South Asia Citizens Web

In the recent days, the issue of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) has come to occupy a highly visible slot in the national discourse, particularly since early 2007 – fairly dramatically catapulted to the national centre-stage by the blood-soaked and protracted mass resistance in, erstwhile obscure, Nandigram, in West Bengal.

The idea, however, is not entirely novel – either globally or even nationally. Its earlier predecessors were usually termed as Export Processing Zone (EPZ), Free Trade Zone (FTZ) etc.

Secular Perspective, November 1-15, 2008
Muslims for long had been objecting to the term Islamic terrorists and when the term Hindu terrorists was used by a section of the media the Sangh Parivar members protested how can one use the term ’Hindu Terrorists? The first to object to this term was Mr. Ram Madhav of RSS told The Asian Age "There is no such thing as Hindu terror at all. It is an orchestrated campaign to protect the real terrorists." Also when asked about the Sadhvi Pragnya’s (…)

Kashmir Times, November 1, 2008
Not really ’irreversible’
Friendly noise between India and Pakistan needs concrete backup
Apparently, the bilateral relations between India and Pakistan at present are, in what one might call as, ’safe zone’. There are no immediate flash-points, nor any visible threat of conflagration on either side. Pleasant words accompanying the New York meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Asif Ali Zardari were echoed after the following meeting between (…)

outlookindia.com
Reservoirs Of Indifference
Our existence is so comfortably shielded from the realities of poverty, that the unbridgeable distance between the two affords little scope for any real engagement...
While volunteering in a village school near Lucknow some years ago, the straight words of a little boy revealed one of life’s lessons to me. I was filling in for the schoolmaster for a few weeks, teaching children of all ages to read and write. Bored of regurgitating the (…)

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The News, November 1, 2008
Murder most foul
by Samina Wahid Perozani
Eight months have passed since 17-year-old Tasleem Solangi was killed, the same number of months that she was pregnant before she was forced to go into early labour by midwife in Khairpur. The baby was thrown into a canal, the fornicating Tasleem was fed to the dogs and then shot, and the matter was finally put to rest of the "kari" who brought shame to both her family and in-laws.
At least, that is how this (…)