Archive of South Asia Citizens Wire

  • A New Head for India’s Head of State: a satirical take

    by Harsh Kapoor, 17 November 2014

    A satirical poster following India’s prime minister’s take mixing mythology with science.

  • Transplanting Elephant head on human body! : The magic of mythological fiction

    by Ram Puniyani, 17 November 2014

    While individuals can harbor the reality of mythology, the matters will be difficult if the chief of state has belief in these fictions being part of History. That will be a big set back to the progress of scientific, rational thinking and enterprise. This combination of mythology, religion and politics will make the matters worse.

  • India: Tirupati’s labour rules aren’t divine | Brinda Karat

    16 November 2014

    The worst is the plight of the 4,000 cleaners and sanitation workers.Most of them are dalits. Any time of the day or night you will see women and men in uniforms with brooms, cleaning up after the pilgrims have left, making sure the toilets are clean. What are they paid? Less than Rs 6,500 a month. They have no benefits, no ESI, no provident fund and not even a weekly off. This virtual slave labour is employed by Sulabh International which has got one of the contracts for cleaning.

  • The Whys and Whats of NREGA, India’s Rural Jobs Scheme

    by Reetika Khera, 16 November 2014

    Indiaspend.com, November 4, 2014
    The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was enacted in September 2005. It promises up to 100 days of employment per rural household to all adults at the minimum wage. Any adult residing in rural areas could demand work and was entitled to get it within 15 days of asking. If the government failed to provide employment, such adults were entitled to an unemployment allowance
    While the demand-driven aspect and the unemployment allowance aspect (…)

  • India: Recommendations by Global Hindu Foundation to Ministry of Education "Teach about Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi as national hero . . ."

    15 November 2014

    Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi is a “national hero” who “fought for independence from the British” and whose reputation has been tarnished by previous governments and who should figure prominently among the new list of national heroes to be taught in all government schools.
    So urges a controversial letter dated November 15, 2014 addressed to Smruti Irani, cabinet minister for Human Resources Development, and posted on the home page of savetemples.org, the website of the “Mission to Save Hinduism and Hindu Temples”. Touted as a ‘Project of Global Hindu Heritage Foundation, (GHHF) USA’, the mission operates out of the ‘Save Temple Office’ opened in Hyderabad city in June 2012.

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