South Asia Citizens Web

Has India traded away livelihoods, health and environmental safeguards in secret negotiations with Japan?

A recent decision by Mr. Jairam Ramesh, [Union] Minister [of State] for Environment and Forests banning the mining of Bauxite in the Niyamgiri hill of Kalahandi district in Orissa (which is home to Tribal communities) by Vedanta Resources is a matter of immense relief to the people of the region and their supporters in this country and across the globe.

Another recent decision by the minister to scrap completely the Loharinag Pala dam under construction on the Bhagirathi river which is ecologically damaging the region, has also been welcomed by spontaneous people’s movements in Uttarakhand resisting the construction of this dam and others at various stages of planning and construction.

To refuse to ban books that incite violence is not to condone violence. The threat of violence should rather be confronted directly. The full force of law should be used to prosecute and punish those who want to establish a fundamentalist Islamic state through violence. A mere ban would seem like prescription for inaction.

1.
Mangalorean, 8 August 2010
Karnataka doubles temple grants By Team Mangalorean Bangalore
BANGALORE, August 2, 2010: In an attempt to fill the agenda set by the ruling BJP, Karnataka’s Home Minister V S Acharya, who also holds the Religious Endowment portfolio, said the government increased annual grants (tastik) to 3,600 temples in the State from Rs. 6,000 to Rs. 12,000 to enable priests meet daily pooja expenses.
The increase in the grants would cost Rs. 58 crore to the State (…)

This 54-page report documents the continued use of the archaic practice and the continued reliance on the "results" by many defense counsel and courts. The practice, described in outdated medical jurisprudence textbooks used by many doctors, lawyers, and judges, involves a doctor inserting fingers in a rape victim’s vagina to determine the presence or absence of the hymen and the so-called "laxity" of the vagina. These findings perpetuate false and damaging stereotypes of rape survivors as "loose" women. Defense attorneys use the findings to challenge the credibility, character, and the lack of consent of the survivors.