South Asia Citizens Web

The PUCL fact finding team led by Vice President of the State PUCL, senior advocate Ramesh Nandwana, District Secretary, Vinita Srivastava, State Executive member and lawyer Arun Vyas other members of the PUCL Udaipur District - Shyam Lal Dongra, Kiran Singh, Shri Ram Arya, Hemlata, Rajesh Singhvi and Rashid conducted a fact finding of the recent communal events that took place Sarada Udaipur, after a criminal incident in that area. They visited Sarada on the 28th of July and were prevented from going to the area due to curfew in that area where 70 houses of the Muslims were burnt down. The team met the affected families as well as leaders from all sides. It also interacted with the police and administrative officials.

Neither India nor Pakistan covered itself with glory during their Foreign Ministers’ meeting last week—the first ministerial talks since the Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 2008. In fact, both have damaged their international image by demonstrating antipathy to each other’s concerns and a refusal to establish a framework conducive to a productive dialogue. Both governments have disappointed a majority of people in their respective countries who had hoped for such a dialogue and some improvement in mutual relations. It is ordinary people whose progress suffers the most when bilateral relations sour and mistrust prevails.

The nuclear radiation in a scrap market in west Delhi’s Mayapuri area, in April 2010, which led to the death of a worker and fatal injuries to many others is a shocking reminder of weaknesses in the system for tracking minor radioactive substances. Based on insights from Mayapuri, this commentary discusses the acute absence of occupational safety and health measures for workers in the informal sector, especially for those who work in extremely precarious and inhuman conditions.

Bookshops are afraid to stock James Laine’s Shivaj i: Hindu King in Islamic India, even after the Supreme Court struck down the Maharashtra government’s ban on it. Film-maker Anand Patwardhan, one of three petitioners who challenged the ban, speaks to Jyoti Punwani

This 65-page report addresses the potential challenges to women’s rights posed by future government agreements with insurgent forces. The report describes how in areas under Taliban control, women are often subjected to threats, intimidation and violence, girls’ education is targeted, and women political leaders and activists are attacked and killed with impunity.