"In Iraq only one tenth of a million-and-a-half Christians that lived there ten years ago have survived. In Egypt we are witnessing a mass exodus of Christians. There are practically no Christians left in Libya. Ninety five percent of Christians have abandoned Homs in Syria. We, Orthodox and Catholics, must raise our voices jointly in defense of Christians subjected to persecution and repression in these countries, as well as in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Nigeria and in a number of other countries as well."-- Metropolitan Hilarion
Thinking about ethics and current events (Began 1 April 2008)
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Monday, April 29, 2013
Metropolitan Hilarion on Persecution of Christians
"In Iraq only one tenth of a million-and-a-half Christians that lived there ten years ago have survived. In Egypt we are witnessing a mass exodus of Christians. There are practically no Christians left in Libya. Ninety five percent of Christians have abandoned Homs in Syria. We, Orthodox and Catholics, must raise our voices jointly in defense of Christians subjected to persecution and repression in these countries, as well as in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Nigeria and in a number of other countries as well."-- Metropolitan Hilarion
Saturday, March 2, 2013
India: Another Minor Raped in Bhandara
Yadav Borkar (46), a government school teacher, allegedly raped the girl in the school premises at Golati village in Lakhandur taluka of Bhandara district two days ago, police said.
After the complaint was filed today, Borkar surrendered before the police and was arrested.
On February 14, three sisters, aged 6, 9 and 11 years, were abducted from Murwadi village of Bhandara district. Two days later, their bodies were found in a well. The post-mortem revealed that the girls were raped and sodomised before they were killed.
Police have made no progress in identifying the girls' abductors though they have questioned hundreds.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde revealed the names of three Maharashtra rape victims in the Rajya Sabha and subsequently retracted his statement. The Rajya Sabha expunged names of the rape victims from Shinde`s statement, but his ministry had already circulated the information to the media.
The three girls' destitute mother has rejected the government’s compensation offer of Rs 10 lakhs and wants the money be used to find the culprits.
The three girls' destitute mother has rejected the government’s compensation offer of Rs 10 lakhs and wants the money be used to find the culprits.
Related: Child Rape in Afghanistan
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Eggsploitation
Michael Cook
Editor, BioEdge
I thought that the shocking American documentary Eggsploitation had the last word on the exploitation of young women for their eggs. It showed that all over the world they are being promised lucrative sums "to make someone's dream come true". Some were racked by regret, some worried about cancer, some had suffered potentially fatal ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome (OHSS).
But when I heard the words "young woman", I never, ever, thought of a 15-year-old. That's how old a slum girl in Mumbai, Sushma Pandey, was when she first donated eggs for US$450. She did it three times. A year and a half later she was dead, presumably of OHSS. No one knows where the money went.
The clinic which retrieved her eggs boasts that it is a world leader and a specialist in gay surrogacy. It appears to have been targeted by a criminal gang which somehow dragooned young Sushma into donating. But the shocking thing about this case is that although it happened in 2010, the news has only emerged now. How many other 15-year-old girls in India (and other countries) are being ruthlessly exploited in this way? There could be thousands of them. Are some of them 14? 13? No one knows. No one cares. The important thing is to make sure that dreams come true: the dreams of IVF clinics for money and of Westerners for children.
The story appears to have appeared in the press only because charges against her former boss were dropped in Bombay High Court.
The Rotunda Center describes itself as a "world-renowned infertility clinic", a "center of excellence in donor egg IVF and gestational surrogacy" (see YouTube video below), and "the only clinic in India that is LGBT-friendly". Its medical director, Dr Gautam Allahbadia, was responsible for the first successful surrogate pregnancy of twins for a gay couple in India.
Newspaper accounts describe a bewildering number of people involved in the death, but no one seems to be responsible for it. Ms Pandey's parents did not know that she was donating. Sunil Chaumal, the 49-year-old owner of the scrap depot, was charged with culpable homicide but has been discharged for lack of evidence. A woman named Noorjahan accompanied her to the clinic and posed as her guardian but seems to have vanished. Ms Pandey stayed in the house of a man named Iqbal Hussein and was driven to the clinic by another man named Rakesh Bhat, but neither of them has been charged. Dr Allahbadia claims that the girl presented fake papers which showed that she was above the legal age limit and that his clinic cannot be blamed.
The fee for egg donation is 25,000 rupees. Since Ms Pandey donated three times, she should have earned 75,000 rupees. The money seems to have disappeared.
The case highlights the fact that India has hundreds of IVF clinics which operate with hardly any regulation. A bill is being studied, but the Indian legal system works at a glacial pace and it is still far from becoming law. This death suggests that criminal gangs are dangling the carrot of easy money in front of potential egg donors, regardless of their age.
Jennifer Lahl, producer of the documentary Eggsploitation, said that Ms Pandey's death was typical. "What happened to Sushma Pandey is happening to women every day, all over the world. The infertility industry knows the seriousness of the health risks, yet objects to any oversight, to long-term studies, and to regulation, simply because it will compromise their profits." ~ Indian Express, July 12
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Poor India is Economic Giant
India, Ancient Economic Behemoth, to Overtake China
By Ron Robins
When Europe was going through its murderous medieval period,
India was an economic behemoth controlling from one-fourth to one-third of the
world’s wealth. After the death of the Indian Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707,
India descended into fractious internal wars. This gave the British with their
East India Company the opportunity to seize and control vast Indian assets,
eventually assuming supremacy over all India.
In 1700, India’s economic output—its gross domestic product (GDP)—was almost 9 times that of Britain’s. By 1947, just before Indian independence from Britain, the tables had turned dramatically with British GDP about 1.2 times that of India, according to data by Angus Maddison in his study, The World Economy.
Now, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) believes the Indian economy has grown to be the world’s fourth largest on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis, that is, equalising exchange rates given the purchase of a set basket of goods. A Citi study reviewed in The Times of India on February 23 said that based on PPP, India will have the largest economy in the world by 2050. And the World Bank suggests that India’s economic growth rate could surpass that of China this year. The Indian government is projecting 2011 GDP growth of near 9 per cent.
