South Asia Citizens Web

Dear friends and colleagues, You will recall that we had taken a decision in the Pension Parishad, to hold a demonstration of elderly people and other marginalised groups during every session of Parliament until our demands are at least substantially met. While the nature of the demonstration has differed depending on the situation, we have complied with and followed this decision in every Parliament session since the pension Parishad was formed in February 2012. We are writing to you (…)

The Federation of Rationalist Associations has strongly criticised ISRO Chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan for offering special prayers and performing pooja with the replica of Mars Orbiter Mission at the Lord Venkateshwara temple in Tirupati, a day before the successful launch of the spacecraft from Sriharikota. In a statement the federation president and noted rationalist Narendra Nayak said, "We strongly condemn the attitude of the Chairman of ISRO K Radhaksrishnan who has insulted the Constitution of India by placing the replica of the satellite meant for the Mars mission at the feet of a deity at Tirupati. He is unfit to occupy the position of the head of the space mission and should be immediately sacked."

Audio Recordings from a day long conference ’Abolishing Nuclear Weapons: Relevance for South Asia and the World’ held on 8 November 2013 in New Delhi. The event was organised by Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace in collaboration with ICAN and Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy. These recordings were made at Plenary II: 14.00 – 17.00 pm. The session was chaired by Chair: Seema Mustafa, Centre for Policy Analysis; Speakers were: Prakash Karat, General Secretary, Communist party of India (Marxist), Aruna Roy, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan
Manoranjan Mohanty, Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy [recording unavailable]
Achin Vanaik, Political Scientist & Founder Member of CNDP, Jean Dreze, G B Pant Institute, Allahabad

It’s been four years since the Delhi High Court made the historic ruling decriminalizing homosexuality, by which Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was found to violate the fundamental right to life and liberty and the right to equality as guaranteed by the Constitution of India (Articles 14, 15 and 21). But it appears that the law is still being used against members of the community, as 14 people (suspected of being homosexuals) were arrested by the Hassan police under Section 377 on November 4. The incident has sparked outrage in the community and raises questions as to how arrests could be made under a Section of the IPC that the court has struck down, and why the arrests were allegedly made in the dead of night.

Prachanda faces an uphill battle to not just repeat his party’s unexpected 2008 election victory but also win a majority of seats so as to draft a new constitution.