost half of the pregnancies that year were unintended, the authors say.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-66876615047020856932017-07-20T10:34:01.442-07:002017-07-20T10:34:01.442-07:00A 10-year-old #Indian girl was raped and impregnat...A 10-year-old #Indian girl was raped and impregnated. A court denied her an #abortion. #rape #India<br /><br />https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/07/20/a-10-year-old-indian-girl-was-raped-and-impregnated-a-court-denied-her-an-abortion/?utm_term=.b7979947322f<br /><br />India has the world’s largest population of sexually abused children, with a child under age 10 raped every 13 hours, as the BBC reported in May. More than 10,000 children were raped in the country in 2015. In most cases, the abusers are relatives or family friends, according to the BBC.<br /><br />A court in India on Tuesday ordered a 10-year-old girl whose parents say she was raped and impregnated by her uncle to carry her fetus to term, ruling she is too young and her pregnancy too advanced to have an abortion.<br /><br />The girl, who has not been identified, is six months pregnant and sought medical attention after her maternal uncle allegedly raped her several times, CBS News reported.<br /><br />The district court in the northern city of Chandigarh based its decision on an opinion by a panel of doctors from the city’s Government Medical College and Hospital, where the girl was examined, according to the hospital’s medical superintendent.<br /><br />“If you abort then the risk to life is greater,” the superintendent told The Washington Post in a brief phone interview Wednesday.<br /><br />A 1970s law in India known as the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act bars abortions beyond 20 weeks, though courts have made exceptions if the fetus is not viable or if the mother’s life is at risk.<br /><br />According to CBS, the hospital’s eight-member panel determined that the fetus was viable and could survive even if it was delivered immediately. CBS quoted an unnamed senior doctor on the panel who said abortion was “not an option at this stage.”<br /><br />The hospital told the Times of India on Tuesday: “The victim is six months pregnant, as revealed by her ultrasound reports. We have submitted our medical advice to the court regarding termination of the foetus.”<br /><br />The girl’s parents found out their daughter was pregnant after she complained of stomach pains, according to the Indian Express. She later reportedly told her mother that her uncle had raped her a half-dozen times when he visited the family home. The uncle was arrested, and the parents petitioned the court for an abortion, the Indian Express reported.<br /><br />Doctors say it is biologically possible for a girl to become pregnant as soon as she begins ovulating, although rare for a 10 year old. By and large, medical experts agree that carrying and delivering a baby at age 15 or younger can come with life-threatening complications, including anemia, high blood pressure and hemorrhaging.<br /><br />On top of that, pelvic bones do not fully develop until women reach their late teens. Before that point vaginal births and full-term pregnancies are dangerous, and even Caesarean sections present significant risks, they say. Such problems, along with complications from unsafe abortions, were the top cause of death among female adolescents in 2015, according to the World Health Organization.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-41234806692076902562017-07-10T10:34:29.751-07:002017-07-10T10:34:29.751-07:00BBC News - #Indian #Hindu man kills wife over dinn...BBC News - #Indian #Hindu man kills wife over dinner delay. #women #India #domesticviolence<br /><br />http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-40553992#<br /><br />Police in India say they have arrested a 60-year-old man who fatally shot his wife for serving his dinner late.<br />Ashok Kumar came home drunk on Saturday night and got into an argument with his wife, Rupesh Singh, a senior police officer in Ghaziabad city near the capital Delhi, told the BBC.<br />Sunaina, 55, was taken to hospital with a gunshot wound to her head, but by then she had died, reports said.<br />Mr Kumar has confessed to his crime and now regrets his actions, Mr Singh said.<br />"The man [Mr Kumar] used to drink every day. On Saturday, he came home drunk and started having an argument with his wife. She was upset with his drinking habit and wanted to talk about it, but he wanted dinner immediately," Mr Singh said.<br />"He got frustrated with the delay and shot her," he added.<br />India 'fails' victims of abuse<br />Indian brides get bats to prevent abuse<br />Domestic violence has been the most reported violent crime against women in the country every year for more than a decade now.<br />In 2015, an incident of domestic violence was reported every four minutes under the legal definition of dowry deaths, harassment over dowry related crimes, cruelty by husband or his relatives and domestic violence.<br />The BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi says such violence is not unique to India - it occurs around the world - but what sets it apart in India from many other countries is the culture of silence and approval that often surrounds it.<br />According to a family survey carried out by the government, more than 54% of men and 51% of women said it was ok for a man to beat his wife if she disrespected her in-laws, neglected her home or children, or even over something as trivial as putting less - or more - salt in the food.<br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-47055043503049937912017-06-28T07:27:46.146-07:002017-06-28T07:27:46.146-07:00BBC News - Why are #Indian #women wearing #cow mas...<br />BBC News - Why are #Indian #women wearing #cow masks?Because #cows are respected in #Modi's #Hindu #India!