Furthermore, the US Census Bureau projects India’s population becoming the world’s largest and surpassing China in 2025. And by 2050, the Bureau sees India’s population at 1.66 billion compared to China’s 1.3 billion.
Population demographics are crucial in another sense. In Ed Dolan’s, India's Secret Weapon in its Economic Race With China: Demographics, November 11, 2010, he writes that, “rich countries with slow population growth have high dependency ratios because they have many retirees. Low-income countries with fast population growth have high dependency ratios because they have lots of children. In between these two states, countries go through a Goldilocks period when the working age population has neither too many children nor too many parents to support... India is just entering its Goldilocks period while China, like the United States, is already leaving.”
While considering demographics, Mckinsey & Co expects India’s middle class population to grow from 50 million in 2007 to 583 million by 2025, while over 291 million will move away from desperate poverty to a more sustainable livelihood. Mckinsey also sees India’s consumer market becoming the world’s fifth largest by 2025, up from twelfth place in 2007.
Such consumption growth implies enormous economic investment. And in fact, in the next three years, a massive $500 billion is being spent on Indian infrastructure says Chris Devonshire-Ellis in his post, China Demographics Dictate India as Global Manufacturing Hub, last September 27. Citing data from Asian Comparator, he says that Indian wage rates and associated costs are highly favourable when compared to China and other Asian nations.
However, for now it is India’s service sector that is its real star. Relative to China, and given its state of development, India’s service sector is much larger too and is thus offering a different growth path to that of China. In fact, Ejaz Ghani, Economic Advisor at the World Bank, says in The Service Revolution, March 23, 2010, that the growth in services has India and other South Asian countries exhibiting the growth patterns of middle to high income countries.
Mr Ghani also says, “productivity growth in India’s service sector matches productivity growth in China’s manufacturing sector… that the effect of services growth on aggregate economic growth appears to be as strong, if not stronger, than the effect of manufacturing growth on overall growth… India’s growth experience suggests that a global service revolution—rapid growth and poverty reduction led by services—is now possible.” Incidentally, services represent about 70 per cent of global GDP, whereas manufacturing is much lower at 17 per cent. Thus services represent potentially, a much higher order of growth for India than does manufacturing.
And services continue to grow rapidly. In a February 21 article in India’s Express Computer, it says that IT-BPO (information technology-business process outsourcing) is estimated to be up 19 per cent this year with revenues of $76 billion. Exports are expected to be $59 billion of that. For fiscal year 2012 the publication says that software and services growth is expected to increase 16 to 18 per cent.
India may have yet another advantage over China: it might be more attractive to foreign executives says Mr Devonshire-Ellis. He quizzed a number of western executives who had worked in China and India and asked them where they prefer to work. He said that, “the surprising conclusion was that India was preferable. Several executives expressed a desire never to return to China.”
Also, the world’s business language, English, is used by 350 million Indians, while about 100 million speak and write the language fluently. Moreover, unlike China, much of India’s legal, political, financial and commercial framework is more familiar to developed countries’ businesses that would like to do business with or invest in India.
India has traditionally been a land of great entrepreneurial activity and wealth. The past three centuries of poverty have been an anomaly. Now its economic growth could soon surpass that of China and its economy become the biggest in the world by 2050. Its population is projected to be the largest of any country by 2025. As it grows to have the world’s biggest pool of working age individuals, its forthcoming massive investments in infrastructure, its comparative wage cost advantages, widespread use of English and globally compatible financial and legal structures, India could soon become a major world centre for both manufacturing and services.
India is rising again to become a global economic behemoth.
In 1700, India’s economic output—its gross domestic product (GDP)—was almost 9 times that of Britain’s. By 1947, just before Indian independence from Britain, the tables had turned dramatically with British GDP about 1.2 times that of India, according to data by Angus Maddison in his study, The World Economy.
Now, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) believes the Indian economy has grown to be the world’s fourth largest on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis, that is, equalising exchange rates given the purchase of a set basket of goods. A Citi study reviewed in The Times of India on February 23 said that based on PPP, India will have the largest economy in the world by 2050. And the World Bank suggests that India’s economic growth rate could surpass that of China this year. The Indian government is projecting 2011 GDP growth of near 9 per cent.
Furthermore, the US Census Bureau projects India’s population becoming the world’s largest and surpassing China in 2025. And by 2050, the Bureau sees India’s population at 1.66 billion compared to China’s 1.3 billion.
Population demographics are crucial in another sense. In Ed Dolan’s, India's Secret Weapon in its Economic Race With China: Demographics, November 11, 2010, he writes that, “rich countries with slow population growth have high dependency ratios because they have many retirees. Low-income countries with fast population growth have high dependency ratios because they have lots of children. In between these two states, countries go through a Goldilocks period when the working age population has neither too many children nor too many parents to support... India is just entering its Goldilocks period while China, like the United States, is already leaving.”
While considering demographics, Mckinsey & Co expects India’s middle class population to grow from 50 million in 2007 to 583 million by 2025, while over 291 million will move away from desperate poverty to a more sustainable livelihood. Mckinsey also sees India’s consumer market becoming the world’s fifth largest by 2025, up from twelfth place in 2007.
Such consumption growth implies enormous economic investment. And in fact, in the next three years, a massive $500 billion is being spent on Indian infrastructure says Chris Devonshire-Ellis in his post, China Demographics Dictate India as Global Manufacturing Hub, last September 27. Citing data from Asian Comparator, he says that Indian wage rates and associated costs are highly favourable when compared to China and other Asian nations.
However, for now it is India’s service sector that is its real star. Relative to China, and given its state of development, India’s service sector is much larger too and is thus offering a different growth path to that of China. In fact, Ejaz Ghani, Economic Advisor at the World Bank, says in The Service Revolution, March 23, 2010, that the growth in services has India and other South Asian countries exhibiting the growth patterns of middle to high income countries.
Mr Ghani also says, “productivity growth in India’s service sector matches productivity growth in China’s manufacturing sector… that the effect of services growth on aggregate economic growth appears to be as strong, if not stronger, than the effect of manufacturing growth on overall growth… India’s growth experience suggests that a global service revolution—rapid growth and poverty reduction led by services—is now possible.” Incidentally, services represent about 70 per cent of global GDP, whereas manufacturing is much lower at 17 per cent. Thus services represent potentially, a much higher order of growth for India than does manufacturing.
