South Asia Citizens Web

The Times of India, 9 September 2007
Times have changed and so have sexual mores but in prosperous Haryana, there’s one regressive institution that refuses to embrace modernity. Passing by a gathering of one such band of men - women are never part of this all-male club - you’d think this was an innocuous gathering of village elders. But these are the all-powerful khap panchayats - village elders grouped along caste or community lines and motivated by the need to perpetuate a feudal and (…)

http://www.sacw.net/rubrique1.html

– Gandhiji, thank god you never lived to see this
A 3’30" film made by Design Workshop, Delhi. The Bhopalis can’t afford a $100 million advertising campaign, but they have you. To make a donation to help the damaged children shown in the film, please click here.

[10 April 2008 ]
Sex work and misguided anti-trafficking efforts
Anti-trafficking policies may start with good intentions of helping people out of situations of forced labour, however they have often become focussed on raiding brothels and ‘rescuing’ women from the sex industry (male and transgender sex workers are less often targeted for rescue). Often women with irregular migration status are then deported, and others put into ‘rehabilitation’ programmes such as sewing where they earn (…)

Seminar, August 2008, No 588
IN 1970 the play ‘Gidh’ (Vulture), directed by Shiram Lagoo and produced by Satyadev Dubey’s theatre company was at the centre of a controversy in Maharashtra, eliciting strong reactions both for and against. The play was based on a Vijay Tendulkar script called ‘Gidhade’. The Censor Board asked for around 150 cuts, mostly because it found the language unacceptable. The producers, however, decided to go ahead with the play, without the censor (…)