Bangladesh has seen the nation’s biggest crowd in the last decade, all united for one purpose, with one motto: ‘Hang the War Criminals of 1971′. Today was the 4th day of demonstration in the capital’s Shahbag area, with people protesting there day and night. No one had foreseen that a few bloggers could bring about the entire country down to protest. People from all over the country have traveled to Dhaka to take part.

People could be seen flocking the intersection since early morning. It started with hundreds carrying national flags, banners, posters and placards, getting ready for the afternoon mass rally. By 3.00 pm the entire area was brimming with thousands of protesters. Some of the senior members of the rally commented that the participation of the youth was overwhelming.

An admirable example is the case of a young lady Lucki Akhter, who has never seen the Liberation War yet speaks with a burning fury against the verdict of the tribunal. To get her and other like-minded people’s voice heard, Akhter has been giving out slogans tirelessly for over three days now, and the whole nation has been cheering and chanting to her speech. The determination shown by this young lady, who has been away from the sit-in only for a total of two hours in the last three days, has earned her respect with some people saying ‘Salute to Lucki Akther’!

Many others like Lucki Akhter crowd the protest at Shahbag. Administrator of the group ‘Moja Losss’ on Facebook, along with a few other friends and volunteers, have given out red and green t-shirts today to show solidarity with the protest and to signify the flag of the nation. Others are seen bringing in food and drinks for protestants at the sit-in.

An oath was taken by the Protestants at the rally that they will continue this movement until their demands are met. And in addition to their demand for Capital Punishment of War Criminals of 1971 such as Quader Mollha, demonstrators have also asked for banning political party Jamaat and its student wing Shibir.

Some protestants also pledged the boycott of businesses, banks, media outlets and social and cultural organizations owned by leaders and members of Jamaat.

Imran H. Sarkar, convener of Bloggers and Online Activist Network, is one of the initiators and organizers of the movement. He comments “We pledge to keep on demanding trial under a special tribunal, of Razakars and Al-Badrs who were convicted and were under trial but freed after 1975.”

Imran also stated, “We pledge that we will continue our movement from Teknaf to Tetulia under the leadership of general people until highest punishment is given to Razakars-Al-Badrs who committed crimes against humanity like genocide and rape in 1971.” Imran was lauded by Protestants and his slogan was chanted repeatedly by the people present.

Influential writer Professor Muhammad Zafar Iqbal said, “I am here to offer my apology to you. I wrote in newspapers that the new generation only hits ‘like’ on Facebook and writes on blogs, but does not take to the streets. You have proved me wrong, and I thank you all for this.”

“The year 2013 has turned into 1971 and those of you who did not see 1971 are now witnessing ’71 in the year of 2013. Study when it’s time to study, write poems when it’s time to write poems, listen to music when it’s time to listen to music … and take to the streets when you need to. It is the happiest day of my life. All the martyrs and the country people are thankful to you,” he said.

The sit-in, which was started online, has caused the flame to burn all over Bangladesh. War memories are rekindled, painful emotions are brought back. While the opposition party leaders are against the whole movement, senior influential members of the society see it as history of 1971 repeating in 2013.

Image Courtesy : Lordamit

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Youth are responsible for revolution in many countries in different parts of the world. Similarly thousands of youth in Bangladesh sit down on streets and refuse to move until their demands for the capital punishment of War Criminals are met with.

The sit-in started on Tuesday afternoon, in response to the verdict of life imprisonment for Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah, who was a war criminal during the Liberation War of Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971, and the demonstration lasted throughout the night. The whole sit-in was organized  by bloggers and social network activists.

The spirit of this non-violent protest spread throughout the whole country with sit-ins and demonstrations taking place in Chittagong, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Sunamganj, Barisal, Rajbari, Noakhali and Narsingdi. It seemed as though 42 years later nostalgia had rekindled emotions of war, and hatred towards the war criminals of 1971.

This small movement started mainly by students with no politcal involvement at first, was later joined by political parties, freedom fighters, war veterans, senior citizens and other eminent personalities of Bangladesh. However the organizers of the sit-in have decided to not let any political leaders address the protest, in order to keep it neutral.

The protest is taking place in the capital’s Shahbagh area,which is a key point in the capital, adjacent to Dhaka University, National Museum, Suhrawardy Udyan, Central Shaheed Minar and Bangla Academy, which has a historical significance to the people for its link with the birth of the nation and the people’s struggle.

The organizers are keeping the entire protest non-violent, and as can be seen for the last three days, there has been motivational speeches, patriotic songs, street plays and art, and anti-war criminal chants and slogans. A lot of creativity has been put into the demonstration, as protestants have portrayed their vexation over the ruling by transforming their bodies into banners and posters, paper and waste products into effigies, wooden sticks into a symbolic cage and the streets into canvases.

At this very moment the crowd is no longer limited to just students. Children, housewives, laborers and people from all classes and castes have come together merely as citizens of Bangladesh who were not happy about the ruling. People are also signing petitions demanding to see Quader Mollah executed in the gallows. Different organizations such as the Sector Commanders’ Forum, Sammilito Sangskritik Jote, Sammilito Krira Poribar, Workers’ Party of Bangladesh, Communist Party of Bangladesh, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal and Gonotantrik Bam Morcha have expressed solidarity with the organizers of this movement.

The government Awami League, has also lauded this movement in the parliament, and has expressed its support to the organizers of this protest.

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Rape, domestic violence, abuse, sex-slave, child-marriage, dowry, prostitution – The first word that many associate with these concepts is ‘women’. For centuries, women all over the world have been subjected to oppression and till date, despite their achievements and contribution to society, a lot of women do not get justice. In a country like Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to drive; in the South East Asia, young girls are forced to marry at an early age; and women are killed in many parts of the world by so-called ‘honor killings’. Women are victims of violence by both society and their families, and many of their stories go unheard.

Connecther and Harvard College Social Innovation Collaborative (SIC) this year present Girls Impact World The Film Festival 2013, where high school and undergraduate university students submit 3-5 minutes long short films that address global women’s issues such as: education for girls, maternal health, violence against women and girls among others. This will bring into light many issues and stories of women who are deprived of protection and other privileges.

Azmina Karim, a Bangladeshi undergraduate student from Asian University for Women majoring in Asian Development Studies, made a film which focuses on the violence on women in rural parts of Bangladesh. To watch the video click here

Toonari Post(TP): When did you decide to make this documentary about violence on women in Bangladesh?

Azmina Karim(AK): When I heard of Girls Impact the world film festival, I chose to portray ’violence against women’ in order to raise awareness about this topic. Girls Impact the world is a platform where women can speak for themselves and other women, where we can express that as women we need a safe place in the world to live and it is our right to speak up.

TP: Even though Bangladesh is developing, most people are still old-fashioned and traditional minded, how did you find the courage to take such an initiative? Did you face any difficulties (from government/society/family etc) while filming?

AK: Though Bangladesh is developing, the position of women in a patriarchal society is hard to change. Women are still objectified and thought as submissive to men. The notion of patriarchy has seeped into the psyche of men as well as women.

Women in our society take it as their fate, or some even think of it as their duty, to lock themselves into these modern day slavery practices in their very own homes. While filming, I particularly didn’t face difficulties from government or other social institutions. Maybe because these interviews were not taken in a larger scale to trigger any provocations. However, it was difficult to convince the battered and deprived women to share their stories as they were reluctant to speak up.

I discovered many were scared that we may take legal actions and many other women like Sonia Akhter, thought it was pointless to talk about this. Sonia Akhter shed some light on this topic when she mentioned, that prior to her interview with me, she shared her story to a news reporter and the news organization sent her back to her husband. This caused her husband to increase the level of torture because she’d seeked help from others. There is an underlying fear among these women that sharing their stories won’t bring any changes in their lives but rather make it worse.

Moreover, the notion of patriarchy legitimizes the violence against women in our society, so the women themselves accept that it is normal to be beaten by her husband or any male member of their family. Thus they don’t speak up.

I didn’t face any problem from my family in general while making these interviews, they were supportive, one of the reason being that I don’t have any brothers. My parents raised us four sisters by giving us the equal rights that they might have given to their sons.

TP: Have you received enough support from family/friends and/or other organizations?

AK: I didn’t work under any organization while making these interviews. My family members supported me; they even escorted me to different slums to cover the stories.

TP: What was your main inspiration for the film?

AK: Inspiration for covering this topic or even participating in this competition came from the latest incidents that took place around the world. The way women are being raped, the number of deaths due to domestic violence etc. – they made me want to speak up against male dominance.

