Knowledge Never Deceives

Are you with the parents this time?

2008-08-23T18:06:00.000-07:00

The Bombay High Court refused permission to abort a 26-week foetus with a serious heart defect after rejecting the mother's plea to terminate the pregnancy in a case torn between trauma and ethical issues.

Dismissing an application by Niketa Mehta, the court observed that medical experts did not express any "categorical opinion that if the child is born it would suffer from serious handicaps."

Considering the defects as they are now, experts are not sure whether cardiac surgery would be required at or after birth, court said.

The court noted that even if the couple had approached before 20 weeks it would not have been possible to allow abortion, as the medical opinion was contrary.

Mehta sought an amendment to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act so that pregnancy can be terminated even after 20 weeks if doctors believe that the child, if born, will have serious abnormalities, so as to render it handicapped.

Poor Indian kids kidnapped for adoption in Australia

2008-08-22T04:32:00.000-07:00

In a startling revelation made by Time magazine, poor children are first kidnapped from Chennai, in southern India, sold out to an adoption agency "Malaysian Social Services" for an amount as low as Rs 10,000-12000, and the agency finally sends them out to Australia to be "adopted" by different families.

More than a dozen "pretty" children kidnapped in Indian slums have ended up being adopted in Australia, the Magazine reported, and quoted the Indian Police as saying that at least 13 kidnapped children were adopted by Australian families in recent months.

According to the magazine, at least 120 children were kidnapped from slums in southern India and were sold to a Chennai-based adoption agency Malaysian Social Services (MSS) for as little as 280 dollars (Rs 11,000, before being sent overseas.

The magazine quoted Indian Police as saying that after MSS brought the children from kidnappers, new identities were created before the children were distributed overseas.

Citing a case, the magazine reported that a mother had wanted her child to go up for adoption because of "the social stigma of the child being born outside marriage".

Another Indian mother named Fatima said that her two-year-old daughter Zabeen was plucked off the street, thrown into a motorised rickshaw and disappeared. "I thought someone had taken her for her kidney," Fatima said.

Seven years after Zabeen vanished, it was discovered that she had been processed by MSS and police in India now say that she was adopted by a family in Queensland.

Reacting to the revelation, Queenslandd Child Safety Minister Margaret Keech reportedly said that the allegations were "very concerning". "Officials will work very closely with federal and state agencies to investigate these claims," Keech said. (ANI)

HIV/AIDS And Children In India

2008-07-12T15:48:00.000-07:00

New data reveals that HIV/AIDS epidemic in India is smaller than previous estimates.

But with the overall number of HIV cases still high – 2.47 million Indians have the virus- it is cause of concern. Chief among them is concern over the growing impact of the disease among children particularly girls.

Vast numbers of children across the world become infected with HIV every year. Without treatment, thousands die as a result of AIDS. In addition, millions more children who are not infected with HIV are indirectly affected by the epidemic, as a result of the death and suffering that AIDS causes in their families and their communities.

With an estimated 37.2 million adults living with HIV around the world, large numbers of children have family members that are living with HIV, or who have died of AIDS. These children may themselves experience the discrimination that is often associated with HIV. They may also have to care for a sick parent or relative, and may have to give up school to become the principle wage-earner for the family. When adults fall sick, food still needs to be provided – and the burden of earning money usually falls on the oldest child.

One of the harshest effects of the global AIDS epidemic is the number of orphans it has created, and continues to create. By the end of 2005, it is estimated that more than 15 million children had lost one or more of their parents as a result of AIDS. Some AIDS orphans are adopted by grandparents or other extended family-members, but many are left without any support. Child-headed households as a result of AIDS are common in some areas, with older children fending for their siblings and themselves. See our AIDS orphans page to learn more.

At the end of 2007, there were 2.5 million children living with HIV around the world.

420,000 children became newly infected with HIV in 2007.

Around 90% of all children living with HIV acquired the infection from their mothers during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding.

Of the 2.1 million people who died of AIDS during 2007, more than one in seven was children. Every hour, around forty children die as a result of AIDS.

Starting off the 3rd Innings

2008-07-10T01:28:00.000-07:00

November 2006 to January 2007 - 1st Innings
January 2008 to April 2008 - 2nd Innings
July 2008 to GOD only knows - Hey, again back to blogging!

As you all know blogging is one of my passion since 2006....it will be a pathetic life for me without blogging, but I dont know how could I manage to spend these days without blogging. This may be due to the heavy work load in my new office may be due to some personal problem anyways I am back...but Why? Should I continue my blogging ever as I left it twice...I think it should be Yes. I dont know what I am rambling now...but may be last 2 days are the happiest day of last few months...as I have resolved the problems of my recent project..."Swift Messaging System using BizTalk server". Its just working now...this project gives me a lot of knowledge on server configuration and Sharepoint system. Also provides me a topic to discuss here i.e. "BizTalk Server and A4SWIFT Component of its". May be now onwards you could find some technical posts but dont be worry you will find some informative and Human Rights posts also here.

So, my friends please cheer me up for my 3rd Innings....!

An unique effort to make Sanskrit a popular language

2008-03-18T04:56:00.000-07:00

Guess what's keeping jointly our hi-tech gadget Indian students at respective US universities, pursuing high studies? It's an online Sanskrit magazine. 'Vishvavani' - the magazine is written in Sanskrit and hosted by Indian students, alumni and faculty from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Maryland, Carnegie Mellon University, Caltech, Purdue. This magazine has been published under the banner of Campus Samskritam Network . This uniques magazine is consist of different sectons…it has a webzine called 'subhashitam' (wise saying), Sanskrit crossword puzzle etc. The editor duo of this magazine Sowmya Joisa and Avinash Varna demanded that Vishvavani is the only active online Sanskrit portal.

Blogging history depicts that Apoorvavani is the first online Sanskrit magazine but these days it is inactive.

This particular news remind me my Sanskrit classes in my Seventh and Eighth standards, when I was really bored with this language and had tried my best to get over from this.

Although Sanskrit is one of the oldest languages but the number of online publications is very less, so this effort by those people should deserve a Hats Off!