And services continue to grow rapidly. In a February 21 article in India’s Express Computer, it says that IT-BPO (information technology-business process outsourcing) is estimated to be up 19 per cent this year with revenues of $76 billion. Exports are expected to be $59 billion of that. For fiscal year 2012 the publication says that software and services growth is expected to increase 16 to 18 per cent.
India may have yet another advantage over China: it might be more attractive to foreign executives says Mr Devonshire-Ellis. He quizzed a number of western executives who had worked in China and India and asked them where they prefer to work. He said that, “the surprising conclusion was that India was preferable. Several executives expressed a desire never to return to China.”
Also, the world’s business language, English, is used by 350 million Indians, while about 100 million speak and write the language fluently. Moreover, unlike China, much of India’s legal, political, financial and commercial framework is more familiar to developed countries’ businesses that would like to do business with or invest in India.
India has traditionally been a land of great entrepreneurial activity and wealth. The past three centuries of poverty have been an anomaly. Now its economic growth could soon surpass that of China and its economy become the biggest in the world by 2050. Its population is projected to be the largest of any country by 2025. As it grows to have the world’s biggest pool of working age individuals, its forthcoming massive investments in infrastructure, its comparative wage cost advantages, widespread use of English and globally compatible financial and legal structures, India could soon become a major world centre for both manufacturing and services.
India is rising again to become a global economic behemoth.
Copyright alrroya.com
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Chandrika Rai and his Family Murdered in India
(IFJ/IFEX) - February 21, 2012 - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is shocked and horrified at the brutal murder of senior journalist Chandrika Rai, his wife and two young children, in Umaria district in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
Chandrika Rai, 43, a freelance journalist who was published frequently in newspapers in the state capital of Bhopal, was found dead at his home on the evening of Saturday, February 18. His 39-year old wife, 19-year old son and 17-year old daughter, were also found dead in different rooms of the house. All four bodies bore injuries inflicted by a sharp weapon.
Media reports from India suggest that Rai could have been targeted for revenge by elements involved in local coal mining activities. Rai had recently written articles exposing numerous illegalities in the coal trade in the region.
Other reports hint at a connection with the recent abduction of the son of a government official. Rai is believed to have expressed his scepticism over police claims that the boy was rescued without any ransom changing hands. This may have attracted the anger of an organised kidnapping racket in the area.
"The IFJ is deeply shocked and saddened at the brutality of this murder, and the loss of a brave journalist and his entire family", said the IFJ Asia-Pacific.
"Violence committed against journalists, whatever its motive, has a chilling effect on good investigative journalism carried out in the public interest.
"We call upon the authorities in the state of Madhya Pradesh to utilise all necessary resources and efforts to investigate this matter, and ensure that those responsible for this murder are brought to justice for their crimes".
For more information:
International Federation of Journalists
International Press Centre, Residence Palace
Bloc C, second floor, Rue de la Loi, 155
1040 Brussels
Belgium
Phone: +32 2 2352207
Fax: +32 2 2352219
http://www.ifj.org
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
"Well-Trained Terrorist" Attacked Israeli Diplomat
Kurt Achin
New Delhi
Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram says Monday evening's car blast was targeted at an Israeli diplomat's wife.
"It's quite clear that a very well-trained person has committed this attack," he said. "One has to proceed on the basis that it was a terrorist attack."
The attack was carried out in one of New Delhi's most secure districts -- only a few blocks from the residence of the prime minister himself.
"It appears that a motorcycle rider, a single person, came from behind and the person attached a device to the trunk's door of the Innova," he explained. "The explosion, according to the eyewitness...happened within seconds. And, we think it happened within about four to five seconds of the device being attached."
Police are carefully scrutinizing forensic evidence and closed circuit television footage from the vicinity of the explosion. Israeli intelligence is cooperating in the investigation. The Israeli diplomat's wife is described as in critical but stable condition and is recovering from shrapnel wounds and spinal injury.
Israel is openly blaming Iran for the attack. Iran denies involvement. And the official Iranian media quote a Foreign Ministry spokesman who accuses Israel of attacking its own embassies as part of a “psychological war” to tarnish relations against Iran.
Indian Home Minister Chidambaram was careful not to assign blame Monday, saying it is too early in the investigation.
"At the moment, I am not pointing a finger at any particular group or any particular organization. But whoever did it, we condemn it in the strongest terms," he said.
Separately, police in the former Soviet republic of Georgia defused a car bomb in an Israeli embassy vehicle, raising questions about whether the two attacks are connected.
There are apparent similarities between Monday's magnet bomb strike and attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists for which Iran blames Israel. Many Indians are now wondering whether their country will become a new front for a covert conflict between Israel and Iran because of the latter's nuclear program.
India has strong historical ties to Iran and depends heavily on it for imported fuel. India has resisted calls from Western nations to sanction the country for its nuclear program and is planning to send a massive trade delegation to Tehran later this month.
Western powers accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian energy program, a charge Tehran denies.
Source: Global Security
Saturday, December 31, 2011
India Leases N-Sub from Russia
MOSCOW: Russia has handed over the nuclear-powered attack submarine Nerpa to India following more than two years of delays, according to a senior naval official.
The signing ceremony happened yesterday at the Bolshoi Kamen shipbuilding facility in the (Far East) Primorye region where the Nerpa is now based, the official in the naval chief of staff told ITAR-TASS on Friday.
The report said an Indian crew would sail the Akula II class craft to its home base at the end of January after receiving it on a 10-year lease, in a deal that has angered Pakistan.
"All of the naval tests and performance checks have been completed, the Russian official said. The crew will begin making themselves feel at home on board the craft after New Year and start sailing it to India in the latter half of January.
The Nerpa will be the first nuclear powered submarine to be operated by India in nearly two decades after it decommissioned its last such Soviet built vessel in 1991.
