Prostitution is the world’s oldest profession, it is said. Every day we read so many articles about it, some favouring prostitution, while some are against it; some calling it against our culture, while some refer to the Vedas to claim that it isn’t against Indian culture. Whatever the Vedas may say, today, more than half India’s population is against this prostitution. With the culture of silence that has developed around the issue, whatever the layman knows about it is either through prejudices that have been passed on or articles in the paper that catch one’s eye. Till now we have been indifferent towards this issue, acting as if it doesn’t even exist, forcing the sex workers to live in misery, but now we need to acknowledge it, analyse it and discuss it.
This profession that is considered to be a blotch on our society, is actually estimated to be an 8.4 billion dollar industry, just in India. Many of the hypocrites who complain about how sex workers have blemished the culture, are the ones who feast on them for without the requisite demand, the sex industry would have never thrived. Going further, we refuse to accept the plight of these sex workers. The only thing that we have done for them is label them as ‘prohibited’. Denied even basic human rights, their lives are nothing but a continuous struggle.
The National Commission for Women recently stated that prostitution should be legalised in India, reigniting the old debate. In a country where the word, “sex”, is considered a taboo despite rapes and sexual crimes being ever so frequent, legalising prostitution was bound to raise many eyebrows. While some thoroughly oppose it, others believe that legalisation can reduce the incidence sexual crimes. There might be substance to the latter argument. With the closure of brothels in 1959, Queensland, Australia experienced a 149% increase in incidents of rape. Most sexual offenders are psychopaths, and a possible psychological explanation lies in that sex is a human necessity with depravity pushing a person to commit such crimes. An example of this manifestation is the recently viral article, in which a tourist shared her experience of how a man masturbated to her in a bus in India. By legalising prostitution, this depravity can be controlled and hence it can reduce the incidence of such crimes.
Our personal like or dislike toward this profession is immaterial with regard to whether or not it should be legalised. The difference between the two matters lies in the truth, which is, that whatever we do, we cannot eliminate prostitution. It is a reality that has always been there, because of which it would be better to legalise it in order to at least protect the rights of the sex workers.
It is disconcerting to even think that there exists a world so removed from the one that we live in, where little girls no older than 10-11 years are sold into the menacing lanes of a red light area. Around ten million children are estimated to be part of the sex trade. Once they are in it they have to trade their existence for survival for the rest of their lives, as there is no escape for them. They are harassed, beaten and left wounded with no one to take care of them. They get pregnant at such a young age, go through abortion and get pregnant again. Their kids, too, go through a tough life devoid of the respect and security that they deserve. Hence, legalisation would ensure that only consenting adults get into this trade and no other, especially a minor is forced into it.
Sex workers are the most marginalised members of society. They are mistreated and harassed throughout their lives, and receive no protection or justice from the law, as they are engaged in an activity that is illegal, and hence do not exist within the official radar of the state, with no official identity documents or even a bank account. What they require is protection. Legalising their profession would ensure their security. They are exploited by pimps, clients and obviously, the police. Once it is legalised, pimps and brothel owners would be held responsible for the treatment of these sex workers. Mandatory h checks will also reduce the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases. It will ensure better work conditions, better wages for them.
Legalisation will be able to provide a life for these women, a life of security and respect, which is what they deserve instead of being criminalised for the choices they make or, more often than not, are forced into.
By-VARTIKA CHAUDHARY
Tuesday, 9 February 2016
WILL LEGALISING PROSTITUTION LEAD TO LESS NUMBER OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT CASES?
CAN RELIGION BE THE BASIS OF A STATE?
Recent events like the Dadri lynching and the killing of Kannada scholar M.M. Kalburgi have clearly put the secular credentials of the country under question. Incidents like the Trilokpuri and Muzzafarnagar riots in the past have also dented the constitutional principles of the state. These incidents not only weaken the very principle of equality but also bring in a feeling of discrimination and marginalisation within the society. A statement by President Pranab Mukherjee, in October last year, underlined the importance of retaining diversity and tolerance. He re-stated the same opinion in his visit to Israel in which he mentioned that religion must never be the basis for a state. Israel, in which the majority of the people are Jewish has been at war against Palestine which started because of communal hatred. Recent attacks on people who consume beef has only aggravated the seriousness of the issue. This issue has sparked tensions among the intellectuals of the country with many litterateurs previously returning their Sahitya Akademi awards, concerned about the silence of the government over the rising intolerance.
“Despite being a Muslim, APJ Abdul Kalam was a great nationalist and humanist.”
The above statement came from the Union Minister of Culture Mahesh Sharma during an interview with India TV. Was it really necessary? Statements like these instil fear not only among the minority communities but also among the majority, as these statements trigger widespread communal riots which are tragic for the whole society. Communalism has taken the centre stage from the beginning of the new government’s tenure which was selected with the hopes of development and stability and it has succeeded to some extent but the rise of communal tensions have overshadowed the efforts of the BJP government, and Mr. Narendra Modi being the prime minister of India will certainly not want this to happen. He has launched many successful initiatives so far, such as the “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan”, “Digital India”, etc, and it is high time for him to act a little more seriously with regard to the issue of rising communal sentiments. Nirmala Seetharaman (a colleague of Mr. Modi) also put forward a controversial statement in which he seemed to be debating on the existence of communalism instead of opposing it.
The Modi government’s response to all these incidents has been lukewarm and disappointing. Instead of promising concrete measures, he blamed the state governments for the riots and avoided taking the onus. Using the same clichéd arguments of law and order and merely expressing sadness will not help the issue. Instead he should condemn the controversial statements made by BJP ministers, recently, and also acknowledge that communalism of the majoritarian kind will not be tolerated. The intellectual community of the country (especially those returning their Sahitya Akademi awards) is losing the faith they had in the government and the BJP has to take steps to stop this chaos and bring back the faith people had in the party, the faith that it would bring in economic development, not communal violence. Secularism is the backbone of the country’s constitution and what needs to be debated is how to separate religion from state instead of fuelling debates on communalism.
The Real motive behind Mark Zuckerburg’s IIT Delhi visit
Mark Zuckerburg visited IIT Delhi on 28th October 2015. His visit may very well be one of the most important highlights of its academic year. Mark is a youth icon for achieving so much in such little time and engineering students look up to him as no less than a demigod. He has achieved all the three things that every student and entrepreneur aspires to achieve, namely: fame, respect and money.
So, as expected tickets to his town hall event were hard to come by. Only one in six students were able to attend the event as even IIT Delhi’s Dogra hall was only able to accommodate about a thousand students. With a student population of over six thousand students, students were desperately trying to arrange for passes or exchange them for money.
Dressed in his signature round neck t-shirt and jeans. He looked like an average youngster but, indeed, he is the CEO of a 250 billion firm. There was clearly a gleam of excitement on the faces of students, a bit of curiosity and of course respect when the 31-year-old entrepreneur from Silicon Valley began speaking.
But, was there an ulterior motive rather than Mark’s vision of India becoming facebook’s biggest market. Facebook supports internet.org and for a long time, has been pushing for its implementation in India. Internet.org is about providing access to free internet but you can use the internet mainly to access facebook.com only. It violates net neutrality, according to which unrestricted access must be provided to all websites and access speeds must not be throttled down.
After facebook’s Digital India fiasco in which it injected a small script, wherein people who supported Digital India initiative online also unknowingly supported internet.org. According to the company spokesperson internet.org was a variable that the developer had used but seldom do developers use such complex variables. So clearly, Facebook had been caught red handed.
His visit to India may very well be to sugar coat internet.org and to persuade people to support internet.org so as to then seek approval from the telecom authority citing existing support for the same. But the fact remains that internet.org is just a marketing gimmick to hook more people to its platform and not about providing freer access to the internet.