Bullying at workspace may worse your career than sexual harassment

2008-03-10T07:24:00.000-07:00

Bullying at the agency, comprising unfavorable behavior like belittling comments, relentless critique or withholding of resources, is obviously more harmful than intimate molestation, says an original survey. Both bullying and intimate molestation can produce unfavorable job environments and unsound consequences for employees, but the researchers establish that hostility had more serious consequences. Employees who experienced bullying, deficiency of politeness or interpersonal dispute were more possible to stop their jobs, have lower welfare, be less satisfied with their job and have less rewarding relations with their bosses than employees who were sexually harassed, the researchers establish.

The findings of the study were presented Saturday at the Seventh International Conference on Work, Stress and Health, co-sponsored by the American Psychological Association, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, and the Society for Occupational Health Psychology.

M. Sandy Hershcovis of University of Manitoba and Julian Barling of Queen's University, Ontario, who co-authored the study, reviewed 110 studies conducted over 21 years

'As sexual harassment becomes less acceptable in society, organisations may be more attuned to helping victims, who may therefore find it easier to cope,' said Hershcovis.

Union Budget: step mom like behaviour towards Indian IT firms and BPOs

2008-03-05T22:49:00.000-08:00

After a money shower on sports, agriculture and mass relaxation in tax we have perhaps overlook the darker side of this union budget. Recently in a news program in CNN IBN 7, it is revealed that many IT firms of India are planning to move Singapore, Malaysia to cut short the spending. After this budget, the professional tax for Indian IT firms is 22-23% whereas in Malaysia its 15-18%, the land property tax is also very high in comparison to Malaysia and Singapore. This is to mention that a lion part of Indian revenue is generated by Software firms and BPOs. Now after this recent development in Union Budget suggests that there will be no exemption in SEZs/SEMs after 2009, so mid-level IT companies are moving to countries like Malaysia, Philippines.

Here, at this point, our finance ministry should ponder over one thing that is this a positive move to impose high taxes on IT companies as it is the most revenue generating industry and also highest job generating industry as well. If this decision persist for a long then again we will see brain drain like early ‘80s when most of our intelligence fled to USA.

Love Story gets maturity under the shades of Indo-Pak friendship

2008-03-05T03:04:00.000-08:00

Year 2004 we all watched SRK got release from a Pakistani jail and crossed the Indo-Pak border to meet his love Preity Zinta…billions of Indian movie buffs were just moved with tears with that heart touching scene of Veer Zara. But that time we never knew that this could happen in real life when Kashmir Singh an Indian soldier get release from a Pakistani jail after 35 years of imprisonment and meet his wife at Indo-Pak border. Kashmir Singh was to be an Indian soldier and was arrested in Rawalpindi allegedly for spying in Pakistan on 1973.

Both Kashmir Singh and his wife Paramjit Kaur, who he said should be credited for working tirelessly for his release, profusely thanked Pakistan's caretaker Human Rights Minister Ansar Burney for securing him the freedom he had never thought would be possible one day.

While talking to media he gave full credit to his wife saying 'I am very happy to be back in my country. My wife deserves the credit for trying hard to secure my release and waiting all these years to see this happen,'

Reel life story turned to be a real life story…

Don't be so relaxed with taxes...it may go up from 2009/10

2008-02-29T23:18:00.000-08:00

After a juicy union budget from Finance Minister Mr.P.Chidambaram, we all are very happy...as many of us could have manage to get pass with income taxes. But this may be for a fortnight as some financial experts fear to have some adverse effects.

V. Balakrishnan, Chief Financial Officer, Infosys Technologies, predicted that taxes going upward to 22 percentage in the financial year 2009/10 from about 15 percentage now, if a 10-year taxation vacation ends in March 2009

India's export-driven software services sector had sought the extension of the Software Technology Park of India strategy beyond 2009, particularly for the welfare of tiny amd medium firms, in the federal budget. The proposition did not discover any reference in Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's 2008/09 budget on Friday.

"We will come under full tax regime in 2010," he said. "From 15 percent it will go to 22 percent, the effective tax rate."
The high taxes would get an influence of 2.5-3 percentage for the complete year on the earnings margins of India's second-largest software services exporter, he said.

Say No To Smoking...

2008-02-22T04:08:00.000-08:00

Adult smokers in India suffer six to 10 years of living, and smoking still as few as one to seven cigarettes a day almost doubles the danger of death, the best results of India’s million-death survey have revealed. The survey has too thrown upward the first-ever nationally democratic number on the dimension of adults in India who have successfully stop smoke — just 2 per penny, among the lowest in the reality. In 2010, smoke will induce 935,000 deaths, among which 579,000 men and 93,000 women will perish prematurely between the ages of 30 and 69, according to the survey by doctors from India and Canada. In the survey, some 900 area workers organised by the Registrar General of India surveyed grownup deaths during a two-year period (2001-03) in 1. 1 million households across India, probing smoke patterns of 74,000 folk who had died.

Misguided youth

2008-02-22T00:50:00.000-08:00

Bangalore police has been arrested an IT employee name Mohammed Yahya Kammakutty with the allegation of having connection with banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). The IT capital of India has been shocked by this news. Corps of Detectives (CoD) of Bangalore Police has arrested this 32 year electrical engineer who is also an ex-employee of General Electric (GE) Software.

Kammakutty is born and brought up in a village near Kozhikode in Kerala and he is living in B’lore for last 8 years. Although he was sacked from his last employer GE Software but still he lived in B’lore.

This news rises a serious question: do our young talent and resources are misleading to wrong path of life?! Citizen of Kolkata perhaps well aware of early ‘70s situation when thousands talented Bengali students were misguided to Naxal movement and lost their lives.

Latest News: Indian salary hikes up to 15%

2008-02-20T09:32:00.000-08:00

Indian salaries rose an average 15.1 per cent in 2007 with the highest increase coming from the real estate sector, according to a survey conducted by human resources firm Hewitt Associates.

The momentum is expected to continue in 2008, rising about 15.2 percent, but will temper to stabilize at 9-10 percent by 2012, Hewitt said in a statement released late on Tuesday.

