Human Rights: March 2006 Archives

Arup Bandopadhyaya was one of my intimate friends. He was sweet in his dealings and multi-talented. His mind was as clear as a clean slate. It is difficult to find a man so good in a hundred thousand. Though he was born in a middle-class family, he was dedicated to public charity. His wife, Shipra, always assisted him in his noble work. Shipra also worked somewhere. The couple decided that with the income of one they would maintain their family, and the second income would be used for public welfare.

Shipra had a younger sister, Reba. Just after she took her exams for her B.A. from Bethune College, she came to visit her elder sister.

No one knows exactly when a person will be called to family life -- not even the astrologers or matchmakers. While Reba was with her sister, three or four proposals were coming every week. Reba, as was the custom, used to appear at every marriage "interview board" and answer all their queries. Now, Reba was endowed with beauty, intelligence and good character. The marriage brokers would have taken to her, but the problem was the dowry.

Ranchi: Giving vent to their grievances against polygamy among the Santhals, around 800 tribal women from several states demanded abolition of the age-old practice.

At a two-day workshop here, speakers said tribal women as a rule have no right over any land owned by the family. A polygamous male could very well divorce his wife at his will, they alleged.

It is a paradox that the two most populated countries in the world -- China and India -- which together have some 2.3 billion people, are running low on young women. That's because both China and India traditionally value boys more than girls. Modern technology has made it possible to identify the sex of an unborn child and to abort it if it is a girl. Other female babies are quietly disposed of after birth. That could mean long and lonely bachelorhoods in the near future for millions of men unable to find partners.

By society ordinarily we mean a collective body of men and women, but the innate spirit of the word 'society' is not this. Samája or society in the true sense of the term implies an action of moving together (Samánam' ejate). We come across groups of persons in buses, trams and trains moving together; but this occasional movement cannot be termed society either. Being inspired by a common ideology, when different individuals move towards the common goal and become active for its achievement, this can be called a society. The appropriate English equivalent for Samája should not therefore be society. Social advancement, which is a type of social action, means that the tie of mutual unity among the persons moving together has become strong.

Prout supports intervention in sovereign nation states by a duly created world body. It rejects intervention by particular nation-states, even broad based coalitions. This is largely as the self-interests of nation-states (geo-political control, resource and ideology control) go against the self-interests of the planet.

Ideologically, Prout rejects the UN as such a world body, as the UN is foundations are based on inequitable world order. Moreover, eligibility into the UN is based on acquiring national status, thus leaving out social movements, cooperatives, and individuals.

Ideologically Prout rejects identity politics particularly religious politics, including the hindu variety ( eg, BJP genocide in Gujrat), of the Islamic variety (terrorism globally and in Kashmir) of the Christian Vatican (the feudal politics of the Vatican) and of the Jewish variety (Zionism).

The nation's liberated economy -- portrayed by globalization forces as an antidote to poverty -- has done little for nearly 300 million poor people, the most of any country

New Delhi -- Among India's poor, survival is still won by acts of despair and cunning. It's a daily quest whose reward is a plate of rice or a simple medication.

Every living being has its own inherent tendency to express and symbolise. In the evolutionary process of creation, where higher species have evolved, living beings try to express their feelings by gesture, posture or by some sound. In a general sense, this acoustic expression of ideas is called language.

QUEVEN, France -- Day and night on France's windy western coast, Radio Kerne transmits a bright mix of music sprinkled with local news. It is a new station run by young people for a young audience -- but with a difference. Most of Radio Kerne's operators are volunteers, working with the zeal of missionaries. Their preferred music comes from bagpipes and flutes. And they broadcast only in Breton, a Celtic language spoken for more than 2,000 years that until recently seemed doomed to disappear. "Saving the culture of Brittany is very much on people's minds," said Isig Flatres, who is the manager of the station. "This generation is no longer embarrassed about speaking or being Breton."

While we are all aware why we do not have peace in south asia, there is a paucity of explorations on how to create a better future. The lack of peace defined as both individual peace (inner contentment), social-psychological peace (how we see the Other), structural peace (issues of justice, particularly territorial justice) and epistemological peace (toward a plurality of ways of knowing) are among the major factors contributing to poverty in south asia. Government expenditures in each nation, especially India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka go for military purposes and not for education or health. Every time a positive economic cycle begins, yet one more confrontation sends military expenditures higher. Few, except military leaders and a few corporations (mostly foreign), benefit from this escalation.