Today’s youth is much more intelligent than Mark and his team perceives them to be, and students could clearly see that the townhall event that he announced with much fanfare and excitement was nothing but a marketing gimmick for the internet.org initiative. With no clear national framework on net neutrality, intenet.org may very well be a grey area that large corporations such as facebook exploit for their selfish motives.
By - Archit Aggarwal
Sunday, 31 January 2016
SPANISH GENERAL ELECTION 2015
The Spanish general election 2015 was held on 20th December, Sunday to elect the 11th Cortes Generales (national legislature) of the Kingdom of Spain. Since the Spanish transition to democracy, with a gap of 4 years and 1 month since the previous general election of 2011, it marks the longest time span between two general elections. Analysts deemed the polls to be the most unpredictable Spanish general election in decades, as a consequence of the two major political parties giving way to a new political landscape and the introduction of two new parties, who are popular with the public.
The ruling party, People’s Party (PP), with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, has been credited for successfully steering Spain out of recession and boosting the country’s economy. However Rajoy’s term had been plagued with allegations of corruption. Furthermore, the party is known to have a strong Atlanticist ideology, fostering closer ties with the US and the UK, instead of France and Germany, and is therefore believed to be harmful to Spanish interests in the EU. Though never credited as an honest leader, Rajoy has tried to sell himself as the only viable option for safeguarding Spain’s economic recovery, despite the fact that the country’s unemployment is still the second highest in Europe, after Greece. Betting on continuity in fiscal policy, it pledged to bring the number of employed people up to 20 million by 2020.
The Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party (PSOE), ideologically located to the left of centre, considered this election to be an opportunity to return to power after 4 years in the opposition. Pedro Sanchez took over as party leader in 2014. With the charisma of being a former basketball player, he promised a revival of the party following its crushing defeat in the last general election, a result of its much-criticized handling of the beginning of Spain’s economic crisis. However, Sanchez struggled to really stand out during the election campaign. The party proposed to respect Eurozone fiscal rules, trying to negotiate looser deficit targets for the coming years, to amend the balanced budget rule introduced in the Spanish Constitution in 2011, and to scrap the ‘Labour Market Reform’ passed by Rajoy’s government.
Popular newer parties on the political stage include Podemos (Spanish for “We Can”) and Ciudadanos (Citizens in Spanish, C’s). Podemos, a radical-left party, was founded by a political science professor Pablo Iglesias, 37 just a few months before the elections as a coalition of anti-capitalist political organizations, social activists who opposed the ruling People Party’s adjustment policies and a few science scholars who had attained popularity in Spanish media. It did much better than expected in 2014 European elections and even played a part in the election of left-wing mayors to Barcelona and Madrid, as part of left-wing coalitions. As part of its manifesto for the general election, it proposed to increase income tax for higher earners, boost public spending and scrap Rajoy’s ‘Labour Market Reform’.
Ciudadanos began as a regional party in Catalonia in 2011 by leader Albert Rivera, 36. After launching nationwide during the first half of 2015, it did well in the 2015 regional elections. A centrist party with liberal views on social issues and more conservative views on economy, it poses a threat to both PP and PSOE. It used the social media to attract young voters and recruited 15,000 “cyber activists” to spread the party message on social media. It proposed to respect Eurozone fiscal rules, while asking the European Commission to slightly relax the deficit target for next year, along with promising to provide newly hired employees with full protection rights.
This election was largely dominated by economic factors - particularly with regard to unemployment. Spain is among the fastest growing economies in the EU despite its economic recovery over the past two years having been exclusively driven by domestic demand. However, doubts remain over the long-term sustainability of this recovery in a country where debt is projected to remain above 200% of GDP until at least 2020.
The result, as expected, was inconclusive – the ruling PP won maximum votes but fell short of the required absolute majority of 176 seats, raising the need for a coalition or re-election. In the 350-seat legislature, PP won 123 seats (and a vote-share of 28.72%), PSOE won 90 seats (and a vote-share of 22.01%), Podemos won 69 seats (and a vote-share of 20.66%), and Ciudadanos won 40 seats (and a vote-share of 13.93%). The results only brought on the onset of what could be weeks of complicated negotiations, leading to a deeply fragmented parliament. Although, the results do leave open the possibility for Rajoy to become one of the first leaders in Europe to be re-elected after imposing harsh austerity measures, but he faces a tremendous uphill battle to take power as the PP has limited possibilities when it comes to the alliances it needs to form a stable government. “I’m going to try and form a government,” Rajoy told cheering supporters on Sunday as the results came in. “But it won’t be easy.” In order to be able to govern for the next four years, PP will have to rely on other parties, suggesting that a protracted process of negotiations lies ahead for Spain’s political leaders.
Several scenarios are possible; many analysts had predicted that the new government would be made up of the PP and supported in some way by Ciudadanos. But now the two parties are still short of a majority. Any alliances would require a third partner which will be very complicated. An equally unlikely option is that the PP and the Socialists could get together and form a “grand pact” like that of Germany but the problem with that is that the two parties are wholly opposed to each other in terms of their beliefs. Another alternative, echoing developments in Portugal, would be a coalition of the Socialists, Podemos and Ciudadanos. Such a coalition would clash over issues such as Catalan independence – with Ciudadanos opposed to any talk of a referendum. This complex coalition calculus is unprecedented for Spain.
Despite a result that ranks as their worst in the party’s modern history, the Socialists are now key to the question of what comes next. However, even if the Socialists are able to amass enough votes to gain control of the lower house of parliament, their government’s attempts to push forward initiatives such as constitutional reform would likely be quashed by the country’s senate, where the election left the PP with an absolute majority.
Spain’s King Felipe VI, who will soon have to name the party that will have the chance to try and form a government, has highlighted the need for shared constitutional values in spite of regional diversities. The public is left with a large question mark over their heads on whether the Eurozone’s fourth-largest economy is threatening to become ungovernable, just as it emerges from a humiliating bailout and its worst economic crisis in over 20 years. All signs point to a difficult period of negotiation, followed by either a weak minority or coalition government or new elections if the issue is not resolved within two months, which seems like the only way; the problem is that of the 28 seats not accounted for by the 4 biggest parties. “The next government will be fragile, and the political backdrop is set to become more volatile,” Antonio Barroso, a political risk analyst with Teneo Intelligence, wrote. He further added that, “a new election should not be discarded”. After the results came in, Ciudadanos’ head Albert Rivera addressed supporters and the media. “Spain has changed. Enough of a red and blue Spain,” he said, echoing descriptions of the U.S. electorate. He was right. The percentage of the vote received by the two big parties fell from more than 73% in 2011 to barely over 50%. But how the mix of colors that will be formed next functions is far from clear.
REFERENCES
Scarpetta, Vincenzo. Spain heads to its most unpredictable election in decades. December 16, 2015
Jones, Nathan. The 2015 Spanish General Election: How a Sea Change May Not Yet Have Reached the Shore of Spanish Politics. December 14, 2015
The Spain Report Ltd. Spanish General Elections: News, Updates & Analysis.
Velloso, Agustin. Spain’s PSOE Socialist Party Follows The Same Foreign Policy As The PP Under Aznar. December 11, 2007
Mount, Ian. Spain’s Election Results Are a Mess. December 21, 2015
Kassam, Ashifa. Spanish election: national newcomers end era of two-party dominance. December 21, 2015
Llamazares, Ivan. Spanish general election preview: Podemos. December 15, 2015
Duarte, Esteban & Sills, Ben. King Felipe Says Spain’s Election Results Show Need For Dialogue. December 25, 2015
The Local. Spanish general election: the key players. December 20, 2015
- Riya Brahma
(Member, India-Spain Youth Forum)
Wednesday, 30 December 2015
1KG of Cotton is not equal to 1KG of Iron
The amount of physical work a blacksmith does in making a work piece is much greater than what a gold smith does. So quite obviously, the black smith is much more hard working than the gold smith is! But then, if we are to compare the precision, intricacy, and value (monetary) of the work done, the gold smith’s work is much more valuable.