TP: Have you seen domestic violence in your family or among your friends, where the woman got pressured to not report the case?

I grew up in a different environment where you can challenge the traditional structure of the society. My parents gave me and my other three sisters the opportunity to get education, and freedom so that we can choose our path and discern what is right from wrong.

However, living in Bangladesh the case of domestic violence is so obvious that almost every day we encounter stories of this kind of violence, be it from neighbours, stories of relatives, stories from friends and also in newspapers and tv channels. Most of these stories remain unheard, these women do not have any means to report these cases.

We don’t have strict laws against these violent acts, nor do we have good policies to support the women who fight for their right. Also the state does not provide shelters or protection so when violence happens, these women have nowhere to go. Nor do their family members support them in this case. The result in most of these cases is then that they go unreported, leading to only one option – living with their male partners, even if they are tortured all their life.

TP: What do you hope to achieve by your film?

AK: I hope to raise awareness and to prove a point that it’s about time we all get a safe place to live. I want to create collective identity for women, by sharing their stories and say it’s okay to speak up. I hope to get justice for women like Sonia Akhter and many others. I want to give a voice to women like her.

TP: Are you involved in any activities, such as protesting or rallying, to spread your message to the public in Bangladesh?

AK: No, I am not involved in any protest or rally as such because we haven’t had any such movements lately. So far, Girls Impact the film festival is the only platform that I have used to raise public awareness about these topics. Moreover, this documentary has been widely shared on Facebook and Twitter, so I hope people get the message that we, as women, have had enough of these prejudices against us for being born as a woman. We want to stop the occurrence of violence as a regular practice of a male dominated society. I firmly believe initiatives like mine will bring some positive change in our society.

TP: Do you think the women of newer generations also suffer from domestic violence?

AK: Women all over suffer from domestic violence of some sort, be they educated, working,  from rich backgrounds or part of the new generation – they can all potentially fall victim to such acts. The dominance in society over female populations is still quite the same towards generations of educated, working class people. Even though these women might be educated and open minded, the structure of society did not change, neither did the mindset of their family often.

TP: What measures do you think the public or government should take regarding domestic violence?

AK: Gender studies should be included in the national curriculum. Women need to be made aware of their rights and feel free to share their problems. Often when NGOs intervene in domestic affairs, they tend to solve the problem from their perspective and make decisions from their points of view (the top-down approach). I think they should rather take measures based on what the victims really want.

TP: In your opinion, what is the solution to eradicate domestic violence in Bangladesh?

AK: There is no particular solution. Through a single initiative, we can’t remove it from our society. We have to create awareness step by step, not just from person to person, but through government. The social institutions or NGOs should step forward to ensure justice for the victimized women, our social structure should provide equal rights. Even the victims should be mentally prepared to make initiatives for themselves so others can help them too.

TP: Did Sonia Akhter get justice in the end?

AK: No. We could not take any action against her husband because Sonia Akhter herself resisted from taking any action, she wants to wait for her husband and hopes one day he will come back.

TP: What would you like to say to all those women who are subjected to domestic violence today?

AK: Speak up! That’s the only phrase I would like to emphasize. They have a huge responsibility, if they don’t speak up for themselves, then we will be left with a society where their daughters and granddaughter will undergo the same acts of violence. Because nobody dared to speak up for their rights.

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Today, for most of us, checking Facebook and Twitter for news is a common activity. Through social media networks we have witnessed regimes fall, for example that of Mubarak’s, and seen popular movements progress, like Occupy Wall Street. The media’s reliance on social media is not necessarily negative but sometimes things go wrong. The Iranian green movement is a grave case of how the media’s dependence on facebook for facts can change the fate of a citizen — like Neda Soltani.

June 21, 2009, started out like any other day for the 32-year old English Literature lecturer Neda Soltani. As she went by her daily routines, it was not before returning home in the evening that she found several messages and notifications awaiting her. Her friends, family, acquaintances – all were saying: “We saw you on CNN, we saw you on Fox News, we saw you on Farsi channels, Iranian channels.”

There had been an identity mix-up; her photo was used interchangeably with that of Neda Agha-Soltan, a 26-year old who was shot during a protest in Tehran the previous day. Jezebel reported that the photo swap occurred when the Iranian Green movement supporters searched for a picture of the late Neda and took a picture from her Facebook profile. However, that profile did not belong to Neda Agha-Soltan, it belonged to Neda Soltani.

Neda Agha-Soltan was viewed by local and international media as a martyr, but her face was that of Ms. Soltani. Though the photo error was corrected 48 hours later after the martyr’s family released a photo of the late Neda, the damage was done: Soltani’s face has been all over news outlets and social media networks worldwide.

Life as she knew it was gone. Ms. Soltani had to flee her homeland and leave her family and friends. Since the Iranian government felt hassled by all attention, they wanted to say that Neda Agha-Soltan was in fact alive and the whole event was just a misinformation. Ms. Soltani told BBC News, that the Iranian government wanted her to admit that “the photo had not been taken from her facebook page but had been released by the European Union. They accused the European Union, the United Kingdom and of course the US.”

After, Ms. Soltani refused to co-operate with the Iranian regime, her situation kept on getting worse; some of those in contact with her started to view her as a threat. She lost her boyfriend to this ordeal. Ms. Soltani was accused of betraying the national security of Iran. Poynter quoted her saying, “I was charged with being a spy for the CIA and told to sign a confession. I knew very well that such an accusation could end in a death sentence for me in Iran.” 

Three years later, Ms. Soltani spoke of the devastating event to BBC News. She described the ordeal as a “surreal, Kafkaesque experience” that occurred within a duration of 12 days. Ms. Soltani first fled to Turkey, then to Greece, and finally to Germany, where she stayed at a refugee camp. Today, she is pursuing a fellowship at a University in the United States. According to Ruhrbarone a German journalism blog, Ms. Soltani’s picture was used widely by CNN, BBC, CBS, Fox News, ZDF, ARD, and other news stations.

“Looking back, the people I am most angry with are the Western media. They kept using my photo even though they knew it was not a picture of the real victim in that tragic video. They knowingly exposed me to extreme danger. I can never be the person that I was before these things happened. I’m still suffering from depression, I am still suffering from nightmares.” - Neda Soltani in the BBC interview.

Ms. Soltani’s story is a powerful example of how social media can impact and change the life of regular citizen. How a mere picture off of facebook can be used and distributed to the masses without prior notice. Ms. Soltani wrote a book about her surreal experience named, My Stolen Face.

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Fighting in Burma’s Western state of Rakhine has left thousands of houses burnt down and an estimated 64 dead according to the Burmese government.

The victims were mostly Muslim Rohingya and satellite pictures released by Human Rights Watch show entire districts razed to the ground.

This recent rise in violence is but the latest in a long running civil war that has been ongoing since the country gained its independence from British rule in 1948. Shortly following Burma’s independence, the Burmese government, which mainly consists of Bamar people who make up two thirds of the population of Burma, created the Burmese constitution denying ethnic minorities constitutional rights or participation in government.

There are a total of 135 ethnic minorities officially recognized by the Burmese government as well as several unrecognized groups, the most notable of these being the Rohingya.

The exclusion of ethnic minorities from government is one the main reasons behind the civil war in Burma with many groups, such as the Shan and Chin people, having formed militias to fight for autonomy in their home areas as well as power in the decision-making process of the whole country.

The fighting has not solely been over ethnic minorities struggling to gain the power and rights they believe they deserve. The civil war is also being fought because, according to Burma Campaign UK the ”Burman dominated governments see their own race, culture and religion as the best and have been trying to impose it on others”.

This is particularly true of the Muslim Rohingya who mostly live in Rakhine state, which has been the center of violence last week and also last June. Called “one of the most persecuted minorities in the world” by the UN the Rohingya are officially stateless and not recognized as citizens in the Burmese Constitution. Despite the fact that they have resided in the country for centuries, the Rohingya are viewed by many Burmese as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Thein Sein, the current president of Burma, has called the Rohingya a threat to national security and stated his willingness to hand 800,000 Rohingya over to the United Nations refugee agency to be settled in another country.

