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CNN Finds Indian Widows Ostracized – 200 years late on the story

Byoliveridley

cnnscreenshot.jpg

Umm, CNN, not exactly headline or breaking news, is it? Raja Ram Mohan Roy crusaded against it in the 1800s, Deepa Mehta made a movie about it recently. So, why was this on my cnn front page? God knows…

Shunned from society, widows flock to city to die – CNN.com

Ostracized by society, thousands of India’s widows flock to the holy city of Vrindavan waiting to die. They are found on side streets, hunched over with walking canes, their heads shaved and their pain etched by hundreds of deep wrinkles in their faces.

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  • Violence in North East India

    Byoliveridley

    ULFA attack has WB, Bihar on alert : ULFA, Assam, violence, Bengal : IBNLive.com : CNN-IBN

    In a brutal backtracking, after gunning down 17 non-Assamese workers on Friday in the Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts, the ULFA went on a rampage on Saturday gunning down migrant workers from Bihar and Bengal.

    Assam is a state in North East India bordering West Bengal, and Bangladesh, and there has always been a lot of tension between the ethnic Assamese and Banglas from both sides of the border. The United Liberation Front of  Asom (ULFA)  purports to  speak for the Assamese and has been waging a violent armed struggle. Unfortunately, they are not really powerful enough to take on the Indian army and usually take their frustrations out on innocent day laborers. The Assamese feel that Banglas and Biharis are coming into their state and taking their jobs and disrupting their culture. Like any other ethnic situation in India, it is complex, messy, and with no “right” or “easy” solutions. Clearly, increased development in neighboring states would keep the Banglas and Biharis from moving.  But, thanks to its oil reserves, the jobs are in Assam. The Indian army has been active in this area as a counter insurgency force since the ’80s. Complicating the matter are the mountainous  terrain and the remoteness of most of these attacks.

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    Canada loves asbestos (in third world lungs)

    Byoliveridley

    In a normal world, when something is severely restricted in your country, you would not export it to another country under the pretense that used under certain, very restricted conditions, your product only causes a moderate increase in cancer.

    While the federal government projects an image of being a helpful, international Boy Scout on issues ranging from peacekeeping to nuclear proliferation, Canada has a peculiar relationship to asbestos.

    globeandmail.com: Asbestos shame

    But we don’t live in a normal world, because asbestos is exported from Canada to India where it is added to cement.

    Tushar Joshi, a noted New Delhi occupational health expert, is flabbergasted over asbestos sales by a country of Canada’s stature. “As a developed country, you expect more civilized behaviour,” Dr. Joshi says. Canada’s activities are “beyond comprehension,” he adds, calling Ottawa’s promotion of asbestos “a black spot on a sparkling white dress.”

    yes, well said. It is very mysterious that asbestos use in India went up in the 1980s just as evidence about its incredibly destructive effects on respiratory systems had curtailed use in most of the first world. Clearly, third world lungs are not as important as Canadian lungs.

    Asbestos is one area where Canada lags even behind the US. And Canada’s environmental practices are going to come under increasing scrutiny as climate change unfreezes the great white North and exposes the resources underneath.

    Canada, the world is watching.

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    Genes Make Indians Fat

    Byoliveridley

    Scientists have pinpointed a reason why people with Indian ancestry may be more prone to weight problems.They have found this group is more likely to carry a gene sequence linked to an expanding waist line, weight gain and type 2 diabetes.The sequence, discovered by a team led by Imperial College London, is carried by 50% of the population – but is a third more common in Indian Asians.

    BBC NEWS | Health | Genes ‘up Indians’ obesity risk’

    Relax, all desis, it’s not your fault, it’s genetics.

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  • Aerosmith rocks Bangalore

    Byoliveridley

    Ah, takes me back to my past! “Rock shows”.

    The Hindu : Front Page : It was an electrifying performance

    Bangalore: They came with intent to experience the sweet taste of India and left Bangaloreans with an aftertaste that will linger for long. The performance by rock `n’ roll legends Aerosmith, simply put, had everything one could ask for — a powerful sound and impressive stage act — that just made for a thoroughly entertaining evening. After an interminable delay, the giant display that formed the backdrop to the stage lit up to welcome the band on stage. In a departure from the set they are playing around the world for this tour, they began with the apt number “Taste of India”.

    Classic rock is very popular in India, BTW.

  • Tamil doctors let their 15 year old perform a C Section

    Byoliveridley

    Where my home state of Tamil Nadu gets into the news for this bizarre story of parental pride gone too far.

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    Two Indian doctors are facing an investigation into claims they let their 15-year-old son perform a caesarean section to get into the Guinness Book of Records.

    The government of Tamil Nadu state in southern India today said it was launching an inquiry, according to Indian newspaper reports.

    It is alleged the doctors screened a video of their son performing the caesarean at a meeting of the regional branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) last month in the hope their son, Dhileepan Raj, would get into the record book as the world’s youngest surgeon.

    I feel like laughing at the parents, but the patient and her fetus were put at grave risk, what idiots!

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    Indian children work despite ban

    Byoliveridley

    When I mentioned India’s child labor ban last year, I had many obvious questions about the implementation. One year on, this BBC report highlights on findings by Save the Children that the ban has not had much effect.

    BBC NEWS | South Asia | Indian children work despite ban

    A year after India banned children under 14 from working as domestic servants or in food stalls, millions continue to be employed, a study says.

    The study released by Save the Children says these children are routinely subjected to different forms of abuse and a lot still needs of be done.

    Many of the child workers are denied food, and are beaten up, burnt or sexually abused, the study says.

    According to official estimates, India has more than 12 million child workers.

    Of these, about 200,000 are estimated to be working as domestic servants and in teashops, restaurants, spas, hotels, resorts and other recreational centres – the areas from where they were banned last year.

    Well, one can’t legislate away decades of a widespread and prevalent practice with one law. This law was always going to be a beginning, a marker that improving social and economic conditions will eventually catch up to (one hopes). So, color me as not surprised at all. The point is to label something as legally unacceptable, work towards making it socially unacceptable, then finally, unnecessary.

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