So the question arises, what should be right parameter to judge which of the two is better?
The answer to this question is, the very idea of comparing two things which are so different altogether is completely wrong. How can we compare a cricketer and an actor on the number of runs scored, or the number of movies made! Wouldn’t the comparison be utter non-sense?
Nowadays, we all talk about how women are compared to men all the time and thought of as lesser mortals and are discriminated against. This is what “Gender Inequality” is.
A simple google search explains “Gender inequality refers to unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on their gender. It arises from differences in socially constructed gender roles as well as biologically through chromosomes, brain structure and hormonal differences.”
Gender inequality is quite prevalent in our society and it dates back to ancient times. In India, women were always thought of as housewives and housekeepers, and were confined to the four walls of the home. They weren’t allowed to study, learn, explore or take up professional careers. Not only this, they were also not allowed to take part in any family discussions and were never a part in decision making.
Consider as an example, women’s voting rights. It was only in the 19th century, that Women Suffrage Movements started, that too in a very few countries. In India, it was only in 1947, that universal adult suffrage (including women), was introduced.
Even in the modern world, even if women are given some opportunities and are allowed to work, or to take up sporting careers, they are not treated as equals. The fact that equal work to men doesn’t earn equal pay to women is inexplicable.
The difference in the prize money for a men’s event and a women’s event of the same competition shows the narrow mindedness of the society. It is these very factors, which cause for a need to compare them.
Now, just like in the movie, “Chak De India”, do women in every field need to fight out the men in their profession to prove their worth? Is there a need for this comparison at all?
The answer is NO! Just like it is unfair to compare an actor and a cricketer, an engineer and a doctor, a black-smith and a gold-smith, it is equally unfair to compare man and woman.
If some chauvinist is to say that man has more physical strength and power, then at the same time, a woman has much more patience, love and compassion. God made his creations differently. Each one of us has a different role to play. If a man was meant for muscle and power, a woman was meant for the heart. They complement each other, they complete each other. They are both perfect for the roles they are assigned to play!
So, if in an office, a work is assigned, it should be assigned irrespective of the sex of the person, and the pay should be for the “work assigned”, and not for the gender accomplishing it. Similarly, if the competition is a world championship, the prize money should be decided for the “World Champions” and not for the men’s world champions or women’s world champions.
So yes, man and woman are different. But it is this difference which defines them and makes them perfect for the work they do. It gives them their own identity. They are here to do different things, so we need to stop comparing them, and discriminating amongst them on the basis of any parameters at all!
After all, ONE KG OF COTTON IS NOT EQUAL TO ONE KG OF IRON!!
Himanshu Mangla
Tuesday, 29 December 2015
SYRIAN CRISIS
“We're just living on the edge of life. We're always nervous, we're always afraid” these were the words of mother-of-nine, Mariam Akash, whose husband was killed by a sniper.
More than 200,000 Syrians have lost their lives in four years of armed conflict, which began with anti-government protests before escalating into a full-scale civil war. More than 11 million others have been forced from their homes.
These protests erupted in March 2011 in the southern city of Deraa after the arrest and torture of some teenagers who painted revolutionary slogans on a school wall. After security forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing several, more took to the streets.
This triggered nationwide protests demanding President Assad's resignation. The government's use of force to crush the dissent merely hardened the protesters' resolve. By July 2011, hundreds of thousands were taking to the streets across the country.
Opposition supporters eventually began to take up arms, first to defend themselves and later to expel security forces from their local areas. By June 2013, the UN said 90,000 people had been killed in the conflict. However, by August 2014 that figure had more than doubled to 191,000 - and continued to climb to 220,000 by March 2015, according to activists and the UN.
In February 2014 UN opposed employment of weapons. Since then, activists say more than 6,000 civilians have been killed by barrel bombs dropped by government aircraft on rebel-held areas. The UN says in some instances, civilian gatherings have been deliberately targeted, constituting massacres.
Islamic State was waging a campaign of terror in northern and eastern Syria. It inflicted severe punishments on those who refuse to accept its rule, including hundreds of public executions and amputations.
About 4 million Syrians mostly women and children fled and came to Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey as refugees .A further 7.6 million Syrians have been internally displaced within the country, bringing the total number forced to flee their homes to more than 11 million .Overall, an estimated 12.2 million are in need of humanitarian assistance inside Syria, including 5.6 million children, the UN says. A report published by the UN in March 2015 estimated the total economic loss since the start of the conflict was $202bn and that four in every five Syrians were now living in poverty - 30% of them in abject poverty. Syria's education, health and social welfare systems are also in a state of collapse.
Islamic state has taken control over most of territory of northern and eastern Syria. Iran and Russia have propped up the Alawite-led government of President Assad and gradually increased their support. The Sunni-dominated opposition has received support from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Arab states along with the US, UK and France. What began as another Arab Spring uprising against an autocratic ruler has been converted into a brutal war that has drawn in regional and world powers.
Tanya Srivastava
Saturday, 26 December 2015
INDIA'S BID FOR THE PERMANENT SEAT IN THE U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL
With the reform of United Nations Security Council in talks, India is doing its best to win the bid for a permanent seat. India is supported openly by France, United States, Russia and United Kingdom. China has also offered support but only if India withdraws its support to Japan. India being the largest democracy and having the second largest population has many stands in its favor. It is one of the largest contributors of troops to United Nations peace keeping missions. It is also one the highest financial contributors to the UN.The permanent membership will not only elevate India as a global power but also the veto power could be used to defend its interests, like against Pakistan. This is one of the reasons Pakistan is opposing India’s proposal. According to some reports India was offered a seat in the UNSC by the US in 1955 but refused. Nehru believed that India should stay equidistant from the two superpowers during the Cold War and China should not turn into a permanent enemy. But to win a permanent seat today what really matters is economic power. India currently has a GDP of Rs.2 trillion which is far less than that of the permanent members. Other claimants like Germany and Japan are much bigger economies. This weakens India’s claim a bit. But India is also the second fastest growing economy in the world. It is an ideal destination for foreign investment and future growth. Another factor that works against India is that it has never displayed a decisive position in the world affairs. It has always taken non interfering middle path whereas the world expects its greater role. That has made it look paradoxical at the UNSC. But India can turn its ‘balance’ into its advantage but investing more in south –south cooperation. A lot of Central Asian countries want India to play balancer against the possible dominance of Russia and China. India has the worldwide reputation for being strategically autonomous which will go a long way in south-south cooperation. India still has many challenges in its way but it is still a strong candidature for the UNSC permanent seat. If not this year, India would surely secure a seat in the coming years with its reputation and fast growing economy.
Deepanshi Sharma
AN INSIGHT INTO THE BEEF BAN AND OUR LOVE FOR THE MOTHER OF ALL ANIMALS
In a small village in India, a little fox told its father of his desire to eat human flesh. Next day father fox managed to get some pig meat and offered to his son. But the little fox didn't have it. Then the father fox managed to get some cow meat and offered it. The little fox declined to eat that as well. The stubborn little fox was adamant that he will not settle for anything other than human meat.
That night the father fox left the pork in the front of a masjid and the beef in the front of a temple. By next day morning the entire village was filled with human dead bodies.
