Archive of South Asia Citizens Wire

  • A Critique of India’s Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008

    by T S Sankaran, 16 February 2009

    Lawyers Magazine
    The Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008(Act 33 of 2008) —A Critique
    There is general dissatisfaction bordering on serious discontent among the vast masses of unorganised labour about the contents of the recently enacted The Unorganised Sector Workers’ Act, 2008(Act 33 of 2008) as also the manner in which the law had been passed in Parliament . What the workers want, not as a munificence from the Government but as their lawful right as the citizens and (…)

  • Business As Usual - Sexual harassment on Gujarat campus

    by Darshana Chaturvedi, 16 February 2009

    The Times of India, 15 Februrary 2009
    Indifferent towards women’s safety
    by Darshana Chaturvedi
    Vadodara: Do the M S University authorities really care for its over 15,000 girl students and 450 female teachers present on the campus everyday?
    The fact that MSU created a committee to address grievances of women after 60 long years of its creation only shows how seriously the safety and security of females is taken.
    After much dilly-dallying, the Women’s Grievance Redressal and (…)

  • Why we said pants to India’s bigots

    by Nisha Susan, 15 February 2009

    The Observer, 15 February 2009
    A week ago, when my friends and I formed a Facebook group, the Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women, it was a delayed reaction. Earlier in the month, the Sri Ram Sena, a Hindu, right-wing group based in Karnataka state, attacked some young women in a pub in Mangalore. The men were proud of defending Indian culture from cocktail-drinking floozies.
    The attack had been caught by a news crew, discussed, dissected, and was ready to be forgotten. It (…)

  • They Bid To Keep India Locked in the Past

    by Dipankar Gupta, 14 February 2009

    Mail Today
    Valentine threatens caste order
    Cladius II, the third century emperor of Rome, forbade marriages as young men were unwilling to leave their wives behind to join his army. Valentine, then an unknown monk, defied the rule and solemnized marriages of young couples. He did this in secret, but word got around.
    He was sentenced to death, but he lost his life for a good cause. Love has never been easy, not even for cupids and match-makers.
    In tradition when barbers fixed Indian (…)

  • Social Change and "Keepers" of Culture and Tradition

    by Ravinder Kaur, 14 February 2009

    [Times of India, 14 February 2009 >http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/TOP-ARTICLE—Clouded-By-Confusion/articleshow/4125898.cms]
    Clouded by Confusion
    A straight line can be drawn backwards from the Mangalore type of incidents to the Delhi murders of Nitish Katara and Jessica Lal. The canvas can be broadened to include the recent resurgence of honour crimes in northern India, instances of acid being thrown at women, and the backlash against women who dare to voice an (…)

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