<br /><br />http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-40404102#<br />A photography project which shows women wearing a cow mask and asks the politically explosive question - whether women are less important than cattle in India - has gone viral in the country and earned its 23-year-old photographer the ire of Hindu nationalist trolls.<br />"I am perturbed by the fact that in my country, cows are considered more important than a woman, that it takes much longer for a woman who is raped or assaulted to get justice than for a cow which many Hindus consider a sacred animal," Delhi-based photographer Sujatro Ghosh told the BBC.<br />India is often in the news for crimes against women and, according to government statistics, a rape is reported every 15 minutes.<br />"These cases go on for years in the courts before the guilty are punished, whereas when a cow is slaughtered, Hindu extremist groups immediately go and kill or beat up whoever they suspect of slaughter."<br />The project, he says, is "his way of protesting" against the growing influence of the vigilante cow protection groups that have become emboldened since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, came to power in the summer of 2014.<br />"I've been concerned over the Dadri lynching [when a Muslim man was killed by a Hindu mob over rumours that he consumed and stored beef] and other similar religious attacks on Muslims by cow vigilantes," Ghosh said.<br /><br />In recent months, the humble cow has become India's most polarising animal.<br />The BJP insists that the animal is holy and should be protected. Cow slaughter is banned in several states, stringent punishment has been introduced for offenders and parliament is considering a bill to bring in the death penalty for the crime.<br />But beef is a staple for Muslims, Christians and millions of low-caste Dalits (formerly untouchables) who have been at the receiving end of the violence perpetrated by the cow vigilante groups.<br />Nearly a dozen people have been killed in the past two years in the name of the cow. Targets are often picked based on unsubstantiated rumours and Muslims have been attacked for even transporting cows for milk.<br /><br />Some people also contacted the Delhi police, "accusing me of trying to instigate riots and asking them to arrest me".<br />Ghosh is not surprised by the vitriol and admits that his work is an "indirect comment" on the BJP.<br />"I'm making a political statement because it's a political topic, but if we go deeper into the things, then we see that Hindu supremacy was always there, it has just come out in the open with this government in the past two years."<br />The threats, however, have failed to scare him. "I'm not afraid because I'm working for the greater good," he says.<br />A positive fallout of the project going viral has been that he's got loads of messages from women from across the globe saying they too want to be a part of this campaign.<br />So the cow, he says, will keep travelling.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-66201875990874485682017-05-15T17:02:34.463-07:002017-05-15T17:02:34.463-07:00#India: Men gang-rape woman, then smash her skull ...#India: Men gang-rape woman, then smash her skull with bricks @AJENews #rape #Modi #BJP http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/05/india-men-gang-rape-woman-smash-skull-bricks-170515070236159.html `An Indian woman was gang-raped and then brutally murdered by men who smashed her skull with bricks after she had threatened to inform authorities, police in the northern state of Haryana said on Monday.<br /><br />Two men were arrested for rape and murder in Sonipat town, and six more were being investigated after the victim's mother accused them of involvement, Ashwin Shenvi, superintendent of police, told the Reuters news agency.<br /><br />The 23-year old woman, a labourer, was taken by the men - at least one of whom knew her - by car from near her home in Sonipat to the nearby city of Rohtak, where they raped her, Shenvi said.<br /><br />"When she said to them she would complain, they hammered her skull in with bricks," he said. "The way that they brutalised her is horrific."Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-53296814996196137192017-03-06T07:29:39.181-08:002017-03-06T07:29:39.181-08:00BBC News - #India abortion: Police find 19 #female...BBC News - #India abortion: Police find 19 #female foetuses. #gender #Genocide<br />http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-39176668<br /><br />Police in the western Indian state of Maharashtra have found 19 aborted female foetuses near a hospital.<br />Senior police officials in Sangli district said the remains were "buried with the intention of disposing them".<br />The police told the BBC that they found the foetuses while they were investigating the death of a woman who had undergone an illegal abortion.<br />Activists say the incident proves yet again that female foeticide is rampant in India despite awareness campaigns.<br />The police said that the woman had died in a "botched abortion", and they were looking for the foetus near a local hospital when they made the grisly discovery.<br />"It appears to be an abortion racket. We have arrested the husband of the woman, and have launched a manhunt for the doctor who has gone missing," Dattatray Shinde, superintendent of police, told the BBC.<br />Similar cases have come to light in the past.<br />Eight female foetuses were found in 2012 in a plastic bag near a lake in Indore city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.<br />In June 2009, 15 female foetuses were found in drains in Maharashtra's Beed district.<br />Dr Ganesh Rakh, who campaigns to save the female child and appeared in the BBC's Unsung Indians series, said the recent case proves that illegal sex determination and abortion was still practised in India.<br />"This is horrifying. Female foeticide is happening at the scale of a genocide in India. This case proves that people still prefer boys and girls are still unwanted," he said.