The little fox ate human meat for a week and was so happy his father managed to get so much human meat.
Story might be hypothetical, but the Fox is for real.
The cow has held a special place in the hearts of Hindus since time immemorial. Dairy products are extensively used in Hindu culture and are a major source of nutrition in Hindu meals. The reverence a cow is given in India in such that it’s status is equivalent to that of a mother’s and hence the term “gau mata”. Hence its not at all surprising that cows were used as a symbol of wealth in ancient times and a symbol of allegiance to the hindu faith in today’s times. Kill a man, you might walk out free some day; but if someone even has a whiff of you taking so much as a hair off a cow’s body, god save you my friend!
Intolerance in matters relating to cow safety isn’t something of a recent trend. Legend has it that the Chola king Manu Needhi killed his own son to avenge a little calf his chariot crushed. No wonder right wing Hindutva activists didn’t think twice before lynching an old man accused of keeping beef in his house. So is our love for the mother of all animals that many politicians have proposed giving it the coveted position of national animal of India! Ralph Fitch, an ancient British merchant who visited India during the sixteenth cetury wrote an account, “They have a very strange order among them - they worship a cow and esteem much of the cow's dung to paint the walls of their houses.”. throughout history we have proved our love for cows; even our revolution for freedom started with the rumor that rifle cartridges were lined with cow fat. We could easily take all atrocities against us, but no one could touch our cows. Even Mahatma Gandhi gathered momentum in his agitation against the British by promising to ban beef in India when India was free from British Raj. Politicians even now use the cow card to gather support, its obviously a tried and tested method.
All said and done, while we should indiscriminately protect all animals from slaughter, its us who need the most protection, because the fox in the beginning of the essay is very real, lurking in every corner of every neighbourhood, waiting for the opportune time to strike. That’s who we need to lynch, for while there is an ever increasing number of cow saviours, rational people who can save humanity is actually the need of the hour.
Aisha Jain
Friday, 25 December 2015
Saudi Arabian Employer Accused Of Cutting Indian Maid’s Hand
Saudi Arabia is known for having the worst human rights records compared to the rest of the world. This is believed to be true because anyone who voices their opinion or even fights for their rights is executed. They are also branded as enemies of the state.
According to the Human Rights Watch Report, the period when King Abdullah ruled, there was slight improvement vis-à-vis the rights of women but he was unable to secure the basic rights like right to speech, expression, association and even assembly for the citizens. The Ministry of the kingdom announced that they will allow women to work at the gold and jewellery shops, they were also granted access to work at lingerie, costume and accessory shops. This was to provide more job opportunities for female citizens.
The country often sparks worldwide outrage for its repression of basic freedoms and persecution of political opponents and human rights activists. Another such incident is of the Indian maid, Kashturi Munirathinam aged 55, who had left her home in the rural district of Tamil Nadu to work as a house maid in Arabia. Her wage was mentioned to be at around 150 pounds a month. Her hand was cut when she tried to escape the torture and harassment inflicted upon her by the women employer. She also sustained serious spinal injuries as she fell down. This is not the first time that such an incident has happened in Saudi Arabia and will not be the last if stringent measures are not taken against such heinous crimes.
Anjali Thomas
Thursday, 24 December 2015
GREEN GROWTH
For quite a lot of economic policy-makers around the world, the term ‘green’ growth has become a talisman, a way of invoking steady increases in output without adverse environmental consequences. So what exactly does green growth mean? The World Bank regards ‘green’ growth as “growth that is efficient in the use of its natural resources which minimises pollution and environmental impacts, and resilient in that it accounts for natural hazards and the role of environmental management and natural capital in preventing physical disasters” . It also adds the rider that “this growth needs to be inclusive”, thus acknowledging the three pillars – economic, environmental and social – of sustainable development. Green Growth refers to economic growth and development while ensuring sustainable use of natural resources. In other words, it means growth of the economy without putting the environment at risk.
A term rarely heard of before the 2008 global financial crisis, the concept now occupies a prominent position in the policy debates. It gained importance because post the financial crisis the Governments solely worked on boosting the economic growth completely neglecting the environment which caused some serious damage to the environment. The economic growth in the past decade has brought in employment and financial and social development of the population. But it has also caused a great deal of damage due to the negligence of the environment.
Greening growth is necessary to achieve sustainable development. Green growth is economic growth that is environmentally sustainable. It is not a new paradigm, in fact it aims to operationalize sustainable development by reconciling developing countries’ urgent need for rapid growth and poverty alleviation with the risks of lock‐in and irreversible environmental damage. The green growth policies need to focus on what is required in the next 5‐10 years to sustain robust growth without locking economies into unsustainable patterns.
We also urgently need green growth because risks to development are rising as growth continues to erode the natural capital. If it is left unchecked, it would mean increased water scarcity, worsening resource bottlenecks, greater pollution, climate change, and unrecoverable biodiversity loss. These tensions may undermine future growth prospects for at least two reasons:
■ It is becoming increasingly costly to substitute physical capital for natural capital. For instance, if water becomes more polluted, we will need more infrastructure to transport and purify it.
■ Change does not necessarily follow a smooth, foreseeable path. For example, some fish stocks suddenly collapsed after declining only slowly for years.
Much of green growth policy is actually considered to be good growth policy. It is about getting the prices right and fixing markets, addressing coordination failures and knowledge externalities, and assigning property rights. As “natural capital”, the environment is an input into the production function. There are plenty of ethical and cultural reasons to protect our environment. But it is also good economics.
A study shows that environmental degradation costs our country, $80 billion per year on 5.7% of its economy. It is proven that our current growth patterns are not sustainable and by 2050, 4 billion people will live in areas experiencing severe water stress. The current environmental concerns are a product of our own doings and worsening at a more speed than in the past. Studies show that the effect of degrading environment can be seen the most in developing countries where damage t o agricultural production due to extreme weather conditions results in death’s from malnutrition, poverty and their associated diseases. By 2030, the researchers estimate the cost of climate change and air pollution combined will rise to 3.2% of global GDP, with the world’s least developed countries forecast to bear the brunt, suffering losses of up to 11% of their GDP.
Some countries like Korea , Ireland, China and Rwanda are really serious about applying green growth plan’s in action in their respective countries. The National Strategy for Green Growth and the Five-Year Plan (2009-2013) of Korea provide a comprehensive policy framework for green growth. The Strategy aims to:
(1) Promote eco-friendly new growth engines,
(2) Enhance peoples' quality of life, and
(3) Contribute to international efforts to fight climate change.
The ‘Green Development’ section of China's 12th Five Year Plan (FYP, 2011-2015) is a manifestation of the country's aspiration to move towards a greener economy. The Plan is a strategic national roadmap, setting priorities regarding China's future socioeconomic development, and providing guidelines and targets for policy making at the sectoral and sub-national level.
Changing current patterns of growth, consumer habits, technology, and infrastructure is a long term project and we will have to live with the consequences of past decisions for a long time. Green growth strategies thus need to be flexible enough to take advantage of new technologies as well as unexpected opportunities and be able to abandon one approach if a better one becomes available.
Researchers and environmentalists have come up with solutions that we can use in our daily lives as our contribution. These solutions range from using a natural fridge that runs without electricity to using fly ash bricks for constructing infrastructure that would require minimum or no artificial temperature control so as to help us reduce our carbon footprints.
Angel Gurria, OECD Secretary- General very aptly quoted that “ Green and growth go very well together. Green growth means we go for growth, we recover GDP but we also preserve and we actually enhance the endowment of natural resources that we were provided with, and which today are sustaining the economic activity on our planet Earth.”
