Clipmarks | Deepti's 'india' clips

Global Database of Quotas for Women

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 05:19:39 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: Obstacles to women's political participation exist throughout the world in prevailing social and economic regimes, as well as in existing political structures. In 2005, the representation of women reached nearly 16 percent globally. Although this total has increased in recent years, the minimal progress globally means that the ideal of parity remains a long way off. Given the slow rate at which the representation of women is increasing, various methods -- such as electoral quotas -- have been proposed or implemented to address the present gender imbalance in decision-making. Consequently, governments and political parties have experimented with different types of quotas.

As the debate about the use of quotas as a tool to increase the political participation of women gains momentum, International IDEA and Stockholm University are collaborating on a research project leading to the production of a comparative knowledge and resources on their implementation and impact.

Clip Source: www.quotaproject.org

Afghanistan

27.3%

Australia

24.7%

Canada

20.8%

China

20.3%

Denmark

37.4%

France

18.5%

Germany

31.8%

India

8.1%

Iraq

25.5%

Lebanon

4.7%

Mauritania

17.9%

Pakistan

21.3%

Philippines

20.4%

South Africa

32.8%

Sweden

47.3%

Switzerland

29.5%

United Kingdom

19.8%

Sri Lanka

4.9%

Spain

36.3%

Senegal

22.0%

Rwanda

48.8%

Argentina

35.0%

Bangladesh

2.0%

Belgium

36.7%

Burundi

30.5%

Costa Rica

38.6%

Egypt

2.0%

Guyana

30.8%

Iceland

31.7%

Norway

37.9%

Tanzania, United Republic of

30.4%

Total # countries with constitutional, electoral or political party quotas:	97
Average level of representation for women countries with quotas:	19.8%

Tags: countries, women, representation, government, quota, global, database

Modern 'Witch Hunts'

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 04:56:20 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.feminist.org

According to Reuters-India, every year dozens of Indian women are killed for being witches or practicing "black magic." A woman in Bhubaneswar, India, was beaten, gagged and burned to death last week when accused of witchcraft

CNN reports that another Indian woman was tied to a tree and beaten by a mob on Friday. The woman had been hired by a man "to use magic and prayer to improve his wife's health," but was accused of being a witch when his wife’s health deteriorated

In Kenya last week, eight women and three men were killed when a mob dragged them from their houses and burned them individually, according to the BBC. Villagers reported finding evidence that the eight were witches in an exercise book found at a local school with minutes of a "witches meeting."

Feminist News Wire has recently noticed an increase in news stories about the killing of women accused of witchcraft in Asia and Africa. While many consider 'witch hunts' a historical matter, they continue to affect women today

Tags: killing, women, witch, hunt, asia, africa

Canada to formally apologise to Indians for 1914 brutality

Wed, 14 May 2008 10:06:27 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

Canada will formally apologise to the Indians here for the Komagata Maru tragedy of 1914 and acknowledge the hurt caused to the community

The Komagata Maru ship brought 376 Indians to Canada in 1914 in violation of the racist immigration laws of that time. But it was not allowed to anchor here and forcibly sent back to India after two months. On return to India, many passengers were shot dead by British Indian police in Calcutta, now Kolkata

Making this commitment to the Indo-Canadian community at a gathering in Surrey near here on Saturday, Jason Kenney, secretary of state for multiculturalism and Canadian identity, said the government would soon tender a formal apology on the issue in the nation's parliament

He also hinted that his government will work with provincial (state) governments to have a Komagata chapter in school textbooks

The current Tory government set in motion the apology process soon after taking over in 2006

Tags: canada, india, history, apology, government

one student and two teachers...school??