<br />"I think abortions were happening on a large scale in Sangli. Once the doctor is arrested, I fear we will find more aborted female foetuses."<br />Sex-selective abortion and sex-determination tests are illegal in India, where there is a widespread social preference for boys.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-9823772650427853152016-09-26T17:08:07.621-07:002016-09-26T17:08:07.621-07:00#India: #widow leaves children behind to live with...#India: #widow leaves children behind to live with another man for money, an ancient custom of "nata" @AJENews<br /><br />http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2016/09/india-children-left-ancient-custom-160919103603209.html<br /><br />Dungarpur, Rajasthan, India - Five-year-old Pinki is hiding behind her grandmother, Kanku Roat. The 53-year-old has been her world since her mother left. They live in a small mud house that they share with two goats, a cow and a calf - their only assets. <br /><br />Pinki doesn't remember her mother. She left after Pinki's father died. The young widow went off to participate in the centuries-old custom of Nata Pratha. Pinki was only a year old. <br /><br />Prevalent in the Bhil tribal community from which Pinki's family come, Nata Pratha allows a man to pay money to live with a woman to whom he is not married.<br /><br />The price can range from 25,000 to 50,000 Indian rupees (around $375 to $750) and is usually negotiated by members of the community, or middlemen, who may receive a cut for doing so. Traditionally, both the man and woman were supposed to be married or widowed, as in the case of Pinki's mother, but the custom is evolving to include single people as well. <br /><br />The woman typically goes to live with the man, often leaving any children she already has behind. <br /><br />"After the death of my son, my daughter-in-law became a part of this custom and discarded her daughter to live with a married man," says Kanku. "She could have stayed back and taken care of her daughter, but this is the custom of our community that has been followed for centuries."<br /><br />She says she doesn't know where her daughter-in-law is now and Pinki has not seen her mother since she left. <br /><br />"Women who enter Nata mostly leave their children with ... relatives," explains Neema Pant, the assistant manager of the child sensitivity social protection programme at Save the Children in Rajasthan. Some, she says, "suffer discrimination and abuse by their ... relatives. They miss their school and their nutrition is also compromised". <br /><br />Sometimes, she says, they are made to work in the house and on the fields, although Save the Children is working to provide support to children abandoned as a result of Nata Pratha so that they can attend school and experience a more "conducive environment in the family". <br /><br />Rama Kallasua is the head teacher at a government school in South Rajasthan and a member of the Bhil community. She says: "In our community there is no concept of remarriage. Nata is the alternative of remarriage and this is a socially sanctioned and approved custom by our community."<br /><br />"In marriages, there are a lot of expenses and our community is very poor, so to save costs our ancestors created the Nata custom," she explains.<br /><br />The custom has also found support among tribal leaders such as Bansilal Kharadi, who is a member of a panchayat, or village council, in a Bhil community and believes that the tradition can be empowering for women, allowing them to choose to leave husbands they are unhappy with in order to live with another man.<br /><br />"There is nothing wrong in Nata Pratha," he says. "It's a custom that gives power to women to choose. If a woman's husband is an alcoholic, then she can just leave him and start living with a man of her choice. Our ancestors created this custom and it cannot be wrong. Our community will always follow this."Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-15860562177242477932016-08-29T09:53:28.191-07:002016-08-29T09:53:28.191-07:00Safety tip for women from #India's tourism min...Safety tip for women from #India's tourism minister: Don't wear skirts. #Rape #Crime @CNN http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/29/asia/india-skirt-safety-advice-women-trnd/<br /><br />India's tourism minister is furiously backpedaling after suggesting that women who visit India shouldn't wear skirts for their own safety.<br /><br />Mahesh Sharma made the comments over the weekend while promoting a welcome kit that will be handed out to tourists when they arrive in India.<br />"There's a card in there listing the do's and don'ts. Basic things like, 'Don't go out at night alone.' 'Don't wear skirts.'"<br />The outrage was immediate. And for good reason.<br />A string of sexual assaults against foreign women has sullied India's reputation.<br />The country has amended its laws to broaden the definition of rape to include any form of penetration; it lists out strict punishments not only for rape but also for sexual assault, voyeurism and stalking.<br />But still, every high-profile case -- and there have been several -- brings the question to the forefront again: Is India doing enough to protect women? Is it creating a strong enough deterrent for crimes against women?<br />Backlash<br />For one thing, India is ill-equipped to process not just sexual assaults and rape, but all kinds of crime. It has a shortage of forensic laboratories; one of the worst police-to-citizens ratios in the world, and far fewer lawyers and judges than it needs to process cases.<br />Critics lambasted the minister, saying his comments put the onus on women, rather than on a government that ought to do a better job of improving security.<br />"Sir please give us bad women a lecture on Indian Culture. We are getting outta control N need to be harnessed!" said Sapna Moto Bhavnani, in one of many similar tweets taking the minister to task.