Green’ growth has become a familiar buzz word all over the world. Given the threat of a runaway climate change as well as environmental degradation, ‘green’ growth is likely to be the only sort of growth that is feasible in the long run. All of the above shows us, that country leaders and all the people as citizens of the world need to realize the importance of green growth as money will not be of any use if there is no clean air to breathe and no water to drink.
MAHIMA RASTOGI
ROLE OF GERMANY IN THE REFUGEE CRISIS
Germany has always welcomed the Refugees with open arms. In the German Constitution, Article 16a of the Basic Law grants victims of immigration, an individual right of Asylum. Hence, the fundamental right of asylum has great priority and has expressed Germany’s willingness to satisfy her humanitarian and historical obligation to admit refugees. The procedure of admitting the Asylum seekers is there in the Asylum Procedure Act. The Asylum seekers who are permitted by the border authorities to enter Germany or the Federal Republic of Germany or those who are found in Germany without a permit for residence are transferred to the reception center nearest, to the relevant state.
Using the Initial Distribution, a nation-wide system of distribution, the seekers are assigned to reception centers of the individual states of Germany, as defined in the Asylum Procedure Act.
THE ASYLUM PROCESS IN GERMANY:
The Asylum application is submitted to the branch of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) for examination and decision. Then the seekers receive a certificate of permission to reside which provides a primary right to stay in Germany during the procedure. The seekers are personally questioned by the BAMF workers on their travel routes and reasons for persecution. The interview is then recorded in writing and translated in respective languages of the asylum seekers, a copy of which is also provided to the seekers. The decision on the application is based on these interviews and requires further investigations. The Asylum seekers are informed about the decision in writing and are given information on legal remedy.
If the application is accepted, then those granted the Asylum status and those granted the Refugee status are given a temporary residence permit and are given the same status as Germans within the system of Social Insurance. They are provided social welfare, child and child raising benefits, allowances for integration, language courses and other kinds of integration assistance.
If neither asylum nor refugee protection can be granted then the BAMF examines the procedure for asylum as to whether there are grounds for a deportation ban. This obligatory conduct of reviewing extensively is due to the intention to ensure that there is no delay in processing. However, according to the rule, the asylum seekers whose applications have not been accepted are required to leave the country.
* In August 2015, Germany announced that it was suspending Dublin for Syrian asylum seekers, which effectively stopped deportations of Syrians back to their European country of entry. This move by the bloc's largest and wealthiest member country was seen as an important gesture of solidarity with entry-point states. Most of the asylum claims are submitted in Germany, which already has well-established Diaspora communities from the Balkans.
Akshara Bhargava
SOUR RELATIONS BETWEEN INDIA & PAK
In the past 65 years, India and Pakistan have not been able to resolve their differences and develop a normal good neighbouring relationship.Their relations are grounded in the political, geographical, culture and economic links between the two largest countries of South Asia. The two countries share much of their common geographic location, but differ starkly in religious demographics. India is a secular country with Hindu majority at about 80% of the total population and Muslims being thr largest minority part with about 13% of the population while Pakistan in the other hand, is an Islamic country with 97%being Muslim population and only about 1.8% Hindus.
Diplomatic relations between the two are defined by the history of violent partition and numerous military conflicts and territorial disputes thereafter. To quote for an example India's counterpart Pakistan has always been in news for ceasefire violations and exchanges of fire along the Line of Control and the International boundaries and many other political issues. Pakistan claims to be the primary victim of terrorism. In truth, it is actually a victim of its own policies of breeding and sponsoring terrorism. Seeking to mask its activities as though an outcome of domestic discontent in Indian States of Jammu and Kashmir carries no credibility with the world. Pakistan has now become a hub of terrorism which they themselves are not ready to accept.
The causes of the conflicts can be viewed through many issues. Firstly, the tension between India and Pakistan are deeply rooted in their history as mentioned above. Their failure to reconcile in their difficulties ultimately resulted in partition and led to two wars, one in 1948 and other one in 1965 and then the Kargi War of 1999.Second,the state of Jammu and Kashmir has always been viewed as a possession for both the countries. Third, the problem of the distribution of the Indus river water flowing from Kashmir into Pakistan. Pakistan has raised concerns on some of the Indian Hydroelectric projects under construction. They claim that it will affect waters for which Pakistan has the right.
Recently, the National Security Advisors of Pakistan cancelled the meeting between the two countries stating that the Modi’s government’s preconditions- not inviting Hurriyat party members as the reason for cancellation. This is one more indication of the inability of Pakistan to extend a peaceful hand. The recent talk by Nawab Sharif in the UN specifically related to Indian issues and the need to demilitarise Kashmir in addition with calling itself a terror free nation also puts a big question mark.
Peace and stability are the prerequisite for both the countries for their economic development, trade and political and socio-cultural relations. Also I think its high time for these two countries cooperate and move towards a mutual understanding.
Sneha Saini
Global Youth India
Sunday, 20 December 2015
NAXALISM: A DISEASE TO NATIONAL SECURITY
“There is nothing worse than misguided minds and inhuman ideologies.”
Naxalism marked its presence when 76 security men lost their lives in the worst MAOIST attack in an ambush in the Dantewada District of Chhattisgarh on 7th April 2010. The results of these attacks were so severe that the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared ‘Left-wing Extremism’ as the gravest internal security threat for the country.
So, what is Naxalism? Naxalism is a social, political and economic phenomena run by naxalites who came from Naxalbari, a small village in West Bengal where the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) initiated a violent uprising in 1967. On May 24th the persistent social and political tensions unloaded after a landlord was attacked and led to a full-scale peasant riot. The peasants were armed with traditional weapons and engaged in bloody clashes. During the uprising, 139 people were killed among which 28 were police officers. Charu Mazumdar, a party worker became the ideological father of Naxalism. The movement was initiated to protect the rights of peasants and tribals who held the backward position in the society. The Dominating Political power at that time suppressed the movement bykilling a tribal. In response, raids were conducted, the property was stolen and destroyed, and Landlords were killed. The scenario turned violent.
The ideologies of Naxalites included: Protracted people’s war in accordance with Mao’s teachings, meaning adaption of guerrilla warfare, establishment of rural revolutionary base areas and finally encircling the cities as well as abstaining from parliamentary elections. The forest and hilly terrain areas in the Srikakulam region turned out to offer excellent conditions for guerrilla warfare. Among the discontented and frustrated tribals, Naxalites found huge number of followers and mass participation was witnessed. They even established liberated zones where there was no possibility of police or state interference.After that the Naxalite movement spread rapidly like a fire in the subcontinent. Subsequent and frequent attacks took place on police which was considered to be the representative of the state. Also, the participation of peasants and Adivasi’s increased due to the implementation of Conservation of Forests Act in 1980 which rendered them homeless and dissatisfied.
Various steps have been taken by the government to tackle this movement. Most of the steps taken are non-violent which is a good sign. It was because of lack of basic infrastructure and poor governance which made life miserable for tribals and other poor residing in these regions that this movement grew in monster proportion. Harassment by moneylenders, human rights violations by local police and siphoning off the money intended for local area development by the politicians and officials that made matters worse. Therefore, Development is the only approach that can eliminate any discontent in the long term. Areas affected by naxalism are some of the most backward regions of India. Construction of national and state highways through these areas for better connectivity with the markets and medical care, establishment of schools and colleges, supply of electricity and most importantly the implementation of MGNREGA, bringing land reforms and strengthening panchayats goes a long way in preventing people to join the Naxalites and bringing damage to the their recruitment among Naxalites. Also, The Government approved an Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for 60 Selected Tribal and Backward Districts on 25th November, 2010 and Rs. 1500 crore was released under the Scheme in December, 2010. The IAP has been approved with a block grant of Rs. 25 crore and Rs. 30 crore per district during 2010-11 and 2011-12 respectively. In addition to this, portable water is also made available through the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP). Jobs opportunities are created for the people who are in search of work.