With the president of Burma publicly expressing such views, it adds credibility to remarks made by Tun Khin of the Burmese Rohingya organization in the UK, who claimed on channel 4 news that last weeks events were “proper planned by Rakhine National Democratic party”  and that the state incited the local Muslim population to attack the Rohingya. This is confirmed by Burma Campaign UK who say ”what has happened in recent months is clearly mainly instigated and implemented by Rakhine and Burman nationalists with a mixture of overt and tacit backing from the government.” The government also recognized that the violence was not spontaneous, saying in a press release  ”… there are persons and organizations who are conducting manipulation in the incidents in Rakhine State behind the scene”. However they could not be contacted for comment on the matter.

As well as inciting and backing violence against the Rohingya, the government could be guilty of failing to properly protect the Rohingya. This is certainly the view of Human Rights Watch who said,”In Arakan State, the Burmese government inadequately responded to the sectarian violence between the ethnic Arakan and Rohingya populations. When it finally did take action, state security forces targeted the minority Rohingya for killings, mass arrests and looting, causing massive displacement.”

These attacks by either the government or local population on the Rohingya people come shortly after the government made steps towards democracy with several small reforms. First was the release of human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi in 2010 after 15 years under house arrest. There was then the first elections after 49 years of military rule, even if the elections were widely regarded as being rigged. While these actions were a move in the right direction, these reforms have only distracted the international community from what is happening to the Rohingya.

Right now, the Rohingya are the only ones the government are targeting. But what happens when Thein Sein has successfully got rid of the Rohingya, will it stop there? The international community must wake up and realize that it is not just the Middle East that is in the midst of civil war. We cannot continue to pick and choose which countries we help, and which we ignore. The Libyans and Syrians are not the only ones being persecuted by their leaders, the world needs to hear what is happening to the Rohingya and other minorities in Burma and act to protect them.

Image Courtesy : Government of Thailand [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

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New Delhi, India — In partnership with the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the EastWest Institute, a leading New York-based think tank, is holding its 3rd Worldwide Cybersecurity Summit in New Delhi. The summit will take place at the Taj Palace Hotel on October 30-31, 2012.

Following the success of the previous annual summits in Dallas and London, this conference will bring together an international group of leading thinkers, practitioners and decision makers. This location underscores India’s rapid emergence as a key player on cybersecurity issues. The theme of this year’s summit is the ”Next Billion Netizens Safely Connect”.

Over 300 participants from approximately 20 countries will address critical security areas where international policy has failed to make progress. This unique event will bring together a diverse group of stakeholders to catalyze progress on international cybersecurity cooperation. The summit will focus on fighting spam, the Reliability of Global Undersea Communications Cable Infrastructure (ROGUCCI) and new proposals for establishing a system of Priority International Communications (PIC).

The objective for each of the summit’s breakthrough groups is to produce concrete recommendations for industry and government that, if implemented, will have significant impact in making cyberspace and the real world more stable and secure.

Mr. Kapil Sibal, the Honorable Minister of Human Resource Development & Minister of Communications & Information Technology will deliver the keynote address. Additionally, Mr. Sachin Pilot , Honorable Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology along with Mr. R Chandrashekhar, Ms. Latha Reddy and Mr. Som Mittal are some of the esteemed speakers at the summit.

Other speakers include: Mr. Ross Perot Jr., Chairman of the Board, EWI; Anurag Jain, former VP of Global Deliveries Division of Dell and MD-Perot Systems and current Chairman of Laurus Edutech; Mr. Michael O’Reirdan, Chairman, MAAWG; Mr. Michael Chertoff, Co-founder Chertoff Group and former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security; Mr. Zhou Yonglin, Director, Internet Society of China and Mr Nandan Nilekeni, Chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India.

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Bengaluru, India – The Huge Turnout at Asia’s Largest Open Source Convention Shows how FOSS has Evolved From Being a Niche Concept to the Mindset of the Masses

The future of technology lies in being free and open source. This was the unanimous call raised by the participants and the community members present at the event. FOSS is not just about making the source code of the software freely available, it’s about opening up of the mindset. Open Source India 2012 concluded on this positive note, promising to come back next year with much more power and increased involvement of the community.

The three-day affair proved to be an apt platform for the re-union of the FOSS community and sharing of FOSS concepts. The jam-packed sessions and huge turnout at Asia’s largest open source convention prove how FOSS has evolved from being a niche concept to the mindset of the masses.

The event witnessed a major turnout of the industry professionals, the community folks and a lot of newbies who came to have a close look and feel of the FOSS environment. Open Source India 2012, which concluded in NIMHANS Convention Center, Bengaluru, was full of enlightening content.

Praising the event, Dr. Pramod K Varma, Chief Architect and Technology Advisor to Unique Identification Authority of India, said, “India has become a huge consumer of open source technology. It’s about time that we also became a dominant contributor to the open source projects. I think OSI Days, being a leading open source event in India, is proving out to be a great platform for encouraging the community and increasing participation in open source projects.”

The three-day convention witnessed presence of over 70 speakers from the corporate world and the community. Companies like Oracle, Sify Technologies Limited, Intel, Acquia, HP, Dell and even Microsoft came forward to show their support for open source technology at this platform. Mandar Naik, Director – Platform Strategy, Microsoft, said, “It is always exciting to be a part of OSI Days and this year was no exception. The technology sessions were highly informative with some of the experts sharing their insights on a range of topics including mobile application development, kernel and the cloud. I feel the conference proved to be a great opportunity for engaging with technology enthusiasts from all over the country ranging from app developers and open source contributors to the students. Nothing beats a great technology debate over a coffee with like-minded friends from the community.”

OSI Days had a special thrust on Google’s Android operating system, which was especially beneficial for the mobile app developers. Dushyantsinh Jadeja, Software Business Manager – APAC, Intel talked about Building Next Generation Applications For Android On Intel Architecture, which was much appreciated by the attendees. Yet another enlightening session on Building Compelling Mobile Web Applications – The Open Source Way was presented by Anantharaman P N, Director – Engineering, Adobe Systems, Bengaluru. Gaurav Agrawal from Sify Technologies Limited talked about ‘Opening The Doors Of Cloud’, while Lux Rao, Country Lead – Cloud Consulting Solutions, HP India, Bengaluru, gave a deep insight on the topic ‘Public, Private or Hybrid – What is your Cloud?

Some of the eminent speakers present on the occasion included Ramesh Rajagopalan, Engineering Director, Dell India R&D Center, Chandra Balani, MySQL India Sales Manager, Oracle India Pvt Ltd, Atul Kumar Jha, Technology Evangelist, CSSCorp, Chennai, Durgadoss R, Software Engineer, Intel Technology India Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru, Janardan Revuru, Project Manager, Hewlett Packard, Bengaluru and many more.

Open Source India believes in sharing practical knowledge as much as sharing ideologies. Apart from knowledge-packed technology sessions, there were hands-on workshops on HTML5, SQL, OpenLDAP, JBoss among others from industry experts. India Linux User Groups play a major role in promotion of FOSS in India. The event would have been incomplete without the discussion on the role of ILUGs in promoting FOSS in the country. OSI Days had representatives of the popular Chennai and Kolkata LUGs apart from the legendary contributors like Raj Mathur and Kingsly John. The group discussion also incorporated the policy issues that need to be dealt with to improve adoption of FOSS in public bodies.

Sharing his insight on OSI 2012, Ramesh Chopra, Vice Chairman, EFY Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., said, “We are glad that we have been able to bring much bigger, better and improvised OSI Days this year. We aimed at offering something for all techies, including software developers, IT managers and heads of IT departments, project managers, delivery experts, academia, and the open source community.”

A live stream of updates was provided on Twitter and Facebook for the conference. This helped everyone stay updated about the discussions and sessions happening at the conference.

Celebrating the spirit of FOSS as always, OSI Days bids adieu this year only to come back with greater enthusiasm and information-packed sessions next year.

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New Delhi, India — MagicBricks.com – India’s No.1 property site – once again proved its supremacy in the online real estate space with the large-scale acceptance and appreciation received for its recently launched Décor Section.

The launch of ‘Décor from MagicBricks’ marked the first time ever that an Indian real estate portal has taken a step in providing “after-sales” services – services that a homeowner needs after acquiring their dream home.

MagicBricks user Vishal Chhabra exclaimed, “Thanks to MagicBricks I was able to negotiate and buy my house at the best possible price, and now with the Décor Section, I can have it fitted and furnished as well!”

Another user, Alok Anand remarked, “It is good to find such an incredibly wide range of home furnishing options on MagicBricks. It shows that the brand stands behind its promise of providing the best solutions to its users’ property needs.”

These and many more such anecdotal accolades have been further backed by the findings of a survey conducted by MagicBricks, which revealed that 46% of respondents are keen to coordinate the renovation and revamp of their homes themselves.