"The struggle for talent and sustainability is large and rapidly growing in India," Hewitt said.

"Employees are increasingly looking for great career opportunities and are actively being pursued by other organizations offering extremely attractive opportunities and packages," the company said.

However, Hewitt forecasts a shortage of people with specialist and technical skills and a lacuna in leadership talent in India.

Although this news affected me but my salary didn't being affected...LOL! Hey guys what you think are you coming under the same category whose salary rose upto 15% ?!

Cricketers for Sale!!!!

2008-02-20T09:14:00.000-08:00

Isn't it amazing to see Ricky Ponting going first down to accompany Sourav Ganguly on the pitch and Brett Lee asks Yuvraj to field at point....few days back this was a dream for every cricket lovers. But the evangelistic marketing stance by Indian Cricket officials this dream comes true for us. The much awaited cricket event IPL is going to start on April and we all are pulling our legs out of the socks to see it. Guys I am really excited as I am not a guy who has great patience to watch test matches for 5 days not even spend a whole day in front of TV to watch a One Day match. Now this 20-20 tournament will surely give me joy to watch cricket. Interestingly today was the bidding day for this cricket gala and today my favorite Kolkata team owned by SRK and leaded by Sourav bagged Pakistani speedstar Shoaib Akhtar and Australian skipper Ricky Ponting. Another promising speedstar Ishant Sharma will also play for Kolkata. Another star of New Zealand cricket also a blaster with willow Brandon macculam will play for kolkata...so lets hope best for this dude of Kolkata...oh guys our Kolkata team will be coached by John Buchanan who gave Ausssies World championship title twice.

Aussies down under...

2008-01-19T01:21:00.000-08:00

Finally India tame Aussies at their den...W.A.C.A. Perth, happens to be the world's fastest wicket. Just imagine friends Indian top order batsmen faced bowlers like Brett Lee, Shaun Tait, Johnson, Clark at W.A.C.A. and scored 300+ in both innings. Indian bowlers also performed well...Aussie batting line up was demolished in 50 overs in the first innings. I guess this test match should be remembered for two records...firstly India broke Australia's 10 years long unbeaten record at Perth and secondly Anil Kumble for hauling his 600th wickets. It was India, who put the brakes on Steve Waugh’s record streak in 2003 and it’s India again who have quashed Ponting’s chances to be the skipper with the most consecutive Test wins. Beating Australia also becomes all the more remarkable especially after being 2-0 down in the series and with the on and off field controversies that could have easily taken their focus away from the game. Hats off to Kumble's lad. Way to go guys.

Happy New Year

2007-12-27T23:49:00.000-08:00

This New Year Wish You All Very Happy and Prosperous Life.

Again the same old story of Indian communalism

2007-12-26T01:21:00.000-08:00

This Christmas while we all were enjoying with our friends and family then some maniacs were vandalizing Churches and houses to fulfill their anger over Christians at Orissa. The tension began on Monday when some groups of Christians and Hindus fought over some issues. The rest story is I guess well known to us. Some places like Kandhamala district are under curfew. Many important roads and railway tracks are blocked by the mob and which incurred a loss of resources. I am not writing over the reason of this riot or not I am not really concerned with whom are involved in this creepy issues. I am worried about the humanity and the future generation of this nation. As I am a 20 something guy who loves to watch movie or cricket never minds to categorizing people by their cast. I can still remember the day when Robin Utthappa hit down the Pakistanis in T20 tournament all over the India were excited make his worship…did those fanatics who killed Muslims in Gujrat ever asked Zaheer Khan about his cast while he hauled Hayden and Ponting in MCG test today. The answer is very simple guys…its very easy to be a Hindu, Muslim or Christian but its not that easy to be an Human Being. This poisonous tree of communalism has been rooted in our mind and soul for years and this will be inherited in our next generation…if we don’t uproot it then peril of Indian civilization is not so far.

Justice...that She Deserves

2007-10-30T03:39:00.001-07:00

Guys as when I started this blog I put focus on some social issues which are like curse to us like poverty, child labor, sexual harassment, racism etc. Although I am working for people who are in USA but still don't feel regret to say that in America racism is very acute and sometimes it hurts people like hell.

Today while surfing the net I came across a news on Yahoo news which tells that an Indian engineer got compensation of 5.5 million dollar from her Silicon Valley firm. The whole story is like this...

Kiran Pandey is an Indian Engineer working in Silicon Valley USA. She lodged a complaint against her previous employer of racism. The jury found Kiran Pande's former employer Chevron liable for wrongful termination and retaliation and ruled that she be given roughly USD three million for past and future economic losses, and USD 2.5 million in punitive damages.

Pande, who is India-born and holds a Ph.D. In petroleum engineering from Stanford University, was fired by Chevron in late 2003 after 15 years with the company.

After a three-week trial stemming from incidents that occurred between September 2000 and December 2003, the jury found that Chevron retaliated against Pande after she complained about discrimination and fired her for reasons that violated a public policy.

Chevron first hired Pande as a research engineer in 1988. But in 2001 Pande began to suffer racist remarks and discrimination at the hand of his senior Rex Mitchell, who is now the company's chief compliance officer, according to her complaint, filed in United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

By March 2002, Pande complained to Mitchell's supervisor, James Johnson, about Mitchell's conduct.

Johnson did not investigate, Pande said and alleged that she was given the choice of leaving the company or leaving the group or staying for up to 18 months and getting along with Mitchell.

Later she filed a formal complaint against Mitchell with a company ombudsman.

See guys I love this when I find people get justice...aren't you!

Is India Shining Really?

2007-10-18T03:34:00.000-07:00

Tourists hoping for a glimpse of real India should ditch the well-trodden Red Fort-Taj Mahal circuit and make a pilgrimage to a little-known Moghul-era tomb hidden in the shabby residential district of Kotla, smack in the center of Delhi.

The tomb itself is in bad shape, despite the sign outside which proclaims it a nationally protected monument, but visitors are welcome to walk inside and climb up the unlit stone staircase to the roof.