<br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-53742841274578946462016-06-17T20:17:37.317-07:002016-06-17T20:17:37.317-07:00Social change in Pakistan: a conversation with Mr ...Social change in Pakistan: a conversation with Mr Arif Hasan<br />BloomsburyPakistan organised an event, ‘Social change in Pakistan: a conversation with Mr<br />Arif Hasan’ on May 11, 2015.<br /><br />The migration from rural areas, along with global influences from informal capitalism, forced<br />huge changes in the character of urban areas as well, particularly in katchi abaadis. Once<br />these abaadis were purely working class settlements, women did not work, the informal<br />sector worked only within these abaadis, and language reflected social hierarchy. Now, these<br />are no longer working class settlements: global communication technologies have flooded<br />them, women have educated themselves and are working in service sectors, and people have<br />developed a strong sense of identity and aspirations that they did not have before. If we take<br />the age group from 15 to 24 as an illustration, the effect of these changes can be observed. In<br />1981, 39% women and 17% of men in this age group in Karachi were married; extrapolating<br />the 1998 census shows that less than 18% of women and less than 6% of men are now<br />married. As the demand for education increases, a huge network of private schools has<br />emerged. As children of this generation grew up, many new universities were established,<br />both in public and private sector. <br /><br />A very powerful trend that captures various aspects of these changes is the significant rise of<br />court marriages. In 1992, there were 10-15 marriage applications per day. By 2006 this had<br />risen to more than 200 per day and by some estimates the number now stands at around 800<br />per day. This rise indicates changes in family structures, weakening of biradari system,<br />heightened consciousness of individuality and personal aspirations.<br />Just as in rural areas, these progressive changes are being resisted in urban areas as well by<br />conservative forces which have joined hands with religious elements and use informal<br />economic power – land mafias for example – to retain power. The religious element received<br />a huge support from the state as well during the Zia era which saw state suppression of<br />student politics, artistic activities and political dissent. As a result, the overall tenor of society<br />has remained conservative with a rising anti-western/modern discourse. Yet, beneath the<br />surface a process of individualism and freedom continues, as reflected in the figures for<br />education and marriage choices. One way in which many young people, women in particular,<br />have negotiated these dynamics is by adopting conservative religious symbolism – the veil,<br />for example – while continuing to participate in modern life.<br /><br />Despite the generally pessimistic picture painted above, Mr Hasan remained optimistic about<br />the future. He saw the current struggles as a necessary phase in social transformation, and<br />expressed the belief that human spirit for freedom has awakened in the younger generation,<br />particularly women, and in the medium to long term this spirit will overcome conservative<br />resistance. His approach was a good example of Gramscian words that “I'm a pessimist<br />because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.”<br /><br />http://nebula.wsimg.com/e1220c34bb211727621e460d11b3f9a5?AccessKeyId=D38F223A1FE944D1A306&disposition=0&alloworigin=1Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-51111371299090022392016-05-21T22:36:02.904-07:002016-05-21T22:36:02.904-07:0079% of women in #India faced public harassment. #m...79% of women in #India faced public harassment. #misogyny http://toi.in/04JmDa via @timesofindia<br /><br />http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/79-of-women-in-India-faced-public-harassment/articleshow/52369555.cms<br /><br />Nearly four of five women (79%) in India have experienced some form of harassment or violence in public and a third groped or touched in public (39%), according to a ActionAid UK report released on Friday on occasion of the International Safe Cities for Women Day.<br />India is third among four countries surveyed which includes UK, Thailand and Brazil. The YouGov poll, which surveyed 2,500 women aged 16 and over in major cities across India, Brazil, Thailand and the UK, found that in India 84% of the women who experienced harassment were in the age group of 25-35 years, 82% of them were full time workers and 68% students.<br />"Shockingly, 89% of women in Brazil, 86% in Thailand and 75% in the UK have faced harassment or violence on the streets. The research highlighted that across the four countries, women in the lowest social economic groups most likely to experience violence or harassment in cities,'' the report said.<br /><br />Over a third of women (39%) in India have been groped or touched in public, compared with 41% of women in Brazil, 44% in Thailand and 23% in the UK.<br />The research found that more women in the UK (43%), Brazil (70%) and Thailand (62%) felt at risk on the streets, whereas in India women felt more at risk on public transport (65%). ActionAid India director (programmes and policy) Sehjo Singh said, "The fear of harassment and violence has a crippling effect on women's abilities, and in itself it is an attack on women's rights."<br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-60379132530658993452016-03-06T15:28:25.539-08:002016-03-06T15:28:25.539-08:00Widows in #India: My children threw me out of the ...Widows in #India: My children threw me out of the house. #Vrindavan #Hindu @AJENews http://aje.io/9l5k <br /><br />Vrindavan, India - Self-immolation on a husband's pyre may have been banned in India, but life for many widows in India is still disheartening as they are shunned by their communities and abandoned by their families.