Engaging a contractor for renovating/revamping the home though still a popular choice seems to be waning. As even though 54% of survey respondents chose this option, there is growing awareness, information and knowledge of branded options available in the market, where applications and installations are provided by company authorized experts.

The growing trend appears to be that 46% respondents are keen to co-ordinate the renovation/revamp of their home themselves, choosing their own paints, fittings and furnishings. This shows that some respondents are increasingly taking a more ‘hands on’ role in the final creation of their dream home.

Another interesting finding was that the Quality of Brand is the most important factor while choosing brands/products/services for home renovation/revamp.

The majority of survey respondents (57%) feel that the quality of brands/products and services is the most important factor while choosing brands/products/services for home renovation/revamp. Cost plays a secondary role, as only 22% of survey takers have chosen cost as the most important factor. Reputation of the company/contractor and recommendation from a friend/relative are the most significant factors for 12% and 9% of the survey respondents, respectively.

In addition, it appears that most survey takers get information on home renovation/revamp products and services from friends/relatives or the Internet (Online).

While the biggest influencers remain the advice and guidance of friends and relatives for 41% of respondents, it is worthy to note that online has overtaken other forms of media for being a primary source of information on products and services. As 34% of the respondents declared, that online was their preferred source of information followed by newspapers (13%), TV (7%), and magazine ads (5%).

Among the online players, it is only MagicBricks’ Décor Service that offers a host of reputed brands including the likes of Berger Paints, Black & Decker, Cera Sanitaryware, Dulux, Hindware, Havells, Hettich, Jaquar and Schneider Electric, to name a few – all in one place.

Speaking of these findings, Sudhir Pai, Business Head, MagicBricks.com said, “The success of Decor is based on the fact that Homeowners have always felt a sense of uncertainty as to where to get an honest and credible solution for all their New Home needs.We have researched that homeowners had not really been able to find a comprehensive and unambiguous solution – it is this need that MagicBricks’ Decor Service fulfills.

Decor showcases reputed brands, which offer products & services to take care of everything from Home Furnishings to Home Security. Our success is directly attributable to the value our users get from our innovative One-stop Solution.”

Other findings of MagicBricks.com’s survey on Renovating and Revamping Your Home include that 25% of respondents want to renovate/revamp their home in 1-3 months, while 17% of respondents want this done immediately. Among the various home improvement options, painting is the most popular (70%) renovation/revamp option, but home furnishings (54%) and kitchen fittings (52%) are not far behind.

Also of particular note is that respondents are not shy of spending a good amount of money on their home renovation/revamp. In fact, 44% of respondents have a budget of over Rs 1 lakh for this purpose.

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Chicago, U.S.A. — Aon Benfield, the global reinsurance intermediary and capital adviser of Aon plc releases on August 7 the latest edition of its Global Catastrophe Recap report, which reviews the natural disaster perils that occurred worldwide during July.

Published by Impact Forecasting, the firm’s catastrophe model development center of excellence, the report reveals that flooding caused more than USD 8.3 billion in economic losses across China during July, while the worst drought in decades worsened across much of the United States. Severe weather also prompted widespread damage in parts of the U.S. and Europe.

Heavy rainfall in China spawned flooding and landslides in nearly two-dozen provinces, leading to 324 deaths, at least 475,000 homes destroyed or damaged and more than 1.66 million hectares (4.1 million acres) of cropland affected, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA). Total combined economic losses were listed at CNY53.2 billion (USD8.3 billion), while the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) noted that 47,000 claims were filed with payouts in excess of CNY1.12 billion (USD176 million).

Steve Jakubowski, President of Impact Forecasting, said: “Much of China was affected by flooding rainfall during July, including parts of Beijing experiencing its heaviest rains in 61 years. On the opposite extreme, much of the U.S. continued to face its worst drought in several decades. Both weather events have impacted crops and the agriculture industry.

To help further understand potential agriculture losses, the U.S. insurance industry has been using catastrophe models for several years. For China, Aon Benfield has responded by recently developing its Crop Reinsurance Solution (ACReS) to support this growing sector to manage its agricultural exposures.”

Additional flooding was recorded in Asia during the month, including in Japan, Indonesia and North Korea. In Japan, the most notable event occurred over five consecutive days on Kyushu as torrential rainfall prompted flooding and 870 landslides that left at least 30 people dead. Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency (FDMA) reported that 16,045 homes, infrastructure and agriculture had sustained varying levels of flood inundation.

Elsewhere, the worst drought in decades deepened throughout much of the United States. At least 4,313 record high temperatures were set during the month, as the heat also left more than 100 people dead. According to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), up to 64% of the contiguous U.S. was listed in at least a moderate drought. More than half of all U.S. counties (~1,600) were declared disaster areas. Total economic (and insured) crop losses were anticipated to reach well into the billions of dollars (USD).

Also in the U.S., a three-day stretch early in the month saw rounds of severe thunderstorms affect parts of the Midwest, Ohio Valley and the Northeast. Total economic losses were approximately USD450 million, while various insurers received more than 50,000 claims with payouts in excess of USD275 million.

Severe weather was also recorded across central and western Europe, where tornadoes, damaging winds and up to egg-sized hail occurred. In the Czech Republic, insured losses were listed at CZK247 million (USD12 million). Insurers in Slovenia recorded more than EUR4 million (USD5 million) in losses. InPoland, an EF-2 tornado left up to PLN20 million (USD5.9 million) in damage to forests. Storms in Georgialeft 22,000 homes damaged, with economic losses listed at GEL150 million (USD91 million).

Image Courtesy of  sporkmaster

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Mumbai, India. — Tata Interactive Systems (TIS), a pioneer and global leader in learning solutions, has announced the second annual Tata Interactive Learning Forum (TLF) in India. The event will be hosted by TIS at the Taj Lands End on September 13, 2012.

TLF India 2012 will be the 2nd edition of this unique event, the inaugural edition in 2011 having been a huge success. Globally, the TLF is in its 9th edition, and remains a by-invitation-only event, making it the most prestigious e-learning conference in the world. TLF events have been held in the US, UK, Australia, Middle East and India.

The TLF India 2012 is based on the theme India Inc. – Skipping The Learning Curve (Looking Beyond Traditional Learning). The event will feature chief learning officers, VPs, and EVPs in training, human resources and business functions, who will share industry best practices, latest developments in online education and training industry, and participate in thought provoking discussions. The event will offer participants an opportunity to network with learning and training professionals across industry segments.

“We are delighted to announce the 2nd edition of TLF India, where we will share best practices in areas like Mobile Learning, Collaborative Learning, Leadership Development and managing the Learning Function as a business,” says Rajesh Jumani, Executive Vice President – Asia Pacific & Middle East, Tata Interactive Systems.

He adds, “The TLF for the past eight years has held a powerful resonance in the L&D space. Every year, the forum attempts to bring together thought leaders in Training, HR and Business functions to push the boundaries of the L&D space.”

The TLF India 2011 saw participation from companies such as ICICI Prudential, Indian Hotels Company, Axis Bank, IMRB, Reliance Industries, Citibank, Vodafone, Viacom 18, Tata Communications, Glenmark, Deutsche Bank, Deloitte, Aircel, J. P. Morgan, Lanco Infratech and MTS to name a few.

The event venue, the Taj Lands End, an integral part of the Taj Luxury Hotels, offers the best of both worlds – breathtaking views of the sea and the energy of city life. Like all Taj hotels, it reflects India’s warmth and heartfelt traditions of hospitality.

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On Tuesday, July 31 India experienced what is being called the largest blackout ever. Twenty of the twenty-eight Indian states were without power for hours, leaving 620 million people, twice the population of the United States, without power.

Three regional grids completely collapsed on Tuesday, and one – the northern grid – also collapsed on Monday which is considered the second largest blackout ever after affecting 370 million people. The grids affected include the northern, eastern, and northeastern grids as well as the areas of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, and Jharkhand.

It is not uncommon for India to experience small, local power failures, but power failures of this scope are almost unheard of. The last time the northern grid failed completely was 2001. Recently officials have announced that the northeastern grid is completely operational, while the northern and eastern grids are at 75% and 40% capacity respectively.

The power outage has affected both those who do not have access to electricity in their homes – about one-third of the country – and those who do. Trains stopped and hospitals began running on backup generators. According to BBC’s Rajini Vaidyanathan, “more than half of India’s population has ground to a halt.” Many of the trains have started running again recently but now they are extremely backlogged.