Wed, 07 May 2008 07:22:19 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

A primary village school in Himachal Pradesh has just one student and two teachers

So when the Class 5 student of Hamirpur district's Dhariyana government primary school, some 180 km from here, decides not to attend school, the premises are locked up and the two teachers, along with other staff, are forced to call it a day and go home

Villagers say the school was opened some 15 years ago and had many students to start with but, over the years, local residents began sending their children to nearby private schools

The school has no students from Class 1 to Class 4

Ironically, the school falls in Mewa, the home constituency of state Education Minister I.D. Dhiman, but the parents feel the private schools offer a better education

Tags: school, uttar pradesh, education, india, teachers, student, private schools

Women Officers in India Seek Permanent Commissions in Military

Mon, 05 May 2008 05:03:35 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.feminist.org

The Ministry of Defense in India is considering proposals to give permanent commissions to women officers in non-combat roles. The Indo-Asian News Service reports that in the armed forces in India, women are only eligible for permanent commissions in the medical, nursing, and dental services. Women are allowed to serve 14 years in uniform, but, because they do not have permanent commissions, do not receive pensions after their service

Defense Minister A. K. Antony told the Times of India, "It's a commitment we all must honor and endeavor to achieve this objective on priority...It's high time women officers were given their due."

Currently only 2.5 to 7 percent of officers in the branches of the Indian armed forces are women.

Tags: women, india, army, pensions, permanent, defense

Global consortium to hunt for cancer genes

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:48:33 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

Scientists from around the world are joining forces to hunt for key genetic mutations involved in cancer

The International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC), launched on Tuesday, will look at up to 50 different types of cancer and researchers hope it will eventually lead to better diagnosis, treatment and prevention

Other members of the consortium include the U.S. National Institutes of Health, as well as cancer and genetic research groups from Australia, Canada, China, France, India, Japan and Singapore

Tags: cancer, genes, consortium, world

New marriage law proposed for Muslim women in India

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 05:09:03 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: Controversial points of new nikahnama

--Triple talaq said in one go will not be acceptable
--Talaq to be spaced out over a period of 3 months
--Talaq not be allowed via phone or SMS
--New Nikahnama insists on free will for the girl in case of nikah
--Talaq cannot be given under the influence of alcohol
--Talaq given to pregnant woman should be considered illegal

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

The All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board (AIMWPLB) has released the Shariat Nikahnama that they claim would give equal rights to both Muslim men and women

Women belonging to both the Shiite and Sunni sects, are demanding a revolutionary nikahnama that does away with contentious issue of triple talaq (divorce)

If the board has its way, a Muslim woman would be entitled to seek divorce if her husband was found having illicit relationship with another woman

The board has also rejected any divorce done through SMS, email, phone as well as video conferencing, besides rejecting divorce done on provocation

A Muslim woman can seek divorce if she is forced by her husband to indulge in unnatural sex. She can also seek divorce if her husband contracts Aids

The new nikahnama has 17-point guidelines for marriage under the sharia for bride and groom, while eight points on the divorce process

Tags: india, women, muslim, islam, sharia, rights, marriage, divorce, equality, law

Indian being held in Pakistan jail since 1973

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 09:07:34 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

A 73-year-old Indian national has been found languishing in a Pakistan prison for the past 35 years on spying charges

Pakistan's Federal Minister for Human Rights Ansar Burney said yesterday that he had traced an Indian national waiting for his death sentence to be carried out in a prison cell in Lahore

During a visit to Lahore Central Jail as part of his plans for prison reforms, Burney visited the various death cells and came across Kashmir Singh - now a weak, old and mentally disabled man

At the time of his arrest, he was a husband and a father of three young children - two boys and a girl. He has not seen any of them ever since then

"When I checked the jail records, I found out that Kashmir Singh, son of Sansar Singh, was arrested in 1973 on espionage charges in Pakistan and sentenced to death under the Official Secrets Act 1923 by the military court in Lahore 35 years ago. He has been languishing in a Pakistani death cell ever since," he added

Tags: india, pakistan, jail, 1973, espionage, human rights

Bihar village set for a facelift

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:48:42 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: Ahead of Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam's visit to the village on February 19, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with top officials went to the village on Saturday, and announced a spate of measures including construction of roads, a hospital, a school and other basic facilities

