South Asia Citizens Web

On 13th May 2011, a nasty fire in the Defence Colony Flyover Market in Delhi gutted about 58 shops and along with that, our Saheli office with 30 years of our belongings, files, records, documents, publications, etc. The devastation has been incredible, but if anything could give us the strength to move on, it has been your overwhelming support, your presence, offers of help and solidarity - we are extremely touched and humbled by it. We hope you understand that we’ve been unable to write back to all of you individually, but here is the brief collective update:

Sri Lanka has now called upon its “friends” to shield it from an international investigation into alleged human rights violations. The international community largely stood by while the bloodbath took place and as the Sri Lankan government refused to investigate the war crimes allegations. It is crucial for Sri Lanka’s friends to speak up and join other governments to press for an international investigation that can bring genuine justice.
In particular, it is important for India, China and Japan to speak out. These countries have been Sri Lanka’s faithful allies and are supporting the post-conflict reconstruction efforts; and that is precisely why they should speak up.

Gyan Prakash’s Mumbai Fables is a thing of beauty. Trawling the archives as flâneur and walking the city’s past as historian, Prakash reads the city as palimpsest. He pays homage to the seductive power of myths about Mumbai and its earlier avatar Bombay—the city of free enterprise, the efficient city, the cosmopolitan city, the liberal city, the modern city—while illuminating the troubled histories and lowly origins from which the myths emerge. What is it, Prakash asks, that is silenced in mythic characterisations of the city? Whose histories are submerged? Whose suffering is ignored?

Whatever the intention behind them, the new rules framed last month under the Information Technology Act, 2000 are likely to have a chilling effect on the development of the Internet as a medium of communication and information in India. Apart from the unreasonable restrictions on free speech they envisage, the rules raise serious concerns about the privacy of a citizen’s personal information

Sixteen years after Bangladesh endorsed the Beijing Plan of Action (1995) for gender equality at the UN Conference for Women, the Cabinet has finally okayed a National Policy for Women’s Development in 2011. Its earlier incarnation formulated in 1997, in consultation with women’s groups, and perhaps in deference to international commitments and aid promises never got off the ground. It then became hostage to fractionalized politics. A revisit to its history explains why the 2011 Policy remains conservative in limiting its recognition of women’s rights in the public sphere and how institutional weaknesses and bureaucratic conservatism can frustrate implementation.