Two hundred miners in West Bengal were also trapped because the lifts they use run on electricity. One mine official, Nildari Roy, stated, “We are waiting for the restoration of power to bring them up through the lifts, but there is no threat to their lives or any reason to panic.” No one so far has been reported as injured.

Anu Chopra, a shop-worker in Delhi said “I can understand this happening once in a while but how can one allow such a thing to happen two days in a row? It just shows our infrastructure is in a complete mess. There is no transparency and no accountability whatsoever.”

The Indian Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde claims that the power failure is due to the states taking too much from the national grid. “Everyone overdraws from the grid. Just this morning I held a meeting with power officials from the states and I gave directions that states that overdraw should be punished. We have given instructions that their power supply could be cut.”

Shinde was promoted to Home Minister, the top internal security official, on July 31 during a cabinet shuffling that was planned before all of these events occurred.

One state, Uttar Pradesh, has several officials protesting, claiming it is not their fault. One official from Uttar Pradesh stated that there is “no reason to believe that any power operations in Uttar Pradesh triggered it.”

The Chairman of the Power Grid Corporation of India also made an announcement stating, “we have to see why there was a sudden increase in load… we will make sure that such a situation is not repeated. Our message to people is that they are in safe hands, we have been in the job for years.”

Many believe that the power shortages are also related to the shortage of energy in India and the aging grid system. Past power failures have caused protests and unrest, according to the BBC.  Additionally, the economy of India has been growing but the power infrastructure has not been doing the same, meaning that the growing demand for power is not being met.

Bharatiya Janat Patry spokesman, Prakash Javadekar, criticized the government handling of the power failures and energy crisis. “It is a huge failure of the management in the power sector by the UPA government. Their failure is twin failure. It is management failure as well as the police failure.”

The power deficit at India in recent months has been as high as eight percent. Additionally, a lot of power is pirated through illegal wiring woven into the electrical system.

A weak monsoon season may also have added to the strain on the system. The hydroelectric generation was down and temperatures were higher which caused electrical usage to increase.

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New York, U.S.A. – After more than fourteen years implementing life-saving projects of health and HIV/AIDS, food security/agriculture, water/sanitations, education and disaster relief in the Dominican Republic’s impoverished and vulnerable sugarcane plantations rural “batey” communities and Haiti’s isolated border regions, the Batey Relief Alliance (BRA) now seeks to climb some of the highest mountains of Peru to save children in desperate living conditions.

Up at 16,000 feet in Peru’s Andes mountains native families must survive below-freezing temperatures and the lack of access to adequate supplies of food, clothing, shelter or basic medical services, essential medicines and antibiotics. In Puno – the capital of Puno Region and Puno Province, a city of more than 100,000 people on the shores of Lake Titicaca in southeastern Peru, local inhabitants are horribly poverty-stricken. The local economy is based on agriculture and cattle raising.  Unfortunately, both of these ventures present major obstacles and offer few rewards to those pursuing them. Illiteracy is as high as 22%, especially among women. Diseases, hunger and malnutrition are related to extreme poverty, lack of clean water and sanitation infrastructures.

In response to this crisis affecting the health and growth of children in these mountain villages, BRA has joined hands with its partners to deliver emergency medical/dental assistance and launch a new Child’s Health project involving the application of doses of multivitamins and deworming medicines to more than 500 children and pregnant women who are nutritionally at risk. Future BRA projects will involve general health, food security and education.

For more information on BRA’s humanitarian work in Peru, Haiti or the Dominican Republic, visit our website and donate online at www.bateyrelief.org.

For regular updates, follow/like on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/Batey.Relief.Alliance) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/bateyrelief).

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New York, U.S.A. — PepsiCo, Inc. announced July 10 the opening of a new food manufacturing facility in Wuhan, China. The plant, which is PepsiCo’s sixth food manufacturing site in its Greater China Region, is part of the company’s plans to drive the continued growth of its China business and expand further into central and western China.

The Wuhan plant is the first foods facility built by PepsiCo in China in line with the criteria established by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), the world’s leading green building standard. With state-of-the-art technologies and processes, the plant is expected to use 30 percent less water and 20 percent less energy compared to the 2006 baseline for PepsiCo China Foods manufacturing plants, reducing operating costs in the long term. Three existing plants in PepsiCo’s manufacturing network in China are LEED-certified: Pepsi bottling plants in Chongqing, Nanchang and Kunming.

The PepsiCo plant in Wuhan, which includes 25,000 square meters of production space, is equipped with one of the most advanced potato chip production lines in the world and has the capacity to produce approximately 15,000 tons of Lay’s potato chips annually. Lay’s is the world’s largest food brand and China’s top-selling chip brand.

PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi officially opened the new Wuhan plant at a ceremony attended by Mr. Jia Yaobin, executive vice mayor of the Wuhan Municipal Government, and other leading Wuhan officials. Saad Abdul-Latif, CEO of PepsiCo Asia, Middle East, Africa; Tim Minges, chairman of PepsiCo Greater China Region; and Katty Lam, president of PepsiCo Greater China Region Foods also attended the event.

Mr. Jia Yaobin said: “PepsiCo is one of the most successful consumer goods companies in the world, and its products are well-known and popular in China. We thank PepsiCo for the contribution it has made to the development of Wuhan and the Dongxihu District. From the local government’s perspective, we recognize the significant role played by the business community in promoting local economic development, and we will continue to support PepsiCo in growing its business in Wuhan and the central and western regions. We wish PepsiCo even greater progress here in China.”

“PepsiCo has a strong and growing food and beverage business in China, and we’re making investments to drive sustainable long-term growth,” Nooyi said. “The Wuhan plant is a crucial piece of our growth strategy, as it opens new opportunities for PepsiCo in central and western China and will allow more Chinese consumers to enjoy Lay’s and other great PepsiCo brands. It also continues our commitment to sustainable development, which we believe is a key driver of both China’s and PepsiCo’s future success.”

Since entering the Chinese market in 1981, PepsiCo has established a leading position in China’s rapidly growing food and beverage industry.

Earlier this year, PepsiCo completed a strategic beverage alliance with Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holding Corp. (Tingyi), one of the leading food and beverage companies in China. The PepsiCo-Tingyi beverage system is the No. 1 liquid refreshment beverage player in China and provides Chinese consumers with some of the country’s most popular beverage products, including: Pepsi, China’s top-selling cola; Mirinda, China’s top-selling flavored carbonated soft drink; Gatorade, one of China’s top-selling sports drinks; China’s top-selling tea and water brands, sold under Tingyi-Asahi Beverages Holding Corp. Ltd’s Master Kong brand name; and China’s second-largest juice portfolio. China is expected to become the world’s largest beverage market by 2015.

PepsiCo is also a major agricultural company in China, having opened eight sustainable demonstration potato farms and invested in agricultural farm development. Over the past 12 years, more than 10,000 Chinese rural households have benefited from PepsiCo’s agricultural projects in China. PepsiCo signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of China in September 2011 to promote sustainable agriculture projects and accelerate the development of the Chinese countryside.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.pepsico.com

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New York, U.S.A. — Asian institutional investors planning to increase investments in non-Asian companies express a preference for the equities of companies that draw revenue from Asia or have a secondary equity listing on a local exchange, according to a survey conducted by BNY Mellon, the global leader in investment management and investment services. The survey, titled Asia’s Evolving Investment Landscape, is BNY Mellon’s first-ever formal study of this category of investors.

Recognizing Asia’s potential as a source of investment, BNY Mellon undertook a survey to gain further insight into current investment practices in the region and conducted 40 in-depth interviews with investors in Hong Kong, Singapore and China, representing more than US$60 billion in equity assets under management.

The report focused on these locations as they are the primary destinations for companies considering secondary equity listings. Investors provided views on their need for portfolio diversification, their appetite for global equities, and the potential opportunities in these markets for global equity issuers.

“We’ve known for years that ‘home market bias’ to invest in domestic companies is more pronounced among Asian institutions, and that there’s a strong desire to correct that,” said Michael Cole-Fontayn, CEO of BNY Mellon’s Depositary Receipts business. “Now, we can see how ripe the opportunity is for global issuers and how they can increase their chances of cultivating ties to investors in Asia.”

The report focused on three types of investors: mainland Qualified Domestic Institutional Investors (QDIIs); Hong Kong– and Singapore–headquartered investment firms; and Hong Kong– and Singapore–based subsidiaries of global asset management firms.