<br /><br />"I used to wash dishes and clothes in people's house to earn money, but the moment they heard that I am a widow, I was thrown out without any notice," said 85-year-old Manu Ghosh, living in Vrindavan, a city in the Northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.<br /><br />Vrindavan is home to more than 20,000 widows, and over the years, many shelters for widows run by the government, private enterprises and NGOs have mushroomed in the city. The city, which is considered holy by Hindus, has become known as the 'City of Widows'.<br /><br />"I had to sleep on the street as even my family abandoned me after my husband's death. I was married off to him when I was 11 years old and he was 40.<br /><br />"My daughter died of malnutrition as I could not give her food since nobody wanted to help a widow.<br /><br />"After her death, I decided to come to Vrindavan. A woman should die before her husband's death so that she doesn't have to live through hell like this," Gosh says.<br /><br />The women often live in acute poverty and are ostracised by society due to various superstitions - even the shadow of a widow can wreak havoc and bring bad luck, people believe. Lack of education and any source of income forces them to beg on streets and many turn to prostitution for survival. <br /><br />"My children threw me out of the house after my husband died," says Manuka Dasi. "I try to earn money by singing devotional songs in temple and manage to get one meal for the day. I am just waiting to die so that I can be out of this life of misery."<br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-76343347797715627802015-08-29T13:05:01.208-07:002015-08-29T13:05:01.208-07:00In 1910, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that a wife...In 1910, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that a wife had no cause for action on an assault and battery charge against her husband because it "would open the doors of the courts to accusations of all sorts of one spouse against the other and bring into public notice complaints for assault, slander and libel."<br /><br />As recently as 1977, the California Penal Code stated that wives charging husbands with criminal assault and battery must suffer more injuries than commonly needed for charges of battery.<br /><br />----------<br /><br />Some time in the 1700s, an English common law came into effect that decreed that a husband had the right to "chastise his wife with a whip or rattan no bigger than his thumb, in order to enforce...domestic discipline. For as he is to answer for her misbehavior, the law thought it reasonable to entrust him with this power of restraining her, by domestic chastisement in the same moderation that a man is allowed to correct his apprentices or children." This law came to be known as the "law of thumb".<br /><br />In the U.S., the courts continued to uphold a man's right to punish his wife with violence until 1871. In a case known as Fulgam vs. the State of Alabama, the court ruled that, "The privilege, ancient though it may be, to beat her with a stick, to pull her hair, choke her, spit in her face or kick her about the floor or to inflict upon her other like indignities, is not now acknowledged by our law."<br /><br />http://www.womensafe.net/home/index.php/domesticviolence/29-overview-of-historical-laws-that-supported-domestic-violenceRiaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-43294384432195704932015-08-26T18:28:36.948-07:002015-08-26T18:28:36.948-07:00Here's an interesting interview of Sujit Saraf...Here's an interesting interview of Sujit Saraf of Naatak.org with KQED's Michael Krasny on treatment of Hindu widows, obsession with white complexion and high rates of rape and crime against women in India:<br /><br />Since 1995, Naatak has been staging plays in the South Bay. The theater company identifies itself as the "largest Indian theater in the U.S." Its latest musical production, "Vrindavan," takes a closer look at the politics and social ills behind the city of Vrindavan, where widows are sent to live after their husbands die. We talk to playwright and artistic director Sujit Saraf about the new production and the company's larger artistic role in Silicon Valley. We'll also talk to KQED senior arts editor Chloe Veltman about what to watch for this fall arts season.<br /><br />Host: Michael Krasny<br /><br />Guests:<br />Sujit Saraf, novelist, playwright and director of Naatak, a theater and film company in Santa Clara<br />Chloe Veltman, senior arts editor for KQED<br /><br />http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201508261030Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-51097618260668262032015-07-27T16:07:34.757-07:002015-07-27T16:07:34.757-07:00Cast and gender in India
In 1993, two constitutio...Cast and gender in India<br /><br />In 1993, two constitutional amendments established a 33 percent minimum quota for women in village and district councils. And in 1996, the Women’s Reservation Bill (WRB) was introduced to extend that quota to the lower house of the Indian Parliament and all state legislative assemblies.<br /><br />Nineteen years later, the bill is still pending. Critically, the most powerful opposition to the WRB has come from OBC and Dalit parties, which fear that quotas for women would limit the lower castes’ newfound political power. For many, caste identification is stronger than gender identification, and the women’s movement has long been criticized for being overly focused on the concerns of upper-caste women and insufficiently sensitive to the problem of caste.<br /><br />Some critics assert that in basing political representation on caste, India has made caste identity inescapable. Upward social movement does not change caste identity; an individual who improves his or her economic status is still marked by his or her caste.