Late Seewoosagur Ramgoolam is considered the father of the nation as he led his country to independence from Britain

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

A little-known village in Bihar has found fame and is set for a facelift as it has been officially identified as the native place of former Mauritius prime minister Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam

Harigaon in Bhojpur district, about 60 km from here, was like any other village in rural Bihar - without roads, electricity and a health centre

The Bihar government will now develop it as a model village with basic infrastructure and turn it into a historical place to attract tourists, particularly from Mauritius

Late Seewoosagur Ramgoolam was prime minister of Mauritius from 1961 to 1982

According to experts, his grandfather was one of the hundreds labourers from different villages across Bihar forcibly taken by the British to work in sugarcane plantations in 1871

A large number of people from Bihar travelled to various parts of the world, including Mauritius, in the 19th century to serve as indentured labourers in sugarcane and rubber plantations

Tags: india, bihar, facelift, improvements, mauritius

Hindu gods get summons from court

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 07:02:02 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: Judge Singh sent out two notices to the deities, but they were returned as the addresses were found to be "incomplete".
Local say the temple belongs to the gods.
This prompted him to put out adverts in local newspapers summoning the gods.

"You failed to appear in court despite notices sent by a peon and later through registered post. You are herby directed to appear before the court personally", Judge Singh's notice said.

:roll eyes:

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Judge Sunil Kumar Singh in the eastern state of Jharkhand has issued adverts in newspapers asking the gods to "appear before the court personally"

The gods have been asked to appear before the court on Tuesday, after the judge said that letters addressed to them had gone unanswered

Ram and Hanuman are among the most popular Indian Hindu gods

The dispute is now 20 years old and revolves around the ownership of a 1.4 acre plot of land housing two temples

The deities of Ram and Hanuman, the monkey god, are worshipped at the two temples on the land

Temple priest Manmohan Pathak claims the land belongs to him. Locals say it belongs to the two deities

The two Hindu gods have been summoned as the defence claimed that they were owners of the disputed land

"Since the land has been donated to the gods, it is necessary to make them a party to the case," local lawyer Bijan Rawani said

Mr Pathak said the land was given to his grandfather by a former local king

Tags: india, weird, god, lawsuit, temple, owner, summons, religion, hindu, stupidity

Linguistic superpowers

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 11:53:25 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: The book Limits of Language by Swedish linguist Mikael Parkvall is a sort of languages-only Guinness Book of Records, listing everything that’s large, small and otherwise interesting about the manifold manners of human speech and associated forms of communication. One item deals with the world’s most linguistically diverse countries, and is illustrated with this map, of the world’s ‘linguistic superpowers’.

Clip Source: strangemaps.wordpress.com

“Languages are very unevenly distributed among the countries of the world. The map tries to capture this fact by rendering each country in a size corresponding to the number of languages spoken in it. (Because of the inherent problems in accomplishing this, sizes are rather approximate). The ten shaded countries are those in which more than 200 languages are in use.”

The Ethnologue, cited a bit further, only lists 9 countries with more than 200 languages, however. Here are the 12 top countries:

Papua New Guinea 823 languages
Indonesia 726
Nigeria 505
India 387
Mexico 288
Cameroon 279
Australia 235
DR Congo 218
China 201
Brazil 192
United States 176
Philippines 169

It’s curious how the linguistically most diverse country in the world is Papua New Guinea – because it’s also the place with the biggest biodiversity anywhere, one of the last places in the world where new species get discovered regularly. I wonder whether there’s a single explanation for both phenomena.

Tags: languages, country, world, superpowers, speech

Tolstoy & Gandhi: Two Giants Bound By Pacifism

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 16:08:06 GMT

clipped by: gingembre
clipper's remarks: Enlightening account of the relationship between Tolstoy & Gandhi

"In South Africa, Tolstoy's writings landed on the desk of a young Indian dissident, Mahatma Gandhi. He was overwhelmed, declaring that after reading Tolstoy his "lack of faith in non-violence vanished."