The study uncovered a strong desire among institutional investors in these markets to diversify more globally their equity holdings. Nearly half (47%) plan to increase investments in companies domiciled outside their home market over the next one to five years. They cited client requests, portfolio diversification, and opportunities for growth as factors motivating them to look abroad. “We are moving in a direction to increase the rate of investment outside of Asia,” said a survey respondent from a Hong Kong-headquartered investment firm. “We are striving to increase our global mandate.”

BNY Mellon found that each additional percentage point in global allocations of Asia-based institutional portfolios potentially equates to $7.3 billion in equity assets. This figure underscores the substantial opportunity for global issuers as the portfolio allocations of Asian institutions fall in line with peers in North America and Europe that invest larger proportions in equities of non-domestic companies.

Several factors impact on a global issuers’ decision to raise equity capital in Asia, the study found. The investors surveyed were particularly open to investing in companies that derive revenue from Asia, with 54% saying that it was a key criterion. In addition, a listing on a regional exchange universally increases both the awareness of non-Asia-domiciled companies and the likelihood that institutions in Asia will invest in them. More than half of the investors surveyed (53%) said a secondary listing on an Asian exchange increases the chances they will invest in foreign-domiciled companies.

“I do not differentiate between the Hong Kong, Singapore and other Asian exchanges. The company simply has to be listed on one of the regional exchanges for us to invest in it,” said a respondent from a Hong Kong-based subsidiary of global asset management firm.”

“There’s a substantial overlap of interests between investors in Asia looking to diversify their portfolios and global companies looking to raise capital,” said Guy Gresham, New York head of the global IR advisory team in BNY Mellon’s DR group. “A secondary listing and open investor communications policy go a long way in helping these companies gain access to long-term equity capital in this part of the world.”

Additional findings of the survey include:

• Overall, 62% of institutions surveyed said a local exchange listing increases their awareness of a company.
• Hong Kong- and Singapore-based investment firms were the most definitive in stating that a local listing increasing their likelihood of investing in a foreign company, with 57% responding affirmatively and 62% saying that a listing in Asia increases their awareness of a company.
• Over half of the investment community surveyed (61%) does not definitively differentiate between the regional exchanges in Asia where foreign companies have secondary listings.
• More than half of investors (55%) are not required to meet with senior management of foreign companies before making an investment, and many report that as long as they can correspond with management throughout the year, a face-to-face meeting is not vital to their decision-making process when considering investment opportunities outside of Asia.
• Over two-thirds (70%) of investors surveyed would like to meet management teams at least semi-annually for meetings and informational updates, and 97% would like to correspond with management at least once a year.

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Hangzhou, China – - Neologic Animation Inc., an educational software company in the People’s Republic of China, released the results of its 7 year research and development study into effective early childhood education methods.

Led by Dr. Jisheng Wang, the Company’s head Psychologist, the team of renowned, published psychologists and early childhood education experts released a report outlining the “Eight Areas of Intelligence” of human beings.

“By incorporating these eight basic areas of intelligence into all of ‘Naniya World’s’ games, children will learn not only at a conscious, but also unconscious level,” said Chief Psychologist Dr. Wang.  “Language, Mathematics, Logic, Music, Space, Body-Sport, Interpersonal Relations, Self-Cognitive and finally Nature-Observing Intelligence are all carefully and meticulously incorporated into the Company’s game development model.”

The team has studied several thousand cases and has concluded that non-cognitive factors directly influence a child’s learning performance.  They have concluded that these areas of intelligence development play a large role in a child’s overall development and performance.  The team has meticulously arrived at a series of 108 learning capacity tests that can systematically analyze current educational status, learning capacity, and most importantly can recommend suitable learning methods.  Studying the results of the tests combined with advanced network techniques ultimately came about and created the website “Naniya World”, which is geared towards students from, grades one through six.

The site’s many exciting methods of study, including interactive flash games, animations, videos and other content to explain subject knowledge and content.  One of the major intentions of the website is to foster independent and creative thought.  This is done by incorporating art, music, sports and other such modules instead of forcing students to take in knowledge passively and mechanically.  Children can simultaneously absorb cultural knowledge while also improving their comprehensive learning capacity.

For more details about the study, please refer to the R&D Results Fact Sheet.

 About Neologic Animation Inc. (the “Company”)

The Company is an educational software development and marketing company; currently developing a website to be marketed as “Naniya World” for primary school students in China.  The website’s goal is to educate children how to develop and hone their creative skills through interactive educational games that incorporate Adobe Flash. The games incorporate a curriculum that has been developed by some of China’s top professors and child psychology experts. It sets itself apart from other after school programs in China because it deviates from the traditional methods of Chinese education.  The Company’s mission is to inspire every child in China to become the best student they can possibly be by showing them that learning is fun.

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iPakistan is a new social media initiative set up by a group of Pakistani university students to change the global perception of Pakistan. Reaching out to others via the web, their aim is to re-brand Pakistan and break the stereotypes that often result in discrimination and prejudice towards its people.

Type out ‘Pakistan’ in the Google Images search bar and scroll down the first few pages: one would find pictures of maps,  the Pakistani flag and images that spell out a country torn between poverty and war. Although this may be the harsh reality in some parts of Pakistan, it is not the only reality of this South Asian country, as some are prone to believe.  With the kind of news surfacing daily regarding the conflicts, bomb blasts and political issues of not only the country, but also its neighbors’ it’s not hard to see why most people have a negative outlook on Pakistan. Rehman Ilyas aims to change this by replacing the post 9/11 images of terrorism, extremism and war zone to that of extremely talented youths, scenic landscapes and rich culture.

As a Lahori studying at the University of Hong Kong, Ilyas found himself subject to questions about Pakistan ranging from relatively normal ones such as “Do you have any malls there?” to more ridiculous ones like “Is there Taliban in your family?” He was always aware of the injustice done by the world media news in regards to their portrayal of his country but he was unaware of the severity of it until he arrived in Hong Kong.

“People only got to see that 1% of Pakistan in which the War on Terror is going on, in the media, and take that to be representative of the entire Pakistan,” he said.

Instead of merely complaining, he took action and decided to play his part in correcting the wrongly propagated image of his country. He started with doing his own online research on the subject and pitching the idea to his friends, followed by doing pilot tests on Facebook and a trial website. A survey was even conducted to realistically depict what the world thinks of Pakistan. Tackling the issues from there, what initially started out as a personal contribution to his country has now expanded to a website and a Facebook page with contents from over 80 team members, a diversified group of youths spread over 10 countries all intent on introducing the real Pakistan to the world.

Ilyas also intends to reach out to the world for a greater purpose that could help Pakistan in a myriad of other ways. According to him, “The 2011 floods in Pakistan were worse than the Asian Tsunami and the Haiti Earthquake combined, and an area the size of England was inundated in water. Despite all this, the media coverage and global aid intervention received wasn’t even close as compared to these other recent natural calamities, simply because people around the world were not interested in helping out a country which in their minds, harbors terrorist groups and is a base camp for terrorist activities around the world.”

Setting the global views straight, even one person at a time, could slowly prove to be beneficial for 180 million Pakistanis. With Pakistani businessman and traders at exhibitions around the world facing difficulties when questioned about bringing in supplies reliably to and from a war zone, Ilyas’ project could have a positive effect on his country economically as well.

Along with changing the way others perceive his country, Ilyas would also like to see a few changes within the nation itself. Speaking for a majority of the population, he said, “Most Pakistanis crave for a change of leadership. We are done with having the same corrupt leaders elected again and again, and this needs to end now. Pakistan is blessed with both vast natural resources and human capital, and given the right leadership we have the potential to develop into a regional superpower.”

Another sub-project that Ilyas has been working on is ‘Romancing the Border’ and is aimed at another issue spread across the nation: the social gap between Indians and Pakistanis. With most youths having been raised with a mindset bearing hatred for the other side, the stereotypical views separate the youths despite the fact both sides may be similar to each other in a lot of aspects. Backed by Stanford University’s Peace Innovation Lab, this cross-border initiative provides an online platform for youth from both sides of the border to interact with each other and to encourage pro-social behaviors between Pakistanis and Indians.

Having received positive responses so far regarding iPakistan from both Pakistanis and foreigners, Ilyas hopes to reach out to the masses and in the foreseeable future, instead of us receiving war torn images of Pakistan as soon as we Google the word, iPakistan will appear on the top search results and bring about a positive first impression of the country.