This is where the excursion becomes interesting, and it is perhaps Delhi police officers, rather than tourists, who should be taking stock of the view from here.

Ugly apartment blocks have been built around the monument over the last few decades, in places barely a meter from its walls. In many of the windows opposite, young children are clearly visible, hunched over low tables, diligently embroidering sequins onto brightly-colored silk and gauze.

Welcome to India's zari industry - where children labor for a pittance to stitch elaborate brocaded designs onto high-fashion evening wear for India's new rich.

Around half a dozen of these sweatshops are open to casual inspection from the tomb's roof. In the labyrinthine lanes nearby, too narrow for cars to pass through, there are dozens more.

Inside, boys as young as young as 9 cautiously describe their bleak working conditions. They squat on the floor for the duration of their 16-hour shifts, from 9 a.m. until 1 a.m. the following morning, for which they earn about 100 rupees, or $2.50. Food (watery vegetable curry and rice) is served in plastic buckets.

The children, all migrants from impoverished rural areas, sleep and work in the same squalid, bare rooms, their few belongings stored in plastic bags in the corner. In some places, as many as 16 live cramped together, with only a CD player to break the monotony.

This area of Delhi is well-known as a ghetto of cheap child laborers, available to do contract work for the textile industry. In the gutters outside, the raw sewage that runs down open drains sparkles with sequins. Tiny flashes of pink, yellow and green turn out, on closer inspection, to be glinting plastic jewels, decorating the mounds of cow and goat dung.

Despite repeated requests from Bachpan Bachao Andolan, an energetic nongovernment organization dedicated to eradicating child labor, and despite the presence of a police station less than one kilometer away, nothing has been done to shut down these workshops, even though the employment of children under 14 in the zari business has been illegal for more than 20 years.

The scene broadly sums up the effectiveness of India's ban on child labor.

On Wednesday, India marked the first anniversary of the strengthening of its child labor laws. A year ago this week, amid much media excitement and government fanfare, an amendment to the Child Labor Prohibition and Regulation Act, which prohibits the employment of children under 14 in "hazardous" jobs, was announced, extending the definition of what constitutes hazardous to include children working in homes as maids, and in hotels, restaurants and roadside cafés as low-paid waiters.

At the time, activists working in the field voiced some caution about what they felt were inadequate preparations for the rescue and rehabilitation of illegally employed children, and warned that vigorous enforcement was essential if the modified law were to be any more potent than the existing statutes.

A year on, there is frustration at the slow pace of change.

On the plus side, campaigners say there has been considerable raising of awareness across the country, so that most people now realize that employing a young child as a cleaner in your home is illegal. On the less positive side, since there has been very little police action to prosecute those who continue to employ children, there is a belief that it is possible to continue as before with impunity.

Back With A Bang

2007-10-18T03:28:00.000-07:00

After a gap of 9-10 months I am back with blogging. Yes its true there was a time when blogging was my life but dew to shortage of time or pressure of life whatever you guys say...I could not blog. Trust me this hibernation period of blogging was like a hell but I could not manage time to cut this hell out. Anyways thanks to my friends who inspired me again and helped me to get back my urge. So guys I am back with my life...blogging.

Save this ground and save the childhood

2007-03-25T10:14:00.000-07:00

This above leaflet is showing how some selfish people are destroying the greenery and equilibrium of Sinthee area.This above said ground is one of the famous ground of North Kolkata. This ground has some nostalgic value of many people.So lets join hands together to save this ground.

Dadagiri Defined here...

2007-02-27T04:39:00.000-08:00

The Royal Bengal Tiger is back in action again...beware You Jammy and Co.

A Letter changes the Vision of Indian Railway

2007-01-12T04:34:00.000-08:00

Akhil Chandra Sen's letter to the Railway Department:

"I am arrive by passenger train Ahmedpur station and my belly is too much swelling with jackfruit. I am therefore went to privy. Just I doing the nuisance that guard making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with 'lotah' in one hand and 'dhoti' in the next when I am fall over and expose all my shocking to man and female women on plateform. I am got leaved at Ahmedpur station.

This too much bad, if passenger go to make dung that dam guard not wait train five minutes for him. I am therefore pray your honour to make big fine on that guard for public sake. Otherwise I am making big report! to papers."

Akhil Chandra Sen wrote this letter to the Sahibganj divisional railway
office in 1909. It is on display at the Railway Museum in New Delhi.
It was also reproduced under the caption "Travelers' Tales" in the Far Eastern Economic Review.

You must be wondering about the significance of such trivial letter...it is one of the motivating factors to introduce toilets in Indian Trains.

Sexual Harassment with Martyr's Wife: Reflecting Our Work Culture

2007-01-10T00:43:00.000-08:00

Two war widows from Punjab petitioned the National Commission for Women for help against sexual harassment by their superior, Sainik Welfare Board (SWB) chief Brig (retd) JS Jaswal who, in Chandigarh, denied the charge.

Anti-Terrorist Front chairman MS Bitta accompanied 38-year-old Raj Kaur, widow of hawaldar Gurmail Singh, a sena medal winner who died in Operation Rhino in Assam, and Margaret Gill when they submitted a memorandum to NCW chairperson Girija Vyas alleging that Jaswal sexually harassed them continually at their offices in Chandigarh and Bhatinda, punishing them with adverse career reports and blocking their discretionary benefits for rebuffing him.

Vyas said that the NCW had received a copy of the complaint a week back and has asked for an action taken report. But there has been no reply from the SWB so far. "If necessary, we will send a team for an inquiry," she said.

She wondered whether the Supreme Court mandated cell to receive complaints against sexual harassment at workplace was inactive or had not been set up at the SWB. "We are looking into the whole matter," she said.

In their memorandum, Bitta, Gill and Raj Kaur alleged that the directorate and the Sainik rest houses have become "dens of moral turpitude" and demanded a CBI probe into the matter and punishment of the culprits, including Jaswal's personal assistant. Bitta also intends to take the two women to meet Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and the wife of Army chief JJ Singh.

