Archive of South Asia Citizens Wire

  • The Battle Over Ramayana in Delhi University History Course

    by sacw.net, 21 September 2008

    The Telegraph, September 21, 2008
    Editorial
    ON A NEW BATTLEFIELD
    The wonder that is India may or may not have many Ramayanas, but it certainly has a magnificent array of idiots of colourfully variegated stupidities. The colour on display in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s campaign against the inclusion of A.K. Ramanujan’s essay, “Three hundred Ramayanas: five examples and three thoughts on translation”, in Delhi University’s history course is saffron. The Bajrang Dal and (…)

  • Representing same-sex politics and positions in the media

    by Ashley Tellis, 20 September 2008

    Source: Magazine Section / The Hindu, 21 September 2008
    RESPONSE
    Representations of homosexuality
    Ashley Tellis, a gay rights activist, responds to last week’s column, “Gay but not carefree”.
    Dr. Vijay Nagaswami’s article “Gay, but not carefree” (Magazine, September 14), while ostensibly offering a balanced and dispassionate view of homosexuality, actually perpetuates some rather old misconceptions and misinformation abo ut homosexuals,
    The article opens with a binary opposition (…)

  • India’s inability to make the Kashmiris feel at home

    by Economic and Political Weekly, 20 September 2008

    (Economic and Political Weekly, September 13, 2008)
    India and Kashmir India has been unable to make the Kashmiris feel they are part of the Indian Union.
    A fortnight ago the Jammu and Kashmir government signed an agreement with the Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti (SAYSS) on the use of forest land for the annual pilgrimage to the Amarnath shrine. The protesters are now off the streets in Jammu, the criminal road blockade the Jammu protes- tors had imposed on Kashmir has ended, a (…)

  • Indo-US Nuclear Deal: The Continuing Drift in India’s Foreign Policy

    by Sukla Sen, 20 September 2008

    28 February 2008
    The following is the (slightly updated) text of the paper presented at the event by Sukla Sen, an editor of the journal Peace Now, the organ of the Coalition for Nuclear disarmamnet and peace, India at the 50th Anniversary Conference of the Afro-Asian Peoples’ Solidairity Organisatio in Cairo from 26-28 feb. 2008.
    “We have an ambitious agenda with India. Our agenda is practical. It builds on a relationship that has never been better. India is a global leader, as well as (…)

  • Jammu and Kashmir: labour under conflict

    19 September 2008

    The region of Jammu and Kashmir (commonly called Kashmir) is composed of three geographical divisions: Jammu, Kashmir, and Laddakh. Both India and Pakistan govern parts of the area; Pakistan-controlled Kashmir is known as ‘Azad’ or independent Kashmir and the area India controls is known as the state of Jammu and Kashmir. This essay highlights labour conditions in Indian Kashmir only

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