Abusing wife common among young Indian men: Study

Hindustan Times - 24/2/09

If you thought that Generation Y Indian men considered women equals and didn’t try to control their wives by battering them or forcefully having sex with them, think again. A six-state study has found that physical and sexual violence is widely prevalent among married youth.

Eighteen to 30 per cent of married women aged 15 to 24 reported physical abuse by their husbands at least once. Fifteen to 24 per cent of the 13,912 women surveyed had experienced violence in the last 12 months, according to the study, which was jointly conducted by the Population Council in Delhi and the International Institute for Population Sciences in Mumbai. Bihar recorded highest prevalence of physical violence and Rajasthan the lowest.

In sexual violence, too, Bihar was the worst: 54 per cent of women reported sexual abuse by their husbands and 49 per cent said they were forced to have sex on the wedding night.

The situation wasn’t any better in Rajasthan and Jharkhand. Forty per cent of women said they had experienced sexual violence and over 30 per cent reported forced sex on the first night.

The researchers also interviewed 8,052 married men, aged 15 to 29 from urban and rural parts of Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. While the men’s responses almost matched women’s for physical violence, they differed on sexual violence. Only 9 to 25 per cent men admitted to sexual violence as against 10 to 54 per cent women.

The study also found that physical violence began early in marriage for many women and Maharashtra topped the charts in this. Fourteen per cent of the women said they had been abused in the first year of marriage and 18 per cent said they were beaten repeatedly in the last 12 months.

SNDT University director and women’s activist Vibhuti Patel said, “At least 200 women are referred to the crisis centre at Bhabha Hospital every month after being physically or sexually abused. Husbands are often the perpetrators.”

'We are worse off than shown in Slumdog Millionaire'

Hindustan Times - 24/2/09

'Minister led mob & fired bullets' in Naroda Patia in Modi's 'Vibrant Gujarat'

Times of India - 22/2/09

She was seen being blessed by BJP’s PM-in-making, L K Advani, at a function in the city on Friday. Indeed state minister Maya Kodnani will require all his good wishes to overcome her problems.

The SC-appointed Special Investigation Team told the Gujarat HC last week that she not only led the mob but also fired from her pistol at residents of Naroda Patia, which falls in her constituency. As many as 95 persons were killed by a mob in Naroda Patia on February 28. Kodnani’s role in the riot has been described in detail by SIT which took Gujarat government’s consent before filing the affidavit against its minister.

The SIT, comprising of Gujarat Police officers who are supervised by former CBI director and a retired DGP from UP, is now relying on statements from those very witnesses whose statements in 2002 fell on deaf ears. The SIT has quoted 33 witnesses against Kodnani, minister of state for youth, sports and higher education.

“Kodnani had fired from her pistol and she had come to the spot in a car with other persons and distributed swords amongst the mob,” SIT quoted one witness as saying.

6 kids go missing every day in Delhi. Most never return, shows Police data

Times of India - 19/2/09

The numbers paint a scary picture. In the 17 days of this month alone, 72 children have been reported missing from the capital. If you think this month has been particularly bad for Delhi’s children, take a look at the figures since January 1, 2008. During this 414-day period, as many as 2,503 children have disappeared — an average of 6 missing kids every day.

And these are official figures culled from Zonal Integrated Police Network (zipnet.nic.in) data based on actual complaints. The real number could be higher. The scale of the tragedy becomes clear if one looks at the number of recoveries. During this period, just 368 missing children were recovered, including many who had disappeared before 2008. The import is clear: An overwhelmingly large percentage of parents whose kids have gone missing, aren’t likely to see them again.

The Delhi Police claim a majority of these kids have eloped, that is, willingly run away with a lover or someone else. But most parents refuse to buy this argument. Says Sambhu Kumar, father of 4-year-old Gaurav, missing from Gokalpuri since February 3, ‘‘My child surely cannot elope. Yet, police say I am primarily responsible for what has happened and that I have not been a good father. Why are they not trying to find my son?’’

According to police data, 2,503 minors missing in capital since Jan 1, 2008. That's an average of 6 children going missing every day. 115 of these cases reported from a single police station — Gokalpuri in north-east Delhi. The north-east police district recorded 540 cases in just 383 days. In Feb so far, 72 cases of missing children have been recorded Police chief announces helpline for missing kids.

Outsourcing Wars: Join the US army, be a US citizen in 6 months

Times of India - 16/2/09

For decades, high-skilled professionals from across the world, particularly India, have fought their way to US citizenship through legal immigration channels — a process that can take up to a decade or more. Now, Uncle Sam is making it easy. Fight your way — literally — to American citizenship in as little as six months.

In a far reaching proposal, the US military will open its doors to skilled immigrant guest workers (such as those who hold H1-B visas) who have lived in the US for a minimum of two years. The move is aimed at offsetting the poor recruitment intake from traditional sources at a time the US military is stretched thin by deployments in Iraq and the Af-Pak theater.

US Green card holders, also known as permanent residents, have long been eligible to enlist in the military. But this is the first time since the Vietnam War that the armed forces will be open to temporary immigrants and offer them a path to citizenship, a move that in some ways amounts to outsourcing its wars.

The program comes at a time when skilled immigrants in the US are facing a slowing job market, offering them an avenue to turn potential pink slips into not just Green cards, but citizenship — if they are so obsessed about their American Dream.

For Iran's women, the fight for rights starts at home

Times of India - 14/2/09

In a year of marriage, Razieh Qassemi, 19, says she was beaten repeatedly by her husband and his father. Her husband, she says, is addicted to methamphetamine and has threatened to marry another woman to “torture” her.