But one often finds himself drifting away from the Truth, the Truth that Naxalite movement though is inhuman but is a result of poor functioning of the government both at the Centre and the State level. It reminds us of the harsh reality of our SYSYEM in which problems like Poverty, Unemployment, Hunger, Injustice etc. still prevail and on a large scale.Thus, there’s still a lot to be done in tackling the issue of NAXALISM as it does not only threaten the flow of foreign direct investments but could destabilize the whole political order as many citizens lose their faith in the state and therefore its legitimacy is challenged. India, on its way playing a bigger role on the international level, needs to tackle its internal problems urgently.
Arpit Porwal
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naxalite
https://www.boell.de/sites/default/files/assets/boell.de/images/download_de/2010_Naxalism_The_Maoist_Challenge_to_the_Indian_State_by_Lennart_Bendfeldt.pdf
DABAAB (THE WORLD`S LARGEST REFUGEE CAMP) AND 25 YEARS OF ITS EXISTENCE.
The recent European Refugee Crisis shifted my attention back to the whole issue of migration and I ended up coming across a hearting touching article on Dabaab, located just 90 kms from Somalia with the designation of the world`s largest refugee camp and its impeding crisis due to the recent cut on aids by the World Food Program as well as the threatening by the Kenyan Government to close down the camp on account of the attack on Garissa University on 2nd April, 2015, by the Al-Shabaab militant group based in Somalia, an offshoot the Al-Qaeda killing 147 and injuring 79 or more. Kenyan Authorities were of the opinion that most of the militants of Al-Shabab were from the Daabab camp which were harboring them, which posed a serious threat to the nation`s security and therefore threatened to close down the camp but later retracted with the intervention of UNHRC and other international organizations.
So what makes Daabab, the world`s refugee camp is the sheer number of refugees population it handles which is 650,610(taking into account both the refugees and asylum seeker) as per UNRC report of January 2015. Daabab was constructed in 1990 in response to the large number of Somalis fleeing the civil war in Somalia. Originally three camps were designated to handle 90,000 people but presently there are five camps which handle approximately half a million people. With no sign of the conflict coming to a halt in Somalia the situation became more perplexed with a severe drought affecting Somalia in 2011, leading to a increased number of people migrating to the camp from Somalia (approx.) 6000 everyday leading to a humanitarian crisis in the camp as the UNHRC did not have the sufficient resources to handle new bouts of migration.
Besides 95% of the population being Somalis, Ethiopians comprise the second largest group and very small number of Sudanese, Eritreans, Congolese, Burundians, Tanzanians, Ugandans and Rwandans are also present. Dabaab has five refugee camps comprising of Dagahaley, Ifo East, Ifo West, Kambioos, Hagadera. The camp`s remote location, as well as the temperatures which can rise up to 48 C during and limited natural resources during summer make for harsh living condition . Residents are not to allowed to venture outside their camps as strict laws have been made by Kenyan Government of encampment, so people are forced to live like ‘open caged prisoners with no opportunities for integration with the local Kenyan population or making themselves economically developed. As a result shops selling smartphones, bear-bars as well as ‘hotels’ have come up inside the camp. The Dabaab camp which generates 25% of Kenya`s North Eastern province total revenue if taken into account would be considered as the third largest city of Kenya in terms of revenue.
Health is one of the most pressing problems in the camp with 80% of the population comprising of women and children. Medecines Sans Frontieres has been providing health care services in the camp since the last 14 years and it is the sole provider of medical services in the Dagahaley camp, one of the five camp that comprises the Dabaab camp, providing health care for the general residents at five posts as well as runs a 170 bed general hospital. Research by the medical group has identified respiratory tract infection, tuberculosis, diarrhea, malnutrition and trauma as the most impending medical cases effecting the camp. Moreover 40% of the children who arrive on the camp have never taken vaccinations and combined with poor nutritional status as well as poor living conditions pose a serious health issue. Flash vaccinations campaigns are run by the group regularly in order to make people aware of the vaccination drives. Malnutrition has also been a major problem in the camp with 175 admissions per month in the MSF`s quickly outpatient feeding program. With the World Food Program announcing a cut in ration by 20% it would mean a severe problem in running the feeding program for the malnourished children.
Sanitation and water availability are the other two issue affecting the residents severely with resources already stretched to its limit and there are no clear timeframes for improvement of both the conditions in the camp. This has resulted in outbreak of diseases like cholera and Hepatitis-B in the recent years. As such it requires a swift action from the aid agencies to stop the diseases from spreading quickly.
The UN seems to be dealing with two problems in the camp, one related to finding long term developmental solution for the residents of the camp such as providing water, sanitation facilities, schools, police outposts as well as finding short term emergency relief for the newly arrived refugees such a blankets, utensils, rations which the UN is facing a shortage of resource.
Though Kenya has softened its stance as of threatening to close down the camp and has agreed to work and co-operate according to the tripartite agreement signed between Kenya, Somalia and UNHRC in 2013 for the voluntary return of the refugees, it remains to be seen as to what extent it will be able to support the refugee camp and for how long. Kenya has been mobilizing international support in the recent days to provide international security as well as build up social infrastructure such as houses, schools, hospitals in order to make potential areas of return more viable. Moreover Kenyan Authorities has also developed a long term solution plan to the influx problem and are in talks with the Somalian Authorities for developing an autonomous buffer zone near the Kenyan border inside Somalia called ‘Jubaland’ to discourage the refugees from entering Kenya where all the services would be available and it would be protected with the help of Kenyan and Ethiopian troops. Kenya has also been training Somali youths for this purpose over the last two years.
International cooperation in the form of military help is very important in order to flush out the militancy problem from Somalia. More aid is needed from the rich nations in order to support the ongoing activities at the refugee camps as well as helping out those who wants to return to their respective country of their origin and start a new lease of life. Countries with a low population in ratio to the large land and resources available can take in more refugees and assimilate them with their local population, which will go a long way in dealing with the humanitarian crisis.
Akshay Paudal
Friday, 18 December 2015
INDIAN DANCES IN ARGENTINA
The Diffusion of Indian Dances in Argentina is largely the work laid by the Embassy of India in Argentina to diversify the different types of Indian Dances. It has helped the expansion of different types of dance, bringing forward important Indian Dancers of Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Odissi, among others. This allowed and motivated Indian Dance Schools to promote, learn and teach Indian Dances to people and spread the joy of various Dances of India and its Culture in general.
Myrta Bravie, was the first Argentinean to dance Indian Classical Dance. She introduced and popularized Indian Classical Dances in Argentina and has instituitionalised Indian Dance tradition by training others. Myrta is the direct disciple of Rukmini Devi, a famous Indian dancer and the revivalist of Bhratanatyam from its original 'Sadhir' style. She started learning ballet at the age of eight and became a professional dancer in the ballet group of the prestigious Colon Theater of Argentina. She trained in Bharatnatyam in Kalakshetra and did her Arangetram there. Later she learnt Odissi from Guru Keluchara Mohapatra and got a Nritya Visharad degree from Kala Vikash Kendra in Orissa. She went on to learn Kuchipudi at the Kuchipudi Art Academy in Chennai, from Master Vempati Chinnasatyam. Myrta has performed Indian Classical Dances in Argentina and other countries of Latin America as well as in Europe, Asia, Middle East and USA. She has dedicated five decades of her life to indian dances and has become an icon.
