South Asia Citizens Web

The Asian Age, 9 July 2009
We can’t talk about sex. Mere mention of the word diverts the blood flow from the brain to other, more excitable areas of the body politic. And we jabber on in demented frenzy, especially if we happen to be in government.
Ask our ministers, leaders and decision-makers about cross-border terrorism, nukes or China’s malicious moves and you will get big, bold responses. Ask them about the fiscal deficit, Maoist terror, pandemics, environmental catastrophes, our (…)

Express Buzz, 1 July 2009
As recently as two months ago Lalgarh, now poised on a dangerous cusp of violence, was just a sliver of land, nestling among luminous green fields, hillocks and a gently flowing Kangasabati river. Had I not travelled in April to this tiny corner of rural Bengal, I could have been taken in by reports of protracted Maoist violence wracking the tribal outpost for months. Surprisingly, Lalgarh was not even a fleck on the horizon of the Left government as late as last (…)

Mail Today, 8 July 2009
On July 3, Dehradun police staged a fake encounter in which Ranveer Singh, an MBA graduate who was going to join his new assignment, was killed in cold blood. According to the details of the incident, the deceased along with one or two friends, as alleged by the police, were riding a motorbike. They were stopped by the police at a check post.
It appears that the police men misbehaved with them as usual and the boys might have objected to it.
This might have (…)

India’s Delhi High Court issued a ruling about Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code July 2, marking a historic day for the country’s LGBTQ population. For over a century, S. 377 codified the prohibition of "carnal intercourse against the order of nature." It should be noted that S. 377 has not been overturned; it has been "read down" so that consensual homosexual sex is no longer criminalized.

The Delhi high court judgement on Section 377 is nothing short of historic, bold and revolutionary in ways that extend beyond the rights of gays
and lesbians. Section 377 penalises sodomy, an act for which persons could be punished with death and burnt alive in late 13th century Britain.