India is currently completing the development of its own Arihant-class nuclear-powered ballistic submarines and the Nerpa`s delivery is expected to help crews train for the domestic boat`s introduction into service next year.
The Russian Pacific port ceremony was held on the same day a shipyard fire engulfed the Northern Fleet`s Yekaterinburg nuclear-powered strategic submarine in the Murmansk region on the opposite side of the country.
The Nerpa had initially been due tobe handed over to India in 2009 but experienced various problems during testing.
It suffered a mishap during trials in the Sea of Japan in November 2008 that killed 20 sailors when a fire extinguisher released a deadly chemical that was accidentally loaded into the system.
Media reports said that some of the vessel`s equipment malfunctioned during testing and that the weapons navigation system did not work to India`s specifications.
The 8,000-ton vessel can fire a range of torpedoes as well as Granat cruise missiles that can be nuclear-tipped.
India has promised not to arm the submarine with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles under its obligations to international treaties it adopted after conducting a series of atomic tests in the 1990s. But Pakistan is worried over the craft`s delivery.
"Rest assured, there will be no compromise in terms of maintaining the credibility of our deterrence", spokesman for Pakistan`s Foreign Office Abdul Basit was quoted as saying by The Asian Age newspaper this week.
The submarine is due to be commissioned as the INS Chakra in India under a 2004 agreement that had seen the South Asian country pay $650 million in construction costs.
Newspaper reports in India said New Delhi could end up paying as much as $900 million under the terms of the deal.
Russia supplies 70 per cent of India`s military hardware but New Delhi has been unhappy about delays to arms orders from Moscow and looked to other suppliers including Israel and the United States in recent years.-AFP
Source: Pakistan Dawn
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Mumbai Killer's Execution Delayed
NEW DELHI, Oct 10: India’s Supreme Court on Monday stayed the death sentence handed down to the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, pending an appeal hearing.
“This case has to be heard on top priority,” Judge Aftab Alam told the court. “It is the demand of the judicial system that we have to hear this appeal.” Pakistani national Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, one of 10 gunmen who laid siege to Mumbai for nearly three days killing 166 people, was convicted in May 2010.
Kasab was found guilty of a string of crimes, including waging war against India, murder, attempted murder and terrorist acts, after a trial at a maximum security prison court in Mumbai.
The first appeal by the 23-year-old from a poor farming area in the Punjab province failed in February, when the state high court in Mumbai confirmed both his conviction and death sentence.
India reserves executions, which are carried out by hanging, for the “rarest of the rare” offences.—AFP
“This case has to be heard on top priority,” Judge Aftab Alam told the court. “It is the demand of the judicial system that we have to hear this appeal.” Pakistani national Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, one of 10 gunmen who laid siege to Mumbai for nearly three days killing 166 people, was convicted in May 2010.
Kasab was found guilty of a string of crimes, including waging war against India, murder, attempted murder and terrorist acts, after a trial at a maximum security prison court in Mumbai.
The first appeal by the 23-year-old from a poor farming area in the Punjab province failed in February, when the state high court in Mumbai confirmed both his conviction and death sentence.
India reserves executions, which are carried out by hanging, for the “rarest of the rare” offences.—AFP
Thursday, September 1, 2011
UN's Flawed Fertility Figures
NEW YORK, August 25 (C-FAM) The UN has reversed a decade of speculation about a demographic winter in the West, and now says that every country will achieve replacement fertility by 2100 resulting in a global population of 10 billion. The problem is there is no basis for their turnabout.
UN agencies are hailing new numbers as evidence of overpopulation in the developing world and vindication of decades of anti-natal policies in the West, but the scientific basis of the latest UN forecasts is slim.
The most significant change in the UN’s new numbers is an increase in the predicted convergence rate from 1.85 children per woman, below replacement, to 2.1, about replacement fertility.
While the UN claims there is consensus on the matter, demographers have long argued that there is no evidence to support the assumption that global fertility will ever converge, and no basis for the assertion that all nations go through three phases of demographic change: from declining birth rates where most developing nations are today, to below replacement rates experienced by all developed countries except the US, and finally to recovery at near replacement rates which a few Northern European countries have achieved.
Adherents to the recovery hypothesis say that the dip in European fertility rates may be due to women’s delaying childbearing. But as a new RAND study points out, “changes in birth timing can affect short-term birthrates” but “the effects are mild, and the result of delay can be permanent for the population as a whole even if not permanent for any one woman.”
In terms of youth 15-24 years old entering the workforce or military, the new figures would mean that India’s much-anticipated demographic advantage over China would be curtailed. India would have 75 million fewer youth by 2050, and 324 million fewer by 2100, while China would gain 26 million more than previously expected.
Germany’s share of youth in 2050 would rise from a projected 8.5 percent to 10 percent of its population according to the new UN forecast, more than doubling the number of youth previously predicted by 2100. Likewise, the number of Russian youth would be more than twice existing projections, and Japan’s share of youth would jump from just 7.7 percent in 2050 to 10.4 percent in 2100.
In sharp contrast, governments remain pessimistic. Recent reports from the European Commission and the Japanese government, for example, assume that fertility will remain near today’s levels which are about 1.3 in Japan, and 1.4 in Germany.
To achieve the dramatically new fertility predictions, the UN Population Division created a “probabilistic model” that uses high capacity computing to run 100,000 of fertility scenarios for each country.
While this new model gives a patina of greater scientific accuracy, it is based upon an arbitrary and unsubstantiated fertility rate. Just because demographers now have the capability of churning out many thousands of scenarios for each country studied does not mean the result is scientific.
Policy analysts would do well to reject the UN one-size-fits-all fertility projections and rely instead on data accounting for the various national factors contributing to desired family size.
From here.
Friday, May 20, 2011
WikiLeaks to be Published in Pakistan and India
The Dawn Media Group and Julian Assange, Chief Executive of Sunshine Press Productions, the publishing arm of WikiLeaks, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the exclusive first use in Pakistan of all the secret US diplomatic cables related to political and other developments in the country.
The MoU signed in the UK allows the publication and use of these secret cables in Dawn, its website Dawn.com and DawnNews television. Under similar arrangement between the Sunshine Press Productions, daily The Hindu and NDTV will also be publishing these cables simultaneously in India.