Rather than endure the abuse, Qassemi took a step that might never have occurred to an earlier generation of Iranian women:she filed for divorce. Women’s rights advocates say Iranian women are displaying a growing determination to achieve equal status in this conservative Muslim theocracy, where male supremacy is still enscribed in the legal code. One in five marriages now end in divorce, according to government data, a fourfold increase in the past 15 years.

And it is not just women from the wealthy, westernized elites. The family court building in Vanak Square here is filled with women, like Qassemi, who are not privileged. Women from lower classes and even the religious are among those marching up and down the stairs to fight for divorces and custody of their children.

Increasing educational levels and the information revolution have contributed to creating a generation of women determined to gain more control over their lives, rights advocates say. Today, more than 60% of university students are women, compared with just over 30% in 1982, even though classes are no longer segregated.

Pre - valentine's day moral policing claims it's first casualty

Times of India - 13/2/09

With the moral police on the loose in Mangalore, the tragedy was only waiting to happen. In the first death after a series of attacks on women in the south Karnataka town, a 16-year-old college student committed suicide unable to bear the humiliation after a group of men ‘‘caught’’ her dating a man and handed them over to police. The needle of suspicion was on Sri Ram Sene.

On Wednesday, she and her friend —Saleem, a Muslim bus conductor — were brought to Mulki Circle police station by a group of men after the couple was ‘‘spotted in a secluded place’’, police said. Police took the couple into custody, but let the men, who were described by a police officer as ‘‘Hindu youth’’, go.

It is easier to get into Oxford, MIT than Delhi's nursery schools

Hindustan Times - 10/2/09

It is harder for a three-year-old to get into the nursery sections of some leading Delhi schools than for undergraduates to gain admission into one of the 13 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Harvard University Yale , University Oxford University , and Cambridge University .

This year, only one out of every 46 applicants got into Springdales School (Pusa Road and Kirti Nagar). It was easier for candidates appearing for the IIT-Joint Entrance Examination: one of every 45 candidates made the cut last year. Sanskriti School, Chanakyapuri, and Amity International, Saket, ran the IITs close, with 40 and 38 applicants, respectively per seat , in the general category .

And admissions to Ivy League institutions in the US — like Harvard, Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cornell — and venerable UK universities like Oxford and Cambridge were a walk in the park in comparison: the admission ratio varied between one in 11 for Harvard and Yale and one in five for Oxford and Cornell 

“I could never have imagined cracking nursery for my son would be as tough as cracking the JEE,” said parent Shilpi Kapoor, software engineer and IIT alumnus.

“The problem is parents want brand value for their kids. They want to send their children to certain reputed schools; that’s why many of the established schools receive massive applications,” said Ameeta Wattal, principal of Springdales School, Pusa Road.

Saudi princess says she is 'ready to drive' - A reflection of the state of women in Saudi Arabia

The Telegraph and MSN.com

The wife of one of Saudi Arabia's most high profile and richest men said she's ready to get behind the wheel if women are ever permitted to drive, highlighting again a contentious issue authorities in the Kingdom prefer to play down.

Princess Amira al-Taweel, who is one of global tycoon Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's wives, told the Saudi daily Al-Watan that she already drives when she travels abroad.

Women in Saudi Arabia are not permitted to drive. Saudi officials usually sidestep the question by saying the issue is a social and not religious one, but over the years a handful of princesses have spoken out in support of driving, including Princess Lolwah Al-Faisal, daughter of the late King Faisal, at the World Economic Forum two years ago.

The Kingdom is the only country in the world to ban women, Saudi and foreign, from driving. The prohibition forces families to hire live-in drivers, and those who cannot afford the US$300 to US$400 a month for a driver must rely on male relatives to drive them to work, school, shopping or to the doctor.

But change will be difficult in this ultraconservative society, where many believe that women at the wheel create situations for sinful temptation. They argue that women drivers will be free to leave home alone, will unduly expose their eyes while driving and will interact with male strangers, such as traffic police and mechanics. 

These are the people who GOVERN us

Times of India - 11/2/09

Uttar Pradesh, which is no stranger to unruly politicians disrupting assembly sessions at the drop of a Gandhi topi, on Tuesday gave yet another display of their “respect” for democracy with MLAs jumping on tables and hurling paper missiles at the governor, compelling speaker Sukhdeo Rajbhar to adjourn the House.

To call the proceedings “unruly” would be a misnomer. All hell broke loose the moment Samajwadi Party MLAs, gesticulating wildly, stepped in. They fished out trussed up cloth banners from their pockets and unfurled them in the House.

The banners said, “Bhrashtachar-apraadh ki khuli azaadi, UP ki ho rahi barbaadi (there’s open corruption and crime, UP’s going to the dogs)’’ and ‘‘UP kangaal, Mayawati malamal (UP’s bankrupt, but Mayawati’s super-rich)’’. Next, they grabbed hold of a guard’s turban and tried hurling it at the governor, who was there to address the joint session of the House. They missed.

Similar examples of GOVERNANCE:

UP ASSEMBLY: 

- Oct 21, 1997 - Mikes, chappals hurled at chair by opposition MLAs (SP, BSP) during trust vote of Kalyan Singh govt. Twenty MLAs hurt 

- Dec 16, 1993 - 33 MLAs injured during an SP-BJP clash in assembly 

LOK SABHA:

- Aug 24, 2006 - Punches and microphones fly in House after JD(U)’s Prabhunath Singh levels charges against Lalu 

- Dec 1999 - Opposition MPs led by SP and RJD snatch what they think are women’s reservation Bill papers from law minister and tear it