Perhaps it is a sign of change in the world when youths stand up to defend their country, and not in the traditional means of violence or crude words, but by showing the rest of us what their nation is capable of, what makes it beautiful, and most importantly, what makes it their home and source of pride. With that, Ilyas leaves us with one last statement on his beloved homeland, “We are not a country supporting terrorism. In fact, we are the country which has sacrificed the most in the war against terrorism.”

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

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Miracles of God are never limited and can be discovered in the most eccentric of ways. Such is the case of the mystery healing of asthmatics in Hyderabad, a city in India. The weirdness is to an extent of absurdity whereby the patient is made to swallow a live sardine wrapped in a yellow herbal paste.

As funny as it sounds, it is a practice that has been followed for nearly a century now, by a single family named Goud. They are the only trustees of this medicine, and have not commercialized it nor given out the recipe of this secret elixir.

As legend goes, the medicine was gifted to the Gouds by a Hindu Saint about 170 years ago, and he had warned them that the treatment would lose its effectiveness if commercialized. Not just it, he also blessed a well around their area Doodhbowli, which is in a mile’s distance from historic monument, Charminar in Hyderabad. The Goud family use the water from that well to mix the medicine. Currently there are three Goud brothers performing the treatment, and they strictly to adhere to the practice of their ancestors. And still to date, the medicine and treatment is free of charge. There is an alternative to the fish, for thick-headed vegetarians, they can swallow a banana instead of the fish. However the Goud’s emphasize on the importance of fish. Since the therapy is based to a large extent on the effectiveness of the fish. As the live fish moves down, it opens up the pores in the windpipe blocked by phlegm or mucus, making way for the herbal paste.

The treatment is said to be very simple. After swallowing the live fish, the patient is given another three doses of a different medicine on three successive auspicious days called ‘Arudra Karthi,’ ‘Punarvasu Karthi’ and ‘Pushyami Karthi’, which fall every 15 days in a regulated span of 45 days. Along with this, the patient is also put on a strict diet for a period of 45 days which is said to be harder than swallowing the fish itself by some patients, abstaining from most edibles. Harinath Goud, one of the three Goud brothers says, “unless you strictly adhere to the diet, the effect of the medicine will not be optimum.”

Simultaneously every fortnight, morning and evening, two pills made out of the paste are to be taken without fail with warm water. The reason for the fortnightly gap is as much of a enigma as the medicine, and is religiously marked on every patient’s calendar. The patient’s life resumes to normal on the 46^th day, but this is not the end of the treatment. The miracle also takes some time to show its success, and the Goud’s suggest that the fish medicine has to be taken for three consecutive years.

But does this treatment really work? Sheela Chakravorty, a patient who is satisfied with the results said: “The first time I took the fish, it was hard to follow the diet. I was tempted to eat, not delicacies, but simple things such as eggs and coffee, and maybe use a few spices that weren’t allowed. The next year, I was more relaxed and took it upon myself to follow it through. And I did. Today, I am 75 percent cured.”

Most patients notice an improvement in their state in the first year itself. However there isn’t any fixed pattern to recovery by this treatment. And then again there are a few people, who have shown no change, and the reason for this could be not strictly following the diet.

There is almost no scientific explanation for the cure. Yet thousands of asthmatics come to Hyderabad for this treatment both from India and other foreign countries to date to experiment this ‘wonder-therapy’ or like some say ‘God’s blessing,’ and many return eased off from this suffering of wheezing and severe breathing disorder.

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The Human Rights Watch Group has been working with Dhaka, a global human rights group, in an effort to convince Bangladesh to take in more Myanmar Refugees. Dhaka is urging Bangladesh to keep its borders open to the refugees of Myanmar, who are seeking refuge from the violence going on in western Myanmar. Additionally, according to the Associated Press, “New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement that Bangladesh should also allow independent humanitarian agencies free and unfettered access to the border areas.”

Both groups got involved after word got out that Bangladesh turned away approximately 1,000 Muslims that came over in three boats. By doing this, “Bangladesh is putting lives at grave risk,” said Bill Frelick, Refugee Programme director at Human Rights Watch. Frelick also added, “Bangladesh has an obligation under international law to keep its border open to people fleeing threats to their lives and provide them protection.”

The violence is Myanmar has escalated between minority Muslims (known as Rohingyas) and Buddhists. As the tension grows between the two religious groups, hundreds of homes have been burned in Myanmar.

While Frelick believes it is Bangladesh’s duty to help these refugees, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni of Myanmar disagrees. At a news conference in the country’s capital, Dhaka, he stated, “it was not in Bangladesh’s interest to accept any refugees because the impoverished country’s resources already are strained.”

Buddhists are outraged about the Rohingyas living in Myanmar, claiming that the Royingyas are illegal immigrants and should be denied citizenship. Meanwhile, according to the Associated Press, “Bangladesh says Rohingya have been living in Myanmar for centuries and should be recognized there as citizens.”

Not knowing where to go or turn, Rohingyas are turning to Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burmese opposition politician and General Secretary of the National League for Democracy in Burma, to help end their persecution.

According to the Sunday Times Newspaper in Sri Lanka, “Bangladesh, which shares a 200-km (125-mile) border with Myanmar, is home to an estimated 300,000 Rohingya refugees, about a tenth of whom live in squalid conditions in UN-assisted camps.”

Mohammad Islam, leader of Rohingya refugees living in Nayapara camp in the Bangladesh border town of Teknaf, stated, “in her [Suu Kyi] first visit outside Myanmar in 24 years, Suu Kyi last month met thousands of Myanmar refugees now living in a Thai border camp. She promised to try as much as she could to help them return home, vowing not to forget them.” Islam added, “we heard the relations between the government and Suu Kyi have mended and there are now reforms sweeping the country. But for Rohingya, these changes mean nothing.”

Still Suu Kyi is hopeful and has no plans of giving up on the refugees.

“I would like to do my best for the interests of the people,” she said.

Image Courtesy of  Zzvet / Shutterstock.com

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The Monarchy of Thailand is fed up over years of Thailand’s citizens criticizing the government and Thailand traditions. And, as more people are resorting to the Internet to speak out about their beliefs that collide with ancient Thailand traditions, the government has decided to finally take action.

According to Mobiledia, the government is “realizing the serious threats the technology, especially its social and mobile elements, can bring to governance and traditional beliefs. Countries around the globe are struggling to balance their population’s embrace of mobile communications with order, public safety and streamlining government affairs, and the challenges are beginning to show.”

Because governments in Kuwait, Turkey and Thailand revolve around what they believe, as each other’s survival, they believe that the citizens of these countries are damaging to each countries beliefs and values, while also damaging foreign relations with other countries. (Who is “they,” the government or the citizens?  What do you mean by “each other’s survival?” Can you rephrase this so it is more clear?)

The legal case that has grabbed international media attention revolves around Thailand resident Chiranuch Premchaiporn, a webmaster who manages a local news site, after she insulted Thailand’s king, 84-year-old Bhumibol Adulyadej. According to the ITTO (Who is the ITTO?), “Premchaiporn did not post the material, she is responsible for its message under Thailand’s Computer Crimes Act, a law which criminalizes hosting anti-monarchical content and puts content providers like Premchaiporn at risk for prison time if they fail to censor such comments quickly.” She had 11 days to remove the comments from her site but considering she failed to do so, Premchaiporn was sentenced to spend eight months in prison. Her sentencing was based on each comment that was derogatory toward the government, king, queen, or an heir.

Thailand has extremely strict consequences for those who go up against their government, with the standard penalty being a one year prison sentence for each insulting comment that is posted. However, Premachaiporn’s sentence was reduced based on her cooperation.

Thailand has extremely strict, what they call, “lese-majeste” laws which prohibits the public expression of criticism against the monarchy in any media form whether it be television, print, radio or the Internet.

According to Reporter Kendra Srivastava, “the sentence reflects Thailand’s long history of censorship, which is gaining attention and sparking controversy as technology advances in the digital age. Lese-majeste laws are also coming under fire with demands for reform due to the recent death of a 62-year-old man who was serving a 20-year jail sentence for insulting the king. A petition of almost 27,000 signatures calling for reform of the laws was delivered to the Thai parliament yesterday in response to the man’s death.”

Fortunately for other countries in Asia and the Middle East, governments are looking at ways to go about the penalties of violating censorship laws among its citizens. Rather than punishment, countries like Iran and Syria are exploring ways to limit the Internet’s reach to citizens by not allowing access to sites that can give them information to retaliate and denounce their governments as well as forbidding them to insult the religions and politics of their countries.