These cables have been obtained by WikiLeaks through its own sources and made available to Dawn Media Group. Today Dawn is carrying the first set from a huge cache of cables, and will continue to publish them in the following days. Dawn’s extensive coverage will include publication of the actual cables as well as specially commissioned stories around them. All cables referenced are available for viewing in their original form on Dawn.com.
The MoU signed in the UK allows the publication and use of these secret cables in Dawn, its website Dawn.com and DawnNews television. Under similar arrangement between the Sunshine Press Productions, daily The Hindu and NDTV will also be publishing these cables simultaneously in India.
These cables have been obtained by WikiLeaks through its own sources and made available to Dawn Media Group. Today Dawn is carrying the first set from a huge cache of cables, and will continue to publish them in the following days. Dawn’s extensive coverage will include publication of the actual cables as well as specially commissioned stories around them. All cables referenced are available for viewing in their original form on Dawn.com.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Fewer Girl Babies in India Despite Abortion Penalites
There are striking regional differences. The ratio in the state of Haryana is the lowest in India, although it registered a small increase from 819 from 2001 to 830 in 2011. The best state, overall, is northeastern Mizoram, at 971. The lowest district in the country is Jhajjar, in Haryana, with a ratio of 774. Even in the capital, Delhi, the ratio slipped from 868 to 866.
Portable ultrasound machines and readily available abortion have made the decline in the number of baby girls possible, but its cause is a deep-seated preference for male offspring. A 1994 law banning sex-selective abortions set down stiff penalties, but with a wink and a nod its strict safeguards are easily circumvented.
And while a falling birth rate may give good cheer to supporters of limits on population growth, it makes the sex ratio far worse. When people choose to have only one or two children, they choose boys. "The issue of discrimination is one that is deep rooted in the Indian society," says Ravi Verma, director of the Asia office of the International Center for Research on Women. "With fertility decline, the preference for son is becoming stronger." ~ WSJ.com, March 31
Monday, January 10, 2011
India Not Budging on Afghanistan
KABUL, Jan 9: Reconciliation efforts between the Taliban and the Afghan government must be led by Kabul, India`s foreign minister said on Sunday, warning that outside interference could undermine the prospect of a stable Afghanistan.
S.M. Krishna also said that security threats would not drive his country out of Afghanistan. His comments came shortly after a delegation from the Afghan High Peace Council travelled to Pakistan to discuss how to move forward with the efforts to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table.
“India has always supported the efforts of Afghanistan to reintegrate those individuals who are willing to (reject) violence, respect values of democracy, pluralism and human rights as enshrined in the Afghan constitution, and do not have links with terrorist groups,” Mr Krishna said at a joint news conference with his Afghan counterpart, Zalmai Rassoul.
“The process should be Afghan-led, inclusive and transparent,” said Mr Krishna, who also met President Hamid Karzai.
“Any external interference in the reintegration process would be detrimental both for its success and for the future of a democratic, stable, pluralistic and prosperous Afghanistan.”
Mr Krishna said he and Mr Rassoul discussed the issue of terrorism and that they agreed on the need to deal “firmly with terrorist groups that continue to exist outside Afghanistan`s borders”.
India is playing an increasing role in Afghanistan. Indian companies are carrying out several projects in the country and Mr Krishna said his nation was commit- ted to staying in the country and helping Afghans as long as the “legitimately elected” government of Afghanistan wanted.
He said India was going to donate 100,000 tons of wheat to Afghanistan, a move linked to the drought that has ravaged crop development over the year.
Mr Krishna said the threat to his country`s mission, and its workers in Afghanistan, was “a cause of great concern”, but that he was confident the Afghan government could provide the necessary security.
“Let me hasten to add India is not going to be cut down by such threats,” he said.
Both India and Afghanistan have pointed the finger at Pakistan over security threats, alleging that elements within its power structures fund and support extremism.
Analysts say regional rivals India and Pakistan are locked in a struggle for influence in Afghanistan, which borders Pakistan.
India is believed to give more money to Afghanistan than any other country in the region, through aid and reconstruction programmes. —Agencies
From here.
S.M. Krishna also said that security threats would not drive his country out of Afghanistan. His comments came shortly after a delegation from the Afghan High Peace Council travelled to Pakistan to discuss how to move forward with the efforts to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table.
“India has always supported the efforts of Afghanistan to reintegrate those individuals who are willing to (reject) violence, respect values of democracy, pluralism and human rights as enshrined in the Afghan constitution, and do not have links with terrorist groups,” Mr Krishna said at a joint news conference with his Afghan counterpart, Zalmai Rassoul.
“The process should be Afghan-led, inclusive and transparent,” said Mr Krishna, who also met President Hamid Karzai.
“Any external interference in the reintegration process would be detrimental both for its success and for the future of a democratic, stable, pluralistic and prosperous Afghanistan.”
Mr Krishna said he and Mr Rassoul discussed the issue of terrorism and that they agreed on the need to deal “firmly with terrorist groups that continue to exist outside Afghanistan`s borders”.
India is playing an increasing role in Afghanistan. Indian companies are carrying out several projects in the country and Mr Krishna said his nation was commit- ted to staying in the country and helping Afghans as long as the “legitimately elected” government of Afghanistan wanted.
He said India was going to donate 100,000 tons of wheat to Afghanistan, a move linked to the drought that has ravaged crop development over the year.
Mr Krishna said the threat to his country`s mission, and its workers in Afghanistan, was “a cause of great concern”, but that he was confident the Afghan government could provide the necessary security.
“Let me hasten to add India is not going to be cut down by such threats,” he said.
Both India and Afghanistan have pointed the finger at Pakistan over security threats, alleging that elements within its power structures fund and support extremism.
Analysts say regional rivals India and Pakistan are locked in a struggle for influence in Afghanistan, which borders Pakistan.
India is believed to give more money to Afghanistan than any other country in the region, through aid and reconstruction programmes. —Agencies
From here.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Salman Taseer's Murder
A few in the Indian media have found in the murder of Salman Taseer an opportunity to prescribe ways to Pakistan to fight religious terrorism, but a small news item in the Times of India on Thursday offered a clue to New Delhi`s own nervousness with home-grown terror.