Speaking to reporters, Raj Kaur, a clerk with the Board, said she even thought of committing suicide alongwith her two children when her complaints to the local police and other officials came to naught.

"We have come to the NCW with a heavy heart and a lot of hope," said Raj Kaur and Gill, another fourth class employee who alleged she was harassed even after getting herself transferred to Bhatinda.

Gill's daughter Seema, on her part, urged other victims of harassment to step forward with their complaints to clean up the system.

After Gill went public with her charge at a press conference at Chandigarh on January 2, Jaswal dismissed the allegation with a counter charge that the women accusing him of misbehaviour were not above board. The retired Army officer, who is already facing an inquiry by the Chandigarh police, on Monday once again denied the charges.

Jaswal denied meeting Gill who was not even in the direct chain of command under him and was suspended. "She is implicated in a case of forgery and has been suspended by the department three or four times," he said. "An inquiry, conducted against Raj Kaur by the SC/ST Commission on allegations that she used racist abuses against my PA, had found her guilty. She was never directly working under me. I have never made any sexual advances towards her and these allegations have been levelled to scuttle departmental action after the commission's report," he said. And Bitta's move, he alleged, was prompted by electoral considerations.

Doctors, nurses face sexual harassment at work place

2007-01-02T00:15:00.000-08:00

Women doctors and nurses are victims of sexual harassment at the workplace and not many of them are ready to come out openly against it.

This fact has been brought out by a recent study in which several doctors and nurses, including senior staff members, revealed that sexual harassment in hospitals is quite common.

The study was conducted in Kolkata, West Bengal, with 135 in-depth interviews of women employees in two government and two private hospitals over a period of 11 months.

'Power imbalances characterised many of the incidents of sexual harassment as the perpetrators were frequently persons in authority and victims were often those in a relatively subordinate position,' said Paramita Chaudhuri, who conducted the study on behalf of an international NGO called Population Council.

'The doctors and administrators in positions of authority harassed other doctors, nurses and other non-medical lower level staff. Even patients are seen to be in positions of authority because their complaint could lead to dismissal,' she added.

The study 'Sexual harassment in work place - experiences of women in the health sector' says victims were sexually harassed by not only their co-workers but also by patients and their relatives.

'Women will study and enter various professions and then men will behave in this manner. We have accepted this is how things will continue,' a 30-year-old government doctor said when interviewed for the study.

Sharing her personal experience, a 35-year-old nurse in a government hospital said: 'Saying bad things when they see a woman is natural. It doesn't matter if the man is a doctor or a non-medical staffer.'

The study also found that in a large number of cases the victims were reluctant to go public on this issue.

Of the 135 women interviewed, 77 admitted sexual harassment but 50 did not complain. Of the 45 doctors interviewed 24 had been harassed; of the 50 nurses, 31 were victims of sexual harassment.

'Many fear they will be blamed for provoking sexual harassment. Others fear loss of reputation after complaining. So the culture of silence and denial continues,' the study said.

Shockingly, the biggest perpetrators of abuse were patients and their families followed by doctors and non-medical staff.

'Nurses are the only group harassed by everyone - doctors, non-medical staff, patients and their relatives and outsiders,' a 29-year-old doctor in a private hospital admitted.

According to the study, just 20 of the 135 women interviewed were aware of the Supreme Court guidelines on sexual harassment and none had heard of a complaints committee for redressal of their grievances.

Underground Video Footage of Saddam's Execution

2006-12-31T23:56:00.000-08:00

This one I hacked from a Middle-East TV channel...I am not defending or supporting US's stand on this but is it virtue to hang a Muslim on EID!!! One more thing check the last portion of this footage some brutal maniacs kicked his dead body.

Absolutely crap...

Happy New Year to You All

2006-12-31T23:44:00.000-08:00

Hi Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous new year. In 2007 may all your wishes come true and enjoy every second of 2007.

Dreamer a.k.a. Abhi

Is it Reservation for weakers?or Reservation to make Weaker?

2006-12-27T00:58:00.000-08:00

Students and junior doctors of Sir Sunderlal Hospital in the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) on Tuesday went on a strike to protest against a lathicharge against anti-reservation protesters.

The medicos alleged that the guards injured seven students who were collecting signatures at the university gate against the reservation policy.

Doctors didn’t report for duty and students boycotted classes to press for their demand that the guards and officials responsible for the lathicharge be punished. This was the second time in a week that the doctors and students have gone on strike.

The medicos will step up their agitation against the Centre’s decision to reserve 27 per cent seats in higher educational institutions for other Other Backward Classes (OBCs), said a student leader.

Guys have you seen the movie Rang De Basanti? Power and politics didn't defend the youth force...don't you feel one more RDB we need? Just raise your voice against the brutality of those crap vote-monger politicians. Reservation won't help backward classes to move up front it will handicapped them for their lifetime.

Anti-Child Labour Law: See The Other Side of Coin

2006-12-22T01:00:00.000-08:00

The new Anti-Child Labour law may have come to the rescue of many underage working children in the country but as the media has been constantly reporting, the law has made survival more difficult for some others.

For instance, 12-year-old Birendra Kumar is orphaned and already on his second job.

He is the face of the other side of the Anti-Child Labour law, a side that makes more vulnerable exactly those it is supposed to protect.

Birendra's new job is at a Patna dhaba - washing dishes and serving tea.

He lost his first job which was in a cloth showroom as the owner of the shop didn't want to keep him once the law came into force.

"I used to work in a cloth store and used to earn Rs 1000 a month. I lost that job and now I work at a tea stall,” says Birendra.

His new job pays him half of what he used to earn earlier, only Rs 500. With that, he not only has to fend for himself but he has to take care of his four-year-old sister as well.

"We don’t have parents,” says Birendra’s sister, Chutki.

In eyes of law, Birendra is still an offender and so is his employer but he has to continue working to earn money that keeps him and his sister alive.

He knows he is defying a law that has been much talked about but he also realizes that he has little choice.

"We are in dire straits. We want to go to school but we don’t have the money,” he says.

Locals have little to offer but pity for the children. “He is the only earning member of the family. They will starve if he stops working,” says a local resident, Ranjeet Kumar.