<br /><br />Although quotas have opened up the possibility of political representation—and even higher education—for some lower-caste individuals, they have not brought about increased equality in the social sphere. Caste persists in the social realm in part because caste identity is the path to political recognition and power. And as long as caste identity is the key to political recognition, the pernicious social aspects of caste will continue to define Indian society.<br /><br />At the end of the debate in the Constituent Assembly that approved the Indian constitution in 1950, Ambedkar warned, “We are going to enter a life of contradictions. In politics, we will have equality, and in social and economic life, we will have inequality.… We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment, or else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which this assembly has so laboriously constructed.”<br /><br />Indian democracy has not blown up. But Ambedkar’s contradiction persists, and the caste foundation of India’s political structure maintains the hierarchy at the root of the country’s tremendous inequality of status and condition.<br /><br />Much of the careful thought of the 19th-century reformers and the founding generation has been shunted aside by the force of caste-based politics on the one hand and capitalist materialism on the other. The political principles on which the Indian state is founded have not been sufficient to create an inclusive, egalitarian society.<br /><br />Although the post-independence generation of Congress politicians promoted a secular vision of the Indian nation, they did not pursue the kinds of reforms that might have brought social reality closer to their political ideal. In doing so, they opened the way for the ascendance of caste-based politics and, ultimately, the more reactionary rise of religion in politics.<br /><br />Hindu nationalism, with its dual focus on cultivating traditional social practices and providing social services afforded neither by the state nor economic growth, would seem to provide the strongest alternative to a modern capitalist society.<br /><br />But Hindu nationalism itself has adapted to India’s increasing wealth. The upper castes, particularly the Brahmins, once prided themselves on simple, even ascetic, living; they now hold up material success as another sign of caste superiority. The traditional Hindu elite is no longer distinguishable from the modern economic elite.<br /><br />http://www.newsweek.com/modis-india-caste-inequality-and-rise-hindu-nationalism-356734Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-9918509878466111192015-06-18T08:08:53.661-07:002015-06-18T08:08:53.661-07:00Little girls bear the brunt in #India's viciou...Little girls bear the brunt in #India's vicious cycle of malnutrition. Half are stunted #gendergap http://reut.rs/1N5dPEz via @ReutersIndia<br />Despite India's economic boom over the last two decades, 46 percent of its children under five are underweight, 48 percent are stunted and 25 percent are wasted, according to the latest government figures.<br /><br />Child malnutrition is an underlying cause of death for 3 million children annually across the world - nearly half of all child deaths - with most dying from preventable illnesses like diarrhoea due to weak immune systems, according to the United Nations Children's Fund.<br /><br />Those lucky enough to survive, grow up without enough energy, protein, vitamins and minerals, causing their brains and bodies to be stunted which means they cannot fulfill their physical, academic or economic potential.<br /><br />The problem of malnutrition starts well before birth in countries such as India, where there are high rates of child marriage, despite the age-old practice being illegal.<br /><br />About 47 percent of women aged between 20 and 24 were married before the age of 18 in India, according to the latest government figures.<br /><br />The custom hampers efforts to improve women's status, as it cuts across every part of a girl's development and creates a vicious cycle of malnutrition, poor health and ignorance, gender experts say.<br /><br />A child bride is more likely to drop out of school and have serious complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Her children are more likely to be underweight and may be lucky to survive beyond the age of five.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-70425739670141793502015-05-14T07:57:16.838-07:002015-05-14T07:57:16.838-07:00LUCY Hemmings has travelled around India for much ...LUCY Hemmings has travelled around India for much of the past three years, so it’s fair to say she has seen and experienced a lot of the country.<br />And while ups and downs are part of any holiday, unfortunately the 26-year-old blogger, who’s currently based in Mumbai, had her trip tarnished by sexual harassment. And not just on one occasion.<br />Ms Hemmings tells news.com.au about how she dealt with the shocking situations, and why it’s a big problem over there.<br />***<br />A few days ago I was sitting in a bus stop in Mumbai, India. The local guy that I had paid no particular attention to moved closer.<br />From the corner of my eye, to my horror, I realised that he had pulled out his penis and was masturbating, staring intently at me. I felt sick.<br />As much as I hate to admit it, this isn’t the first time it’s happened to me. In fact, chances are, if you’ve ever been to India, you’ll have bumped into at least one traveller who has experienced this sort of behaviour, or heard of someone else who it has happened to.<br />I’ve spent countless hours with other travellers picking apart the men who do it; why they seem to think its okay, why dignity seems to disappear when there’s foreign female flesh on show.<br />The first time this happened to me was back in 2012; I was 23 and it was my first trip to a developing country. Along the way, I’d met an Australian girl, Gemma, and we ended up spending three months or so travelling India together.