It turns out that 24 January was National Girl Child Day. In a country with an alarming sex ratio and no secret that it values boys over girls, there should be more fanfare about it. The general lack of awareness of such a stipulated day is not a shining testimony to its success. However, it […]
Social issues
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Support Irom Sarmila
Irom Sarmila, a political and civil rights activist, journalist and poet, has been on a hunger strike since 4 November 2000 demanding the withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (henceforth AFSPA), a draconian law that allows the security forces unrestricted and unaccounted powers in areas that are declared “disturbed”. Under the AFSPA, the […]
Sponsor my run: Help stop child abuse
I did the Great Delhi Run of the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon on 21 November 2010 to raise funds for the RAHI Foundation, an NGO that works towards ending child sexual abuse in India. Many thanks to all those who sponsored me to support my campaign against child sexual abuse. About RAHI’s work Did you […]
Say No to UID
The following is the text from the “Say No to UID” campaign, which seeks to oppose the Unique ID (UID) scheme of the Indian government. AN APPEAL TO CITIZENS: Eight reasons why you should oppose the UID(By Kalyani Menon Sen) The National Identification Authority of India Bill approved by the Union Cabinet on Friday has […]
The crossover genre: Myth, reality, or does it matter?
“Crossover Fiction: Myth or Reality” was the subject of discussion at one of the panels at the Jumpstart conference organized by the German Book Office in Delhi on 20 and 21 August 2010. Moderated by Nilanjana Roy, the panelists were Dipa Chaudhuri, Samit Basu, Paro Anand and myself. A number of interesting questions arose about […]
Denounce the sexist swamy!
“Let your child be adventurous”, says Swamy Sukhabhodhananda in the Deccan Herald. As far as parenting advice goes, there doesn’t seem anything particularly objectionable about that. But then, here’s how he opens his article: One of the qualities of male energy is creativity. The male energy in us always wants to achieve; always wants to […]
From Commonwealth to common shame
As New Delhi gears up to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games, one of the major problems facing the organizers is what to do with the 60,000+ destitute on its streets for whom begging is the only way of survival. The solution: arrest them and throw them in jail. With the spotlights set to turn on […]
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Apple unearths labour violations
Sorry, this is no follow up of Naomi Klein’s celebrated book No Logo, which exposes the dark secrets of the working environments in the factories of many big brands. Nor is this the expose by any investigative journalist. The hard truths were revealed by Apple itself, which conducted an onsite audit of its 102 facilities […]
Bhopal: 25 Years Later (Part 2)
A unique buffet Twenty-five years down the line, the scars of the Bhopal gas leak tragedy continue to haunt the lives of the natives. As the ongoing campaign to bring justice to the survivors continues unabated, the following is a first-hand account of a unique protest: A quarter century later Bhopal’s survivors are still fighting […]
Bhopal disaster: 25 years later
Darkest before dawn While the city of Bhopal slept on the night of 3–4 December 1984, they were unaware of the 27 tonnes of toxic gases that leaked from the Union Carbide Plant, exposing half a million people to a poisonous gas cloud containing methyl isocyanate, and possibly carbon monoxide, hydrogen chloride, nitrogen oxides, phosgene, […]