There are thousands of Birendras and Chutkis for whom this law is not a boon and even those who are in the crusade of enforcing the law hardly look beyond the rule books.

So this is a request to the Lawmakers please think twice before imposing any law on society. I am not a supporter of child labour but before imposing any law we should provide an environment which could preserve that law. Our society still not provided any other alternative to those poor children so how could we expect anything good?

Gender Equality: The Untouched Goal of Indian Workforce

2006-12-21T01:33:00.001-08:00

Gender equality is yet to be a reality for the Indian workforce. If women’s participation in top management is to be seen, it is pathetically low, with just 3% of the senior positions in the private sector being filled by them. In the public sector, 5-6% is occupied by women, according to an ICICI Bank presentation made at an Aima conference for ‘Women In Leadership Roles’, in New Delhi last week.

Globally, women’s presence in boardrooms has improved. Poonam Barua, regional director, The Conference Board, a US-based research firm, said: “The number of Fortune 500 companies with 25% or more women on their boards has increased from 11-64% from 1995-2005.”

Overall, in India, women’s participation in the workforce has grown to 31% in 2005 from 26% in 2000. The growth has been more in the rural areas with 34% compared to 26% urban participation, according to Roopa Purushothaman, chief economist of the Future Group.

Given the talent crunch and the need for creating a quality resource pool, firms are hiring a number of women. It was the need of the hour that was helping reduce gender inequality, experts said.

“The services sector has been the growth engine for the Indian economy. Its share of GDP has grown to about 52% in 2004-05 from 41% in 1990-91. Of the existing base of 85 lakh workers in the organised sector, 30% will retire within five years,” said Madhabi Puri Buch, head (operations), ICICI Bank.

Cultivate me if you want...

2006-12-21T01:33:00.000-08:00

What to say about myself…hmmm….people call me talkative but I call myself expressive as talkative persons can at least express their mind and are not introvert. By profession I am a techie and by passion I am a person who loves to meet strangers…my blog helps me to fulfill my passion. I am blogging since Nov’2006 and till now I have met lots of strangers through my blog. Meeting new people adds your experience about knowledge and as my blog suggests Knowledge Never Deceives, I believe one day this knowledge will surely help you in your life.

OMG, I have written many heavy words like a philosopher…hey there I am not a philosopher, I am fun loving person…let’s take a look about my liking and disliking…

I like...

Simplicity

Innocence

Enjoying life with friends

Java Programming (I just love it man)

Internet (can’t think a day without it)

Teasing people with my silly jokes…

Any fast pace movie

Any spicy non-veg food

Reading books and blogs

Meeting strangers…

And about my disliking…

Hypocrisy

Smoking (although I use to it at times but trying to get over it)

Poverty and starvation

Child Labor

Sexual Harassment

Racism...

To know about my likings and disliking please go through my blog, you will come across lots of unfolded aspects of my life…

Amartya Sen on Indian Child Labour and Gender In-Equality

2006-12-20T00:02:00.000-08:00

Although India has witnessed social progress, serious challenges still remain - including the most important one of child deprivation, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said here Tuesday.

Speaking at a lecture on Child and Human Rights, Sen said: "There has been social progress in India but some serious problems still face the country - the most important among them being child deprivation and under-nourishment."

"There have been numerous programmes for the undernourished children but they have failed to create an impact. This disturbing picture needs rapid remedy," the renowned economist said while launching the Indian Journal of Human Development by the Institute for Human Development.

"Under-nourishment and lack of medical assistance have enhanced this growing problem (child deprivation). Thus we have to look forward to a broader framework to address deprivation of Indian children," he added.

He stressed that human rights activists needed to address children's deprivation in particular.

"Incorporating a legal system has certainly helped human rights. The idea of human rights can be used in other ways. The legislature can help to promote an ethical way of human life. The Supreme Court of India can help promote this as they have in the past," Sen said.

Referring to the issue of gender inequality and resulting child under-nourishment, he said: "Gender inequality casts a shadow on child under-nourishment right from the time the child is in the womb. And an undernourished child always has the propensity to cardio-vascular diseases."

Touching upon female foeticide, he said such cases were decreasing elsewhere in the world but rising alarmingly in India and it needed to be seriously addressed.

A Daughter Against Her Dad for the Sake of Humanity

2006-12-18T23:36:00.000-08:00

One of the most talked about legal case of India "Jessica Lal Murder Case" came to an end. Delhi High Court announced conviction on that case and acquitted Manu Sharma (son of former Haryana Minister Venod Sharma) with 8 other people. The defense lawyer of this case was an eminent lawyer...Ram Jethmalani who denied to pass any comment after that but his daughter Rani Jethmalani stood against her Dad.

Rani Jethmalini said she was upset with her father's decision to defend Sharma. "It was exceedingly painful for me," I had always campaigned for women's rights and have been a human rights activist myself, Rani said.

"As a lawyer whatever my father might say he is not just a lawyer also happens to be a member of parliament and also happens to be a legislator and there is a great responsibility on legislators," she pointed out.

"When the system of justice is polluted, tampered and perverted it is time I think for lawyers to say that we will not take part in these kinds of cases," Rani said.

"The law does not prevent you from doing this and there is a higher moral code there is the constitutional law and also our constitutional duties in article 51 of the constitution so all these things would have prevented him to disobey or discard a rule of professional ethics," she said.

But Rani also described her father as a liberal man who would allow her to say what she wanted to say.

Some may describes it as Feminism or Mockery but I believe this level of guts should always be present in a person. This conviction once more proves that the initial stage of investigation was motivated by some influence.

Did you feel the sob while wearing the glittering Trinkets?

2006-12-17T23:45:00.000-08:00

In the corner of a dark room filled with the stench of kerosene, Prabhu Dayal crouches over a fire, his nimble fingers forming glass bangles in the flames.

Prabhu is only 8 years old, but his life is already one of endless toil, making the colourful glass bangles that are popular among women across India.

"Sometimes I get sores on my fingers but it's okay," Prabhu says, without looking away from the flame for a moment.