She has had an illustrious career as a dancer, teacher, choreographer and writer. introducing and popularising Indian Classical Dances in Argentina Her disciples Natalia Salgado, Silvia Rissi, Indira and Leonara Bonetto have become teachers and established their own schools. Silvia Rissi, is another important dancer of Indian Classical Dance from Argentina. Her primary inspiration was Myrta Bravie. She also traveled to India in 2000 to learn Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi and Odissi. After her return, she started Durga Maa, a School of Indian Classical Dance in Buenos Aires.
But Argentina also has an important dancer from India, who came to live in Buenos Aires almost 10 years ago. Manisha Chauhan, a major in publicizing the Bollywood Dance in Argentina. Manisha is currently a dancer, choreographer and teacher of Bollywood style of dance and has her own Dance School in Buenos Aires. She also gives workshops in the provinces of Argentina. With the advancement of the social media and the Internet, people in Argentina could know more about Bollywood Films and Indian dances. Dance Schools dedicated to Arabian Dances, began to explore this new dance coming from India. As it is also the case of the Teacher Macarena Broda of Buenos Aires who specializes in traditional dances from East, Middle East and the Mediterranean. Since 2008 she has been largely devoted to classical, folklore and modern dances of India. She also travelled to India in 2012, where she took classes in Bharatanatyam, Kathak and Khalbelia in the most prestigious schools of Chennai and Jaipur. She also gives seminars and workshops all over Argentina.
There is also the influence of the Indian Community in Argentina, which allows more people to show interest in this culture on all its aspects. Such is the case of the Punjabi Community in the North of Argentina, precisely in the province of Salta. The influence of the same allows the School's of Indian Dances in this region to learn Traditional Folk Dances like Bhangra and Giddha. Members of the Punjabi Community joined Chak de India Ballet from Salta to teach and expand the folk dances of Punjab.
At pesent, Argentina has some teachers and Ballets of Indian Dances with recognizion from the Embassy of India in Argentina. Such is the case of Chak de India Ballet, first from the North of Argentina to be recognized by the Embassy with Miss Anita Nieva Rosas recognized as the only person representing Argentina in the World Bhangra Council, and was elected as the Bhangra Cultural Ambassador in year 2015.
Indian dances have expanded throughout Argentina, with important schools and dancers being recognized nationally and internationally with Embassy of India in Argentina playing an important role in strengthening relations between the two countries through Cultural Diplomacy, spreading the Indian Dances at festivals organized by it and especially the recognition it has given to dancers and schools as representatives of Indian Culture in Argentina.
Anita Nieva Rosas
India Argentina Youth Forum
Friday, 30 October 2015
AN INSIGHT ON THE BEEF BAN AND OUR LOVE FOR THE MOTHER OF ALL ANIMALS
Once In a small village in India, a little fox told it's father of his desire to eat human flesh. Next day father fox managed to get some pig meat and offered to his son. But the little fox didn't have it. Then the father fox managed to get some cow meat and offered it. The little fox declined to eat that as well. The stubborn little fox was adamant that he will not settle for anything other than human meat.
That night the father fox left the pork in the front of a masjid and the beef in the front of a temple. Next morning the entire village was full of dead humans .
The little fox smiled and ate human flesh for a week, full of happiness because his father managed to get so much of it.
The fable might be fictitious, but the Fox is for real.
The sacrament cow has held a special place in the hearts of Hindus since time immemorial. Dairy products are extensively used in Hindu culture and are a major source of nutrition in their meals. The reverence a cow is given in India is such that it’s status is equivalent to that of a mother’s and hence the term “gau mata”. Hence its not at all surprising that cows were used as a symbol of wealth in ancient times and have become a symbol of allegiance to the hindu faith in present society. Kill a man, you might walk out free some day; but if someone even has a whiff of you taking so much as a hair off a cow’s body, God save you my friend!
Intolerance in matters relating to the cows safety isn’t a recent trend. Legend has it that the Chola king Manu Needhi killed his own son to avenge a little calf his chariot crushed. No wonder right wing Hindutva activists didn’t think twice before lynching an old man accused of keeping beef in his house. So much is our love for the mother of all animals that many politicians have proposed giving it the coveted position of national animal of India! Ralph Fitch, an ancient British merchant who visited India during the sixteenth century wrote an account, “They have a very strange order among them - they worship a cow and esteem much of the cow's dung to paint the walls of their houses.”. throughout history we have proved our love for cows; even our revolution for freedom began with the rumor that rifle cartridges were lined with cow fat. We could easily take all atrocities against us, but no one could touch our cows. Even Mahatma Gandhi gathered momentum in his agitation against the British by promising to ban beef in India when India was free from British Raj. Politicians even now use the cow card to gather support, its obviously a tried and tested method.
All said and done, while we should indiscriminately protect all animals from slaughter, it's we who need protecting, because the fox is very real, lurking in every corner of every neighbourhood, waiting for the opportune time to strike, that’s who we need to lynch, for while there is an ever increasing number of cow saviours, rational people who can champion humanity are actually the need of the present hours.
Aisha Jain
UNDERSTANDING THE WAR
Syrian crisis.
It all began as part of the Arab Spring. The economic weakening of the Arab states combined with mostly educated youth living in decades of dictatorial rule, it was the perfect recipe for revolution.
In January 2011 Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was overthrown. In February it was the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Libya soon erupted in civil war which killed the longest reigning dictator in the Arab world, Muammar Gaddafi. Yemen followed and president Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down in February 2012.
Almost all of the Arab world faced demonstration or revolution attempts, but the most hard-hit states were the autocratic governments. After all of the above mentioned states, Syria was next.
But to comprehend the complexity of the conflict , we have to understand the demographic and political condition of Syria
Demographics :
60% Arab-Sunni, 12% Arab-Alawite, 13% Christian, 9% Kurd-Sunni, 6% others (incl. Druze, Shi’ite).
Politics :
Authoritarian, single-party ruler Alawite dominated the elite, allowing no opposition and under who there was no free speech as the press was owned by the state . His son Bashar Al-Assad rose to power after Hafez’s death in 2000.
The economy :
Inefficiency, mismanagement, and corruption in the government, public, and private sectors, illiteracy, poor education, particularly in rural areas, the increasing emigration of professionals, inflation, a growing trade deficit, a high cost of living and shortages of consumer goods, high unemployment & rampant smuggling & black market caused this to become an uncontrolled Socialist economic failure
Free-Market was introduced in 1991 but benefited only those connected with the ruling elite and Sunni merchant class in Damascus and Aleppo. Rural areas remained poor, illiterate, and under-developed.
The minority dictatorship is sitting on this giant powder keg of disenfranchised Sunni majority. And then there was the1982 Hama Massacre.
Syrian support to the Christian in the Lebanese civil war triggered domestic terrorism and urban guerrilla warfare committed by Sunni jihadist targeting government, military, and Ba’ath party.
A campaign of repression against the Muslim Brotherhood was launched, culminated in the Hama Massacre, killing 10.000-40.000 people. Many MB members were killed, tortured, or disappeared.
The Syrian uprising began just like Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, and Bahrain. The demonstrations started as early as January 2011 demanding normal things such as democracy and government reform. But these demonstrations were crushed violently. And the people, who happened to be predominantly Sunni, began taking up arms against the Alawite dominated government.
With the Hama massacre still fresh in the Sunni people's mind, the uprising quickly turned sectarian.
And once the sectarianism reared its ugly head, the minority Alawites, Shiites, and Christians had no choice but to side with the secular government.
On the other hand, the Sunni rebels became more and more Islamist and Salafis.
What made the situation worse was the involvement of Syrian neighbours, namely Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey who supported the rebels, flushing them with money and weapons.