<br />At the time, we were wandering through Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Ashram (Or “The Beatles Ashram”) in the northern town of Rishikesh, when I spotted a man, hiding in the bushes watching us and masturbating.<br /><br />My horror quickly turned to hysterical laughter; Gemma and I screamed profanities, laughed and pointed.<br />Laughing empowered me; I felt we sent a very clear message that we weren’t intimidated by him and that we thought he was pathetic. It was because of this that the next time a man masturbated in front of me (I was travelling alone at this point and in a train station) I felt perfectly comfortable laughing as loudly as I could, catching the attention of every person in that station, screaming;<br />“Look at this disgusting man! With his tiny penis out! How embarrassing!”<br />The man skulked off, I laughed for a while and that was it, I spent no more time thinking about it.<br />Fast forward three years and to the man a few days ago. I’m not entirely sure why I felt so different, and why this time affected me so much. Obviously I’m a few years older and an ounce or so more careful, but I still feel like I’m the same free-spirited and optimistic person, why was this experience so difficult for me?<br />For days afterwards, I was nervous walking anywhere on my own, I stopped making eye contact at anyone in the street and I started carrying a pocket knife. I only ate in busy restaurants, sitting near families with children and I stopped smiling at any men, even the familiar faces of men who ran the guesthouse I was staying in.<br /><br />http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-advice/my-sexual-harassment-nightmare-in-india/story-fnndib5x-1227354939519Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-851325541179767572015-04-29T10:32:54.543-07:002015-04-29T10:32:54.543-07:00Rebuffing the moderator who expressed concern abou...Rebuffing the moderator who expressed concern about India being unsafe for women, Dutt at the event (Click here) , went on a defensive, saying she had a problem with the narrative that was being built around issues of safety in her country. She quoted Nobel laureate Amartya Sen to say that India was safer for women as compared to the US and the UK where incidences of sexual violence were higher. And she said, even as America dithered over a woman president in White House, India had a woman at the helm four decades ago. Shortly after, she hauled up the Americans on maternity leave, abortion and reproductive rights.<br />'These are conversations we don't have any longer' Dutt asserted to a rapturous applause in the audience, as well as online.<br /><br />While fabulous if the intent was to play to the gallery, all of these are exceptionally flawed and one-dimensional arguments that obfuscate the very real and frankly chronic problem of women's safety and position in India.<br /><br />Let's deal with them one by one.<br /><br />1) That the US & UK have a higher incidence of sexual violence.<br /><br />Even if this is indeed true, how does it in any manner absolve us from the moral burden of the fact that 93 women are raped every single day in India? And why must the US and UK perpetually validate or become benchmarks for what is and isn't acceptable for us?<br /><br />To the very assertion that these countries are more unsafe for women than India however - did Dutt consider the fact that sexual violence is sparsely reported in this country? The British medical journal The Lancet puts the number of victims in India reporting sexual violence to the police at a paltry one percent. In the US, according to Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, 32 out of every 100 rapes get reported. In the UK, the figure according to one charity, is 20%. <br /><br />Statistics, even when bandied about by Nobel Laureates, can be deceptive.<br /><br />2) That India has had a woman Prime Minister 4 decades ago.<br /><br />How is this anything other than a fact of deceptive symbolism? We are a nation that has been unable to pass the Women's Reservation Bill for 18 long years. We are a nation where women have only 11% representation in Parliament. We are a nation with an abysmal 3% women holding top positions in BSE 500 firms. The comparative figure in Europe and America is 10% and 14% respectively.<br /><br />Women in both Indian politics and business are often dynasts or proxies. Dutt would know that.<br /><br />3) That we don't have conversations about abortions<br /><br />Could it be because we simply kill the foetuses anyway, no questions asked? Estimates are that between eight to twelve million girls have been victims of Indian patriarchy in the last three decades. That's a genocide of mammoth proportions and a continuing one, with probably more girls being killed in Dutt's own backyard than anywhere else. Affluent South Delhi incidentally tops the charts when it comes to female infanticide.<br /><br />Dutt started off the 20 odd minute debate in New York with a disclaimer that she wasn't a defensive Indian. But progressively through the course of it, she sounded like someone who wanted to depict a less scathing portraiture of her country than was sought to be presented globally. So much so that it had co-panelist Leslee Udwin, the maker of India's Daughter' remark 'you cannot take care of your shame and let that trump saving your women'.<br /><br />Sadly, it did seem very much like misplaced national pride inhibited the avowed feminist in Dutt from calling a spade a spade. Pitifully it might also precisely be the reason why the horrendous mob online that usually attack her for her unpandering views, found themselves to be in agreement with their daily trolling target.