The single-paragraph report did not have a dateline, but appeared to refer to a police advisory in Mumbai. It said: “Police have instructed private security agencies to check background details of guards they recruit, especially youths from Kashmir, as intelligence agencies suspect the Indian Mujahideen (IM) plans to use such people for terror strikes in the city.”
The IM, which some say has links with Lashkar-e-Taiba, has been blamed for a clutch of attacks across the country.
In an editorial titled `The slippery slope`, The Indian Express said Tuesday`s murder of Salman Taseer by one of his guards underlined the deepening structural crisis in the nation.
“The first major political assassination since the killing of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto a little over three years ago has brought into sharp relief the growing militant infiltration of the security forces, a weak civilian government that is unable to govern, an economy in shambles, and an all-powerful army leadership that appears to have lost the plot,” The Express said.
“The assassin has reportedly said his motivation was to avenge the governor`s support to changes in Pakistan`s notorious law against blasphemy that has victimised not only religious minorities but also mainstream Muslims,” the paper pointed out.
It said Pakistan`s leaders must comprehensively reject Ziaul Haq`s vision and turn back to a more moderate and democratic ideal of Pakistan, taking on extremist elements. “Otherwise cracks in the polity will only deepen, and the worst losers will be the people of Pakistan.” Telegraph
The Kolkata-based said Taseer`s murder makes clear that Pakistan remains on the edge of the abyss.
“Thousands of lives, and billions of pounds, have been lost in an effort to defeat the insurgents who threaten to seize control of the nuclear-armed state. And it is becoming clear that the Pakistani state either isn`t willing, or isn`t able, to confront the Islamist movement that it has nurtured for decades — and which now threatens to turn the country into a burnt-out dystopia.”
Last month Ashok Singhal, leader of the neo-fascist Vishwa Hindu Parishad, had warned that Congress president Sonia Gandhi would meet the fate of her assassinated mother-in-law, former prime minister Indira Gandhi, if she persisted with an investigation into the alleged involvement of rightwing Hindu activists in sabotage and bomb attacks, including the fire-bombing of the Samjhota Express. Most Indian newspapers didn`t find the comments newsworthy.
Read all of it here.
The single-paragraph report did not have a dateline, but appeared to refer to a police advisory in Mumbai. It said: “Police have instructed private security agencies to check background details of guards they recruit, especially youths from Kashmir, as intelligence agencies suspect the Indian Mujahideen (IM) plans to use such people for terror strikes in the city.”
The IM, which some say has links with Lashkar-e-Taiba, has been blamed for a clutch of attacks across the country.
In an editorial titled `The slippery slope`, The Indian Express said Tuesday`s murder of Salman Taseer by one of his guards underlined the deepening structural crisis in the nation.
“The first major political assassination since the killing of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto a little over three years ago has brought into sharp relief the growing militant infiltration of the security forces, a weak civilian government that is unable to govern, an economy in shambles, and an all-powerful army leadership that appears to have lost the plot,” The Express said.
“The assassin has reportedly said his motivation was to avenge the governor`s support to changes in Pakistan`s notorious law against blasphemy that has victimised not only religious minorities but also mainstream Muslims,” the paper pointed out.
It said Pakistan`s leaders must comprehensively reject Ziaul Haq`s vision and turn back to a more moderate and democratic ideal of Pakistan, taking on extremist elements. “Otherwise cracks in the polity will only deepen, and the worst losers will be the people of Pakistan.” Telegraph
The Kolkata-based said Taseer`s murder makes clear that Pakistan remains on the edge of the abyss.
“Thousands of lives, and billions of pounds, have been lost in an effort to defeat the insurgents who threaten to seize control of the nuclear-armed state. And it is becoming clear that the Pakistani state either isn`t willing, or isn`t able, to confront the Islamist movement that it has nurtured for decades — and which now threatens to turn the country into a burnt-out dystopia.”
Last month Ashok Singhal, leader of the neo-fascist Vishwa Hindu Parishad, had warned that Congress president Sonia Gandhi would meet the fate of her assassinated mother-in-law, former prime minister Indira Gandhi, if she persisted with an investigation into the alleged involvement of rightwing Hindu activists in sabotage and bomb attacks, including the fire-bombing of the Samjhota Express. Most Indian newspapers didn`t find the comments newsworthy.
Read all of it here.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
India: Pakistan a "Major Irritant"
NEW DELHI: India’s army chief Gen V.K. Singh on Friday described China and Pakistan as two major irritants for New Delhi and urged the armed forces to ensure the country had a “substantial” conventional war capability to “fight in a nuclear scenario”.
Inaugurating a seminar “Indian Army: Emerging Roles and Tasks” in New Delhi, he said: “We have two major irritants. One, there is a problem of governance in Pakistan where terror outfits receive support and where internal situation is not very good. And, therefore, it can have a fallout in terms of how these things impact India.
“Till the time the terrorist infrastructure remains intact on the other side, we have something to worry.”
Noting that China was rising both economically and militarily, Gen Singh stressed that the Sino-Indian border was stable but there was a boundary dispute, which was worrying.
“Although we have a very stable border, yet we have a border dispute. And, therefore, the intentions need to be looked at along with this additional capability that is coming out,” Gen Singh said.
“It impacts the way we will task our army and the role that we will give to it so that it can do the task that the nation wants. So, with this, let’s also see what are some of the threats that we face or the challenges that we have.”
He said: “Even though we have a stable border with China, we cannot take chances.”
He told the seminar that an all-out conventional war with China was “not certain”, but skirmishes were “certainly possible”.
“We must have a substantial conventional war-fighting capabilities with the ability to fight in a nuclear scenario,” he stressed.
Gen Singh’s remarks follow comments by Indian Defence Minister A. K. Antony to the effect that China was exhibiting “assertiveness” in its military posture in the region and asked the armed forces to remain vigilant to counter any threat.
Reviewing serious threats to India’s national security, Gen Singh said the country’s island territories were vulnerable and these needed to be defended well, the Press Trust of India said.