The Syrian government was heavily supported by Iran and Hezbollah. As Syria also hosts Russia’s only warm naval base , it received support from a global superpower without which the war would have taken a very different course .
Al-Qaeda joined in (Jabhat al-Nusra) and later Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (formerly known as Islamic State of Iraq formerly known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq).
The sectarian nature also appealed to jihadist parties from around the world to join in the fight as a religious calling. And the spill over to neighbouring countries with similar demographics was also unavoidable such as Iraq and Lebanon.
Geopolitically Syria, Iraq, Bahrain and Yemen are the frontlines of the cold war between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran and there is no end in sight for now .
The fallout of the war
Thousands of Syrians flee their country every day. They often decide to finally escape after seeing their neighborhoods bombed or family members killed.
The risks on the journey to the border can be as high as staying: Families walk for miles through the night to avoid being shot at by snipers or being caught by soldiers who will kidnap young men to fight for the regime
But escaping a country rife with war is not enough for from the frying pan they end up in the fire as the refugee camps are nowhere close to being able to accommodate everybody .
Jordan’s Za'atari, the first official refugee camp that opened in July 2012, gets the most news coverage because it is the destination for newly arrived refugees. It is also the most concentrated settlement of refugees: Approximately 81,500 Syrians live in Za'atari, making it the country’s fourth largest city. The formerly barren desert is crowded with acres of white tents, makeshift shops line a “main street” and sports fields and schools are available for children.
A new camp, Azraq, opened in April 2014, carefully designed to provide a sense of community and security, with steel caravans instead of tents, a camp supermarket, and organized "streets" and “villages”.
Most refugees must find a way to pay rent, even for derelict structures. Without any legal way to work in Jordan and Lebanon, they struggle to find odd jobs and accept low wages that often don’t cover their most basic needs. The situation is slightly better in the Kurdish autonomous region of northern Iraq, where Syrian Kurds can legally work, but opportunities are now limited because of the conflict there and language is still a barrier.
The lack of clean water and sanitation in crowded, makeshift settlements is an urgent concern. Diseases like cholera and polio can easily spread — even more life-threatening without enough medical services. In some areas with the largest refugee populations, water shortages have reached emergency levels; the supply is as low as 30 liters per person per day — one-tenth of what the average American uses.
As if that’s not bad enough the Syrian war has prompted the withdrawal of seeds from the The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, built in 2008, which stores more than 850,000 seed samples from nations all over the world.It's intended to safeguard the planet's food supply and biodiversity in the event of a doomsday catastrophe like nuclear war , asteroid strike or crippling disease wipes out varieties of plants. Crop Trust, the company that runs the seed vault, says on its website that the vault is "the final backup".
So the question in all our minds should be if the Syrian War can rival a Nuclear war or an Asteroid strike , why is the UN not taking definitive action ?
Gurpreet Kaur
CRASHING STATE OF CHINESE ECONOMY
China, the world’s second largest economy after US is has been experiencing an economic slowdown. According to experts, the main reason is that the model underlying the previously rapid growth was unsustainable. China has experienced a stock market crash all summer. It has now been importing fewer raw materials and exporting fewer finished goods. Its ripple effects include a sharp contraction in shipping through Singapore, resulting in general decline in the volume of world trade. It is also one of the reasons for falling price of Australian dollar.
Chinese economy is currently hovering around seven per cent. According to IMF, China's growth is expected to slow from 7.3 per cent in 2014 to 6.8 per cent this year and 6.3 per cent in 2016 as the country struggles with its shift from export to consumption-driven economy. There are various reasons for the falling economy of China. Authoritarian political system makes it difficult to regard any of China’s economic data as reliable. Hence, it is difficult to make inferences based on data provided to countries which have strong economic relations with China. Chinese economic statistics are not fully computerized, and therefore they are a product of a closed and opaque political system with no press freedom.
Economic growth of China was based on unsustainable levels of investment powered by both public and private sector. Investments produce an ongoing flow of services in the future. But in practice, there is only so much useful investment that can be made in any given span of time. Over-time, diminishing returns set in and level of investment falls. In China, investment had been accelerating even as the country got richer-a trend that needed to be reversed. China needs to have more people working in consumption based systems rather than investment based.
To give the economy a boost, China has announced a series of new steps, including tax cuts, the construction of a multi-tier transport system, involving railway, highway, waterways and aviation-network construction, in the Yangtze river basin, part of economic belt along the waterway, and expanding financing for exporters. More than 10,000 startup firms are being set up every day in China as part of new reforms initiated by the Chinese government to halt the slide of the economy.
China sees more than 10,000 firms born every day amid government support for entrepreneurship and so far about six million new startups have been setup, Xin Guobin, vice minister of Industry and Information Technology said. Most of the firms are small enterprises. Data was collected last March through the end of August this year and about six million firms were registered during the period. According to Xin, the government has been cutting taxes and fees, helping small firms save about 48.6 billion yuan ($7.93 billion) in the first half of the year. Also, lending to small firms stood at 16.2 trillion yuan ($2.7 billion) at the end of June, up 14.5 per cent from last year. However, he admitted that the small firms are facing challenges amid the economic slowdown, slumping product prices, rising costs and production overcapacity.
The new startup campaign has been initiated by the government as the economic slowdown is causing big job losses all over China. The start-ups are expected to revitalize the economy taking advantage of the booming e-commerce. The campaign is also expected to help the government's drive to boost the domestic consumption, changing the orientation of the economy from export dependent to that of the one based on domestic consumption.
Tanya Srivastava
ROLE OF GERMANY IN THE REFUGEE CRISIS
Germany has always welcomed the Refugees with open arms. In the German Constitution, Article 16a of the Basic Law grants victims of immigration, an individual right of Asylum. Hence, the fundamental right of asylum has great priority and has expressed Germany’s willingness to satisfy her humanitarian and historical obligation to admit refugees. The procedure of admitting the Asylum seekers is there in the Asylum Procedure Act. The Asylum seekers who are permitted by the border authorities to enter Germany or the Federal Republic of Germany or those who are found in Germany without a permit for residence are transferred to the reception center nearest, to the relevant state.
Using the Initial Distribution, a nation-wide system of distribution, the seekers are assigned to reception centers of the individual states of Germany, as defined in the Asylum Procedure Act.
THE ASYLUM PROCESS IN GERMANY:
The Asylum application is submitted to the branch of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) for examination and decision. Then the seekers receive a certificate of permission to reside which provides a primary right to stay in Germany during the procedure. The seekers are personally questioned by the BAMF workers on their travel routes and reasons for persecution. The interview is then recorded in writing and translated in respective languages of the asylum seekers, a copy of which is also provided to the seekers. The decision on the application is based on these interviews and requires further investigations. The Asylum seekers are informed about the decision in writing and are given information on legal remedy.
If the application is accepted, then those granted the Asylum status and those granted the Refugee status are given a temporary residence permit and are given the same status as Germans within the system of Social Insurance. They are provided social welfare, child and child raising benefits, allowances for integration, language courses and other kinds of integration assistance.
If neither asylum nor refugee protection can be granted then the BAMF examines the procedure for asylum as to whether there are grounds for a deportation ban. This obligatory conduct of reviewing extensively is due to the intention to ensure that there is no delay in processing. However, according to the rule, the asylum seekers whose applications have not been accepted are required to leave the country.
* In August 2015, Germany announced that it was suspending Dublin for Syrian asylum seekers, which effectively stopped deportations of Syrians back to their European country of entry. This move by the bloc's largest and wealthiest member country was seen as an important gesture of solidarity with entry-point states. Most of the asylum claims are submitted in Germany, which already has well-established Diaspora communities from the Balkans.
Akshara Bhargava