"When the flame is blue, it's okay. When it turns yellow, then foul gas comes out," he explains.

"It's not that difficult. Just hold the two ends (of the bangle) like this and join them with the fire," he adds, deftly showing his skill.

Despite a government ban on child labour, Prabhu is one of tens of thousands of children in India who work in horrific conditions in often dangerous industries to support their poor families.

Across the country, children stuff explosives into fireworks to be lit during religious festivals and extravagant wedding celebrations, or weave carpets, sew textiles and make everything from footballs to cricket bats to sulphur-tipped matchsticks.

Around the town of Firozabad, about 230km southeast of New Delhi and the hub of India's glassware industry, rights groups estimate that 50 000 child workers endure lives similar to Prabhu's, labouring away in dozens of factories.

Under India's Child Labour Act of 1986, children under 14 are banned from working in industries deemed "hazardous" such as fireworks, matchstick-making, auto workshops or carpet weaving.

The ban was extended in October to cover those employed at roadside food stalls, homes and hotels.

But the rules are widely flouted, and prosecutions, when they happen at all, get bogged down in courts for lengthy periods.

In 1996, a government survey found that 22 000 children worked in factories around Firozabad. Charges were brought against plant owners, many of whom are still involved in legal battles.

The factories stopped employing children directly, but began outsourcing their work to "household units", workshops like the tiny, dark room where Prabhu works for eight to 10 hours a day.

A restless boy with sparkling eyes, Prabhu earns about 10 rupees (about R1,50) for joining around 1 200 bangles a day.

"Once we held a free health check-up camp here," says Chandel, a human rights worker based in the area. "Not one person came. Nearly everyone here suffers from some form of asthma."

The day begins at 3am for Prabhu, his two brothers and their father.

At 8am, Prabhu goes to school but he returns to the dingy workshop at around noon and works until 5pm. The finished bangles are then heaped on carts and bicycles, which are dragged back to the factories in Firozabad.

"After that we play," Prabhu says.

Middle-aged Ramrati lives in a one-room mud hut where she cooks in an earthen oven. She has three sons, aged between 5 and 13. All of them work in the bangle industry.

A daughter, who also grew up making glass bangles, died of tuberculosis a few years ago at the age of 16

"The bangles killed her," she says. "She used to cough a lot and turned weak. I got her married thinking her health would improve but she died in a few months."

The government has only banned child labour but it has not created any jobs. Until the parents get some other work, they will continue to use their children to increase their income. It's a question of livelihood.

Bal Krishan Gupta is the owner of Om Glassworks, one of the biggest factories in the region. Inside his sprawling residence is a cricket field, a fish pond and ducks playing on the lawns.

Gupta, who came to Firozabad in 1946, says his factories no longer make bangles, but he knows that children in the region are making them in hazardous conditions.

"But who is responsible for this? Is it not the father of the child who is making the child work?" he asks. Devastating economic circumstances in India see many parents sending their children to work for a pittance in factories. Though it's illegal, the rules are widely flouted.

Are they Doctors or Slaughters?

2006-12-16T14:14:00.001-08:00

A 26-year-old man died of renal failure after doctors in a government-run hospital in New Delhi refused to treat him because he was HIV positive, a newspaper report said on Saturday.

The daily "Hindustan Times" newspaper said the unnamed man was admitted with a fever at the Lok Nayak hospital in New Delhi, but that tests conducted revealed he was infected with the virus.

"His case sheet says that he was refused treatment because he was HIV positive," a doctor at the hospital, who declined to be named, told the newspaper.

"He was referred for dialysis. But doctors there turned him away because he was suspected to be HIV positive," the doctor said. "He died within two hours."

Social activists say widespread stigma and discrimination forces tens of thousands of HIV/AIDS sufferers underground where they shy away from social life and hide their infection.

According to the United Nations, 5.7 million Indians are living with HIV/AIDS -- the world's largest country now I guess you all understood why so? Doctors are amongst the educated classes and what a out burst of knowledge!!! Really they should ashamed of their insanity...

Brutality Reveals of Iraqi Army

2006-12-14T22:39:00.000-08:00

Guys this video reflects how brutality uprooted our feelings. Iraqi Army showing their thuggery and Americans the so-called civilized race of Earth are provoking them...Man this is really awful. Cant we raise our voice against this and teach them a lesson?

One More Humiliation of Humanity...this time in India!!!

2006-12-13T05:46:00.000-08:00

Dolly, who came from Bangladesh to work in a Mumbai bar, has visited Hong Kong, China, Dubai and Kenya to "service her clients" in just six months. She, like other former dance bar employees, is looking for a viable livelihood.

After leaving her native Kakulia village in Jessore district of Bangladesh, Dolly, 19, joined a bar in the north-western suburb of Dombivili for a monthly pay of Rs.4,000.

However, the bar owner asked her if she was willing to make a fortnight's trip to Hong Kong and mainland China. As the payment offer was 10 times her salary, she agreed. A series of stints in "body shops" followed where Indian girls are preferred to their Chinese counterparts.

Of course, Dolly is not the only one. According to a study by the Bharatiya Bar Girls Union, an association formed to protect the rights of dance bar girls, thousands of youngsters - mostly from poor north-eastern states and neighbouring Bangladesh and Nepal - are lured by Mumbai's lure of a better lifestyle.

In the aftermath of the closure of the dance bars in India's financial and entertainment capital, Mumbai has turned into a human-trafficking transit point.

Still do we believe we are civilized enough to be known as a Developed Nation? Our Human Rights Activists please light on this....please.

Anti-Child Labour Campaign or A Debacle with Buds

2006-12-04T04:30:00.000-08:00

It was in the month of October, this year, that the Government of India, with much fanfare, enacted the law of banning child labour, in this country. It was welcomed by one and all.

The United Nations Children's Fund, popularly known as UNICEF, while lending support to the government decision of banning child labour, had come out with its own anti-child labour campaign.

Eight year old Choonam Kumari alias Chuniya, from Northern Indian state of Bihar and hailing from a poor family, was the lucky one to have been chosen to feature in UNICEF's awareness campaign against child labour.