<br /><br />That if nothing else, is reason enough to reconsider your position Barkha! I wouldn't trust my judgment if it began echoing with the voices of unreason on social media. <br /><br />http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/why-barkha-dutt-is-wrong-about-women-s-safety-in-india-115042900083_1.htmlRiaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-27646594633396991122014-11-28T23:38:32.150-08:002014-11-28T23:38:32.150-08:00You profoundly can profit from exceedingly talente...You profoundly can profit from exceedingly talented and educated medical caretakers, doctors, drug specialists, guides, advisors, dietitians, and clergymen at the restorative focus, <a href="" rel="nofollow">Top 10 Cancer Hospitals in India</a> furnish you with the medication you require. <br /><br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09588131737966908879noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-60707403647883298652014-11-10T09:29:32.541-08:002014-11-10T09:29:32.541-08:00REMINDS ME OF "BANDIT QUEEN" movie BASED...REMINDS ME OF "BANDIT QUEEN" movie BASED ON LIFE OF PHOOLAN DEVI<br />A woman in northern India has been stripped naked and paraded on a donkey on the orders of village elders after being accused of killing her nephew.<br />The village council in Rajsamand district in Rajasthan state also ordered the 45-year-old woman's face to be blackened.<br />Her nephew's family say she killed him. Police have arrested 39 people.<br />Orders given by village councils - panchayats - carry no legal weight but are widely respected in rural areas.<br />Rajasthan's principal secretary for rural development, Shreemat Pandey, told the BBC it was "completely illegal" for the panchayat to hand down such a punishment.<br /><br />http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-29983752Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-56949933232697963582014-06-11T08:35:47.040-07:002014-06-11T08:35:47.040-07:00India ranks 132 out of 187 countries on the gender...India ranks 132 out of 187 countries on the gender inequality index – lower than Pakistan (123), according to the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Report 2013.<br /><br />More In Women<br />U.N., U.S. 'Horrified' by Recent Sexual Assaults in India<br />Photos: Indian Village Where Two Girls were Raped, Hanged<br />Study: Rape in India a ‘Major National Problem’<br />Indian Politicians: Forgive Men for Rape; Hang Women<br />India Court Hands Down Death Sentences for Rape<br />The report said all countries in South Asia, with the exception of Afghanistan, were a better place for women than India, with Sri Lanka (75) topping them all. Nepal ranked 102nd and Bangladesh 111th.<br /><br />The annual U.N. report assesses how well countries world-wide are performing on human development indicators like health, education and income.<br /><br />The gender inequality index measures the loss in a country’s progress and human development because of gender inequality in three sectors: reproductive health, women empowerment and labor market participation.<br /><br />The report notes that “gender inequality is especially tragic not only because it excludes women from basic social opportunities, but also because it gravely imperils the life prospects of future generations.”<br /><br />India ranks low partly because of its skewed sex ratio, with only 914 females every 1000 males, according to Indian government data. Indian families often prefer boys to girls, and female feticide is tragically common.<br /><br />The UNDP study says that only 29% of Indian women above the age of 15 in 2011 were a part of the country’s labor force, compared to 80.7% men. In Parliament, only 10.9% of lawmakers are women, while in Pakistan 21.1% are women.<br /><br />In United States which ranks 42nd on the list, 57.5% women and 70.1% men are a part of the labor force. China fared even better, landing 35th.<br /><br />http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2013/03/15/india-ranks-lower-than-pakistan-on-gender-equality/Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-73182134053721555542014-01-23T20:31:57.783-08:002014-01-23T20:31:57.783-08:00Police in India's West Bengal state have arres...Police in India's West Bengal state have arrested 13 men in connection with a gang rape of a woman, allegedly on orders of village elders who objected to her relationship with a man.<br /><br />The 20-year-old woman has been admitted to a hospital in a critical condition.<br /><br />Unofficial courts in India's villages often sanction killings of couples deemed to have violated local codes.<br /><br />Scrutiny of sexual violence in India has grown since the 2012 gang rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus.<br /><br /><br />Village 'justice'<br /><br />July 2012: Asara village in Uttar Pradesh state bans love marriages and bars women under 40 from shopping alone, using mobile phones outside, and orders them to cover their heads when outdoors<br />May 2011: Eight people arrested in Uttar Pradesh for stoning to death a young couple who had a love affair<br />September 2010: A Dalit (formerly "untouchable") woman in Madhya Pradesh is ordered to pay 15,000 rupees ($330) compensation to the high-caste owners of a dog for feeding their pet. The owners say the dog became "untouchable"<br />August 2010: Village elders in West Bengal order a woman to walk naked in front of large crowds for having "an illicit love affair with a man from a different community"<br />June 2009: A Muslim woman and her Hindu husband kill themselves after the local village council orders them to annul their marriage or face death<br /><br />http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-25855325 Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-15519701455282626252013-12-17T10:31:44.641-08:002013-12-17T10:31:44.641-08:00#Indian diplomat, Women's Rights Advocate Paid...#Indian diplomat, Women's Rights Advocate Paid Her Nanny Three Dollars An Hour <br /><br />http://gawker.com/womens-rights-advocate-paid-her-nanny-three-dollars-an-1483881548 #India Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com