He hung a picture of Tolstoy on his office wall and named the camp where he trained activists in peaceful resistance Tolstoy Farm.

Gandhi wrote five letters to Leo Tolstoy and received four in return, all glowing with praise and intellectual exchange. In his last letter, written in September 1910 only weeks before his death, Tolstoy told Gandhi that his activity was "the most central and important of all the work now being done in the world."

Years later, Gandhi repaid the compliment, writing that he knew of no one "in India or anywhere else who has had as profound an understanding of nonviolence as Tolstoy had." Tolstoy had inspired Gandhi's legendary instruction to "be the change you want to see in the worl

Clip Source: www.thestar.com

Gandhi, assassinated 60 years ago this month, was overwhelmed by Tolstoy's writings

Sixty years ago this month, history's most famous pacifist was felled by an act of senseless violence. Just after 5 p.m. on January 30, a Hindu nationalist named Nathuram Godse shot Mahatma Gandhi three times in the chest. He died the following day.

Yet while Gandhi's life and message of non-violence are well known, a crucial chapter in his philosophy's genesis is largely forgotten. The story features the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, includes a bridge from Russia to Canada, and begins nearly 20 years before Gandhi's birth with the Crimean War (1853-56).

How could men commit the most horrific atrocities in the most gorgeous places on Earth? Tolstoy asked.

Outside literature, he came to see clearly that you cannot achieve positive change through violence. "Think of his pacifism as a strategy,"

"His argument was that if you do things the old way, by fighting, you're going to turn into what you hate."

Tags: history, pacifism, war, peace, gandhi, tolstoy

You have got to be kidding me....

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 12:34:54 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks:

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

A Hindu priest in central India killed himself with the promise he would come back to life after two days, police said on Monday

Manoj Baghel poisoned himself in front of a small crowd on Saturday at a temple in Raigarh in Chhattisgarh state, police said

He was taken to hospital, and died soon after

Police have registered a case of suicide, but have been unable to take the 25-year-old's body for an autopsy because supporters have insisted on returning the body to the temple

Police expect the crowds will give up their vigil by Monday evening

Tags: india, religion, hindu, stupidity, suicide, poison, death

Discovery Suggests Many Mammals Came from India

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 08:16:24 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

a lone molar belonging to a hoofed mammal stayed tucked beneath a pillow of volcanic rock in central India for more than 65 million years. Recently uncovered, the tooth predates similar fossils found across the globe

The dental discovery sheds light on the evolution of adaptations that allowed a group of mammals called ungulates to thrive as expert grazers. It also suggests, according to newly published research on the tooth, that the Indian subcontinent could be the point of origin of many groups of mammals

The lower right molar, about half the size of an ant (2.5 millimeters long), was found embedded in central India's Deccan volcanic flows. The researchers estimate the tooth dates back to the late Cretaceous period (144 million to 65 million years ago), a time when India was not connected with other continents and dinosaurs still walked the Earth

The fossil belonged to a new species of ungulate dubbed Kharmerungulatum vanvaleni

related to modern horses, cows, pigs, sheep and deer

Tags: mammals, discovery, fossil, tooth, india

Indian highways record 365 accidents a day

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 08:24:30 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks:

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

With an average of 365 accidents a day and more than 100,000 fatalities a year, Indian highways - which serve as the arterial road network of the country - are perhaps best avoided

According to the ministry of shipping, road transport and highways, at least 129,994 cases of road accidents were reported from the national highways in 2005, while the figure was 130,265 in 2004. In 2003, a total of 127,834 such cases were registered

The National Highways have a total length of 66,590km

the maximum number of accidents, especially fatal ones, were found to occur on straight stretches due to high speed. In fact speeding, wrong overtaking and poor knowledge of road rules are the primary cause of accidents

Tags: india, railway, accidents, holy crap