Later, Chuniya once again hit the news in the Indian press, but this time for wrong reason. She was found in the act of washing utensils near a roadside eatery, belonging to her father. Besides washing plates, she served food to walk in customers. Chuniya looking frail and lost, washing empty utensils on roadside was splashed all over the Indian newspapers.

The image depicting Chuniya, followed by the story of her poor plight, made a huge dent in the Indian government's campaign against child labour.UNICEF's Anupam Srivastav, Director ( Communications), Patna, clarifying his stand on the issue, said there was no monetary compensation made to Chuniya's family for using her photograph for anti-child labour campaign and nor she was their brand ambassador.

In India the outcome of globalisation has seen the mushrooming of huge shopping malls, multiplex cinemas halls and swanky restaurants in urban cites and rural towns. But still in the handloom embroidery industries, firecracker units, diamond polishing units and local restaurants, one can find large scale employment of child labourers and exploitation.

Shame to our Politicians who spend their money in foreign trips and conventions. Those craps are actually sucking us and wont stop untill they die.

Lets Combat The Killer

2006-12-01T01:56:00.000-08:00

1st December is celebrated as World Aids Day...On this day lets make an oath to fight against this deadly disease and also love those who are being attacked by it.

Racism in Texas,USA

2006-11-27T05:20:00.000-08:00

Last night my best friend said that in USA Racism is not so acute so I hacked this video from a Federal site(US Govt. owned website) just to prove that she is wrong its really acute and sometimes lethal.
The whites are still discriminate Blacks as the weaker race.
Shame to this so-called most civilized race

Md.Yunus on His Grameen Bank

2006-11-27T04:59:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys this is Md.Yunus(Nobel laureate) on his dream Grameen Bank. Cant we dream something like this to end up poverty.

Learn While You Laugh

2006-11-25T03:39:00.000-08:00

The following scene took place on a British Airways flight between

Johannesburg and London.

This is a true story.

A White woman, about 50 years old, was seated next to a Black man.
Obviously disturbed by this, she called the air Hostess.

"Madam, what is the matter," the Hostess asked.

"You obviously do not see it then?" she responded.

"You placed me next to a Black man.

I do not agree to sit next to someone from such a repugnant group.

Give me an alternative seat."

"Be calm please, " the Hostess replied.

"Almost all the places on this flight are taken.

I will go to see if another seat is available."

The Hostess went away and then came back a few minutes later.

"Madam, just as I thought, there are no other available seats in the Economy class.

I spoke to the Captain and he informed me that there is also no seats in the Business class.

All the same, we still have one seat in the First class."

Before the woman could say anything, the Hostess continued:

"It is not usual for our company to permit someone from the Economy class to sit in the First class.

However, given the circumstances, the Captain feels that it would be scandalous to make someone sit next to someone so disgusting."

She turned to the Black guy, and said,

"Therefore, Sir,if you would like to, please collect your hand luggage, a seat awaits you in First class."

At that moment, the other passengers who were shocked by what they had just witnessed stood up and applauded.

Guys Racism is another sort of curse on humanity as it differs mankind so please raise your voice against it.

Ugliest Face of Civilisation

2006-11-18T13:54:00.000-08:00

President Bush is making an historic visit to Vietnam this weekend. While the agenda is crowded with discussion of trade, North Korea, Iraq, the War Against Terror and other issues, American Human Rights activists are pressing for the United States to make stronger statements about Vietnam's record on human rights.

Vietnam has many problems and one of the more serious for me is the exploitation of hundreds of thousands of poor women every year. Known for their extreme beauty and because in the Vietnamese culture the women are taught to care for the men, young Vietnamese women are prized wives.

Men from mostly Korea and Taiwan (but certainly many other nations) pay fees to join associations which bring them to Vietnam to find such "wives." A Korean or Taiwanese man may meet as many as 300 young Vietnamese women in a day while visiting Vietnam.

He is interviewing them so that he can find a "wife." The time he takes for his decision may be only an elapsed few minutes. He pays a heavy toll to leave Vietnam with his "wife."

The women are motivated by the hope of finding a better life – but this often doesn't happen.

Often the men lie about their income, careers, families and social standing to make themselves look more attractive. Once they get their Vietnamese "wives" back to Korea or Taiwan, they confiscate the young woman's passport, abuse her, force her into sex and generally treat these women with distain.

This situation of dealing in human trafficking is among the ugliest of human rights abuses. Added to the misery the Whites mostly Americans, Canadians are showing their interest in this trade and pulling Vietnamese girls into direct prostitution, the slave trade and child labour are also the by-product of Human Trafficking.

Source:Freddy Wattson (Socio-Economist working on Economic Balance in South-East Asia)

Poverty Comes to an End - A Fallacy

2006-11-16T05:24:00.000-08:00

Corruption, conflict, high deficits and a growing gap between the rich and poor are some of the major constraints to boosting economic growth in the South Asia region, according to a new World Bank report released today..

However the report, Economic Growth in South Asia, says while the challenges facing the region are daunting, it is possible South Asia could see poverty rates cut by two thirds in a decade.

Shantayanan Devarajan, World Bank Chief Economist for the region and co-author of the report, says growth rates in South Asia have been accelerating in the last 10 to 15 years.

” South Asia as a whole has been enjoying about five to six percent growth with some countries like India and Pakistan growing over seven percent in the last two years,” Devaranjan says.

“If this growth can be sustained and accelerated, South Asia - which is the region with the largest concentration of poor people in the world - has a significant chance of bringing poverty down to single digits in a decade.”

But I think before make any assumption we should stop Human Trafficking.

The worst ever curse of our society in recent past is human trafficking. Poverty stricken masses are being provoked by some rich insane and let their life to be sucked by riches.

The third world countries specially Bangladesh, Nigeria, Sudan, Uganda are the mostly affected countries.

This human trafficking leads poors to the Slave Trade. So guys please pull your arms out to combat the Human Traffickers to offer a Less Starving World to our next generation.

Do You Support Reservation in Education?
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