He also talked about the coastal assets, both military and infrastructural, that were critical for the country’s development and said securing them too was of primary importance.
In this respect, he noted that India’s peninsular projection into the Indian Ocean had provided a gateway for attacks and the country’s subjugation in the past.Though the army chief did not name the Maoists, he said “internal dissent” and insurgencies in Jammu and Kashmir and the North East were the other threats that needed attention.
From here.
Inaugurating a seminar “Indian Army: Emerging Roles and Tasks” in New Delhi, he said: “We have two major irritants. One, there is a problem of governance in Pakistan where terror outfits receive support and where internal situation is not very good. And, therefore, it can have a fallout in terms of how these things impact India.
“Till the time the terrorist infrastructure remains intact on the other side, we have something to worry.”
Noting that China was rising both economically and militarily, Gen Singh stressed that the Sino-Indian border was stable but there was a boundary dispute, which was worrying.
“Although we have a very stable border, yet we have a border dispute. And, therefore, the intentions need to be looked at along with this additional capability that is coming out,” Gen Singh said.
“It impacts the way we will task our army and the role that we will give to it so that it can do the task that the nation wants. So, with this, let’s also see what are some of the threats that we face or the challenges that we have.”
He said: “Even though we have a stable border with China, we cannot take chances.”
He told the seminar that an all-out conventional war with China was “not certain”, but skirmishes were “certainly possible”.
“We must have a substantial conventional war-fighting capabilities with the ability to fight in a nuclear scenario,” he stressed.
Gen Singh’s remarks follow comments by Indian Defence Minister A. K. Antony to the effect that China was exhibiting “assertiveness” in its military posture in the region and asked the armed forces to remain vigilant to counter any threat.
Reviewing serious threats to India’s national security, Gen Singh said the country’s island territories were vulnerable and these needed to be defended well, the Press Trust of India said.
He also talked about the coastal assets, both military and infrastructural, that were critical for the country’s development and said securing them too was of primary importance.
In this respect, he noted that India’s peninsular projection into the Indian Ocean had provided a gateway for attacks and the country’s subjugation in the past.Though the army chief did not name the Maoists, he said “internal dissent” and insurgencies in Jammu and Kashmir and the North East were the other threats that needed attention.
From here.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
News Briefs
INDIA, July 7: Hindustan Times: ART in India Could Lead to Child Abuse
Single men, women and even gays and lesbians could soon get the legal sanction to have children using surrogate mothers. The draft Bill legalising surrogacy in India — the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) [Regulation] Bill 2010 — has provided for single parenthood by allowing “unmarried couples” and “single persons” from India and abroad to have children using ART procedure and surrogate mothers.The Bill, with potential to rewrite the social landscape, may be tabled in the monsoon session of Parliament if the Union Cabinet clears it.
“Along with the term single persons, the path is open for gays and lesbians to use ART procedure,” said senior advocate Rajiv Dhavan, who played a crucial role in drafting the Bill along with his colleagues at Public Interest Legal Support and Research Centre. “The expression ‘unmarried couples’ generally suggests heterosexual relationships. But its interpretation has been left open.”
NEW YORK, July 7: The New York Daily News: CNN fires Octavia Nasr for Twitter post
Less than 140 characters cost CNN's Octavia Nasr her job after she tweeted her "respect" for a terror-loving Hezbollah sheikh who died over the weekend.
Nasr, CNN's Senior Editor of Mideast Affairs, ran into hot water after she posted on Twitter that she was "sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah... One of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot."
HAVANA, July 7: Al Jezeera: Cuba to Free 52 Dissidents
Cuba's Catholic church has said that the Cuban government will free 52 political prisoners in a major concession to international pressure to improve its human rights.
The church said in a statement on Wednesday that five of the prisoners would be released later during the day and allowed to go to Spain, while the remaining 47 would be freed over the next few months.
Single men, women and even gays and lesbians could soon get the legal sanction to have children using surrogate mothers. The draft Bill legalising surrogacy in India — the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) [Regulation] Bill 2010 — has provided for single parenthood by allowing “unmarried couples” and “single persons” from India and abroad to have children using ART procedure and surrogate mothers.The Bill, with potential to rewrite the social landscape, may be tabled in the monsoon session of Parliament if the Union Cabinet clears it.
“Along with the term single persons, the path is open for gays and lesbians to use ART procedure,” said senior advocate Rajiv Dhavan, who played a crucial role in drafting the Bill along with his colleagues at Public Interest Legal Support and Research Centre. “The expression ‘unmarried couples’ generally suggests heterosexual relationships. But its interpretation has been left open.”
NEW YORK, July 7: The New York Daily News: CNN fires Octavia Nasr for Twitter post
Less than 140 characters cost CNN's Octavia Nasr her job after she tweeted her "respect" for a terror-loving Hezbollah sheikh who died over the weekend.
Nasr, CNN's Senior Editor of Mideast Affairs, ran into hot water after she posted on Twitter that she was "sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah... One of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot."
HAVANA, July 7: Al Jezeera: Cuba to Free 52 Dissidents
Cuba's Catholic church has said that the Cuban government will free 52 political prisoners in a major concession to international pressure to improve its human rights.
The church said in a statement on Wednesday that five of the prisoners would be released later during the day and allowed to go to Spain, while the remaining 47 would be freed over the next few months.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Survivors of Air India Crash Recall Horror
BANGALORE: Some of the seven survivors who crawled or were carried from the burning remains of a plane that crashed in India on Saturday told of their escape amid scenes of horror and death.
At least 159 people died after the plane overshot the runaway and plunged down a steep slope when coming in to land near the southern city of Mangalore on a flight from Dubai.
“The plane veered off toward some trees on the side and then the cabin filled with smoke,” Umer Farooq, his face covered in burn cream, told the NDTV news channel at a local hospital.
“The plane overshot the runway only to stop inside a forest area... it burst into flames,” he said. “I got caught in some cables but managed to scramble out.
“My hands, face and legs are all burnt. There was an announcement that the plane would land in 15 minutes. There was lot of smoke fire inside, there was no way to get out. I think the plane hit something.”
Another survivor, K.P. Manikutty, said he had managed to escape as the plane's fuselage smashed open.
“There was no warning to passengers about any trouble and it appeared a smooth landing,” Manikutty told the Press Trust of India.
“Immediately on touching the ground, the aircraft jerked and in a few moments hit something. Then it split in the middle and caught fire. I just jumped from the gap,” he said.
A police official said one of the survivors, a seven-year-old boy, later died from injuries.
“I thought the flight would come to a stop soon and prepared myself to get down,” Putturismail Abdulla, who works in the Gulf, told the UNI press agency.
“But there was a big burst sound. Soon I saw the aircraft breaking into two near me. Out of sheer desperation I jumped out and ran to safety.
“Looking back I saw the aircraft breaking down into pieces and caught fire. God saved my life. Despite injuries in the leg, I went to a nearby village and called my friend who picked me up and took me to a hospital.”
Television pictures showed rescue teams struggling down mud slopes to the the wreckage site, where many bodies remained inside the plane.
“One of my co-passengers fell into the fire while one escaped with me through the opening that was made after the plane broke into two,” Abdul Puthur, a shop manager in Dubai who was returning home after five months, said.
“It all happened within a few seconds. I found another person. Together we walked for about 20 minutes through the jungle before locals came and helped us.”
Families waiting at the airport for their relatives and friends wept uncontrollably as emergency workers rushed to the disaster scene.
“I can't believe I survived the crash,” said G.K. Pradeep reliving the moments before the tragedy.
“There were vibrations before the plane crashed... as soon as it hit the ground, I managed to get out and jump into a pit. There was smoke all over as the plane caught fire. After ten minutes, there was an explosion,” he said.
From here.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
US Warns India of Terrorist Attacks
NEW DELHI, May 1: The Indian capital faces possible ‘imminent’ militant attacks, the United States, Australia, Britain and Canada warned on Saturday, stepping up their risk advisories to travellers to New Delhi.
The latest warnings come as India battles to assure visitors it can serve as a safe host for the Commonwealth Games slated to be held in October in New Delhi, which has been targeted before by militants.
“There are increased indications that terrorists are planning imminent attacks in New Delhi,” the US embassy said in a statement on its website, urging tourists to avoid half-a-dozen of the city’s popular shopping areas.
Police in New Delhi were taking appropriate measures in response to the warnings, said police spokesman Rajan Bhagat as a source said police had been put on alert.
“Security is adequate,” said Ravindra Singh, spokesman for India’s Ministry of Home Affairs.
Tighter security was already in effect around the city. The latest warnings added the mention that attacks could be ‘imminent’.
“Americans travelling or residing in India are strongly encouraged to maintain a high level of vigilance,” the US embassy said.
Australia, UK and Canada issued similar warnings. The Canadian travel warning said that “credible and specific reporting indicates that a terrorist attack could be carried out in the following days or weeks, in market areas of Delhi frequented by foreigners.”
From here.
The latest warnings come as India battles to assure visitors it can serve as a safe host for the Commonwealth Games slated to be held in October in New Delhi, which has been targeted before by militants.
“There are increased indications that terrorists are planning imminent attacks in New Delhi,” the US embassy said in a statement on its website, urging tourists to avoid half-a-dozen of the city’s popular shopping areas.
Police in New Delhi were taking appropriate measures in response to the warnings, said police spokesman Rajan Bhagat as a source said police had been put on alert.
“Security is adequate,” said Ravindra Singh, spokesman for India’s Ministry of Home Affairs.
Tighter security was already in effect around the city. The latest warnings added the mention that attacks could be ‘imminent’.
“Americans travelling or residing in India are strongly encouraged to maintain a high level of vigilance,” the US embassy said.
Australia, UK and Canada issued similar warnings. The Canadian travel warning said that “credible and specific reporting indicates that a terrorist attack could be carried out in the following days or weeks, in market areas of Delhi frequented by foreigners.”
From here.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
India's Stranded Travelers
NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday said nearly 40,000 air passengers were still stranded in the country because of volcanic ash over large swathes of Europe.
“On Monday 41,435 international passengers were in Mumbai and New Delhi, and the figure today has come down by around 2,500 as some have left through other routes,” an aviation official who did not want to be named told AFP.
He said 1,100 Indian nationals were stuck in Britain, Canada and Germany, adding a Lufthansa flight from Germany was expected to arrive in India later Tuesday.
State-run Air India and Jet Airways have re-started services to the United States, flying through Athens and Cairo.
The government on Tuesday relaxed visa rules and waived fees for travellers affected by the global flight disruption.
“A large number of foreigners are stranded at different airports in India due to cancellation of flights on account of volcanic eruption in Iceland,” the home ministry said in a statement.
“To avoid hardship to such legitimate foreign travellers, it has been decided to allow special landing permit or extension of visa to them for a maximum period of 14 days without charging any fees,” it added.
Many stranded travellers have complained they were running out of money while searing summer heat in New Delhi has compounded problems.
Large parts of India sizzled Tuesday in a heatwave that has sent temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and weather officials say there is no relief in sight.
From here.
“On Monday 41,435 international passengers were in Mumbai and New Delhi, and the figure today has come down by around 2,500 as some have left through other routes,” an aviation official who did not want to be named told AFP.
He said 1,100 Indian nationals were stuck in Britain, Canada and Germany, adding a Lufthansa flight from Germany was expected to arrive in India later Tuesday.
State-run Air India and Jet Airways have re-started services to the United States, flying through Athens and Cairo.
The government on Tuesday relaxed visa rules and waived fees for travellers affected by the global flight disruption.
“A large number of foreigners are stranded at different airports in India due to cancellation of flights on account of volcanic eruption in Iceland,” the home ministry said in a statement.
“To avoid hardship to such legitimate foreign travellers, it has been decided to allow special landing permit or extension of visa to them for a maximum period of 14 days without charging any fees,” it added.
Many stranded travellers have complained they were running out of money while searing summer heat in New Delhi has compounded problems.
Large parts of India sizzled Tuesday in a heatwave that has sent temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and weather officials say there is no relief in sight.
From here.
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