While Thailand is censoring the media to prevent the denouncement of their ancient beliefs that go centuries back, it might actually end up hurting the country’s future.

According to Srivastava, “Google called Premchaiporn’s sentence a threat to the potential of Thailand’s Internet economy.”

However, the real questions still remain. How far is censorship going to go? And, how far are these countries willing to risk the free speech of their citizens in order to save face for their governments? Is all this censorship worth the protests, deaths and detriment to these countries economies?

Image Courtesy of  AJP / Shutterstock.com

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On Friday, June 8 2012 violence broke out in Western Myanmar (also known as Burma) leading to days of ethnic and religious violence including knife attacks and rioting. According to Reuters and MSNBC as of Monday 21 have died, another 21 have been wounded, and 1,662 houses have been burned to the ground. At least 4,100 people have lost their homes and are taking up refuge in schools and Buddhist monasteries.

The Western state of Rakhine is home to the majority religion group the Rakhine Buddhists and the minority group, Rohingya Muslims. The tension has been building for years as the Buddhists and the Muslims have different ethnic, religious, and cultural ties. The former military government has also persecuted the Rohingya Muslims for many years.

According to the UN the Rakhine state – this distraught region of Myanmar – is one of the most discriminating areas in the world. Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, claimed, “the underlying tensions that stem from discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities pose a threat to Myanmar’s democratic transition and stability.”

President Thein Sein has also admitted, “what is currently happening in the Rakhine state is about putting grievances, hatred, and desire for revenge at the forefront, based on racial and religious grounds, and that’s why anarchic actions are becoming widespread.”

The recent violence began after three Muslims were arrested in relation to the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman. A few days later, on June 3, a mob attacked a bus and lynched ten Muslims who were unrelated to the case. The Buddhists are also worried about the Rohingyas taking the jobs in the area where employment is scarce.

The rioting originally broke out in the city of Maungdaw on June 8, but quickly spread to the neighboring towns and cities including the state capital city of Sittwe.

During the violence on June 11, the United Nations pulled out 44 of 150 members of its staff in the western region of Myanmar. Ashok Nigam, the UN’s resident and human coordinator in Yangon – Myanmar’s largest city – stated that the relocation was a precaution for the safety of its staff.

Mohammad Sadek of Malaysia’s Rohingya Arakanese Refugee Committee stated, “We are trying to call on the international community, especially the UN, to send peacekeeping forces to mediate. Thousands of Rohingya are displaced, the wounded can’t get medication, it’s a crisis.”

President Thein Sein declared a state of emergency in the coastal region of the Rakhine state Sunday, June 10. Police were forced to fire shots into the air on Tuesday June 12 in order to disperse a rioting Rohingya group that was burning houses in Sittwe. As of the following day, there were soldiers patrolling the streets of Sittwe preventing individuals from carrying weapons and setting fire to houses.

Soldiers are also helping groups of Rohingya Muslims escape from Sittwe to Thae Chaung village since many individuals’ houses have burned down. The presence of soldiers in Sittwe seems to be calming the violence and residents since, according to Reuters’ reporters, more people are leaving their homes.

The 800,000 Rohingya Muslims living in Myanmar claim to be from the Rakhine region but they have been persecuted by the Myanmar government for years and are still not recognized as citizens, according to the United Nations. Instead the Myanmar government claims the Rohingya Muslims are from Bangladesh and are illegal immigrants; however, the Bangladesh government will not accept them as citizens either. During the 1990s around 250,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh to escape the persecution of the Myanmar government. The Bangladesh government eventually stopped letting the Rohingyas into the country in 1992.

Recently three boats carrying about one thousand Rohingya Muslims tried to enter Bangladesh to flee the current violence but were turned away. Around thirty Rohingyas actually managed to enter Bangladesh ten of whom were injured in the rioting violence in Myanmar and are being treated.

In the past year or so Myanmar has been working to end decades of military rule and economic isolation; however these riots and other recent conflicts have somewhat stalled its efforts. There have been several protests over recent months due to power cuts and workers have also blocked access to twelve mines in Mandalay Division because of bad labor conditions and job cuts.

The military junta in Myanmar ruled the country for decades and heavily supported  the ethnic majority of Burmans over the minority groups in the country. According to Jan Zalewski, a South Asia analyst with IHD Global Insight based in London, “the rest, the non-Burmans, were pretty much persecuted.” Zalewski also suggests a reason for the recent protests and violence during these government reforms. “As you reform and open up the media, people have an opportunity to vent their anger over everything that’s sitting quite deep. So you increase the polarization between groups.”

President Sein was elected with the backing of the military but he has worked to get rid of many of the former, oppressive policies and has worked toward the pro-democracy movement advocated by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former political prisoner Auug San Suu Kyi. Myanmar’s government over the past year has released political prisoners, held free elections, and signed peace deals with rebel minority groups; several Western governments that have previously left Myanmar in economic isolation have relaxed economic sanctions with these changes.

Some have been worried that the government will use this outbreak of violence as an excuse to tighten control again. However the European Union announced that it was ‘satisfied’ with the response by the Myanmar government, possibly implying that they believe the government has not overstepped its bounds during this crisis.

The United States Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton also made a statement saying, “We urge the people of Burma to work together toward a peaceful, prosperous and democratic country that respects the rights of all its diverse people.”

Although the violence seems to be calming, the International Crisis Group, a non-governmental research organization, warns, “How the government handles this case will be a major test of the police and courts in a country that has just begun to emerge from an authoritarian past. It will also test the government’s will and capacity to reverse a longstanding policy of discrimination toward the Muslim Rohingya.”

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New Dehli, India – In a national event organized by Pehchan, Hijras highlight discrimination and demand equality for their community.

Stakeholders from government, media, policy bodies, the transgender and hijra community, and civil society came together on June 2nd for the first National Hijra Habba. The event was organized by Pehchan, a five-year program that strengthens and builds the capacity of 200 community-based organizations in 17 states to advance HIV prevention. The national consultation discussed efforts to achieve equality for transgenders and hijras and drew attention to the significant challenges faced by these communities.

Addressing the event, Gauri Sawant, General Secretary, Transgender and Hijra Welfare Board, Maharashtra, said, “In India, cases of violence go unreported as the present social and legal environment is oppressive towards transgender persons and hijras. Due to their different gender identity, they are denied opportunities to earn a living, to study, and to access health services. Even changing their names and sex in official documents is not easy.”

Pehchan collaborates with India’s National AIDS Control Program and would reach 453,750 MSM (males who have sex with males), transgenders and hijras by 2015 and is the Global Fund’s largest single-country grant to date focused on the HIV response for vulnerable sexual minorities.

Held at Vishwa Yuvak Kendra in New Delhi, the Hijra Habba included speeches, experience sharing and community performances by leaders from transgender and hijra community. In-depth discussions were held on issues including social entitlements, legal status, violence, economic vulnerabilities, and feminization.

At the heart of the event was the development of an action plan for advocacy for the next three years on priority issues for these communities. Ms. Aradhana Johri, Additional Secretary, National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), affirmed the importance of these populations to the national HIV prevention strategy and acknowledged the need for continued effort to control the epidemic among transgenders and hijras.

According to James Robertson, Country Director, India HIV/AIDS Alliance, “India has been a global leader in defining an effective HIV prevention response for transgenders and hijras. The world has much to learn from this example. While progress has been made, the journey towards equality for transgenders and hijras is not yet over.”

The India HIV/AIDS Alliance (Alliance India) is a partnership that brings together organizations and communities to support a sustained response to HIV in India. Complementing the national program in India, it works through capacity building, knowledge sharing, technical support and advocacy. Through a network of partners, Alliance India supports the delivery of community-based HIV programs to key groups affected by the epidemic.

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As technology advances at such a rapid pace, government regulations of censorship of the internet are cracking down just as fast. In recent weeks, an anonymous group has begun attacking the Indian government in retaliation of the government blocking citizens from using certain websites.

The websites that have been banned to the public thus far include, “YouTube, Vimeo (a video sharing website), Pastebin (a web application that allows users to write a large amount of text for public viewing), Daily Motion (another video sharing website) and The Pirate Bay (a Swedish website that allows users to download music, movies, games, software, etc), all in an effort to fight online piracy,” says Reporter DJ Pangburn.

Internet censorship has become a global issue. Is it perhaps that governments in various countries don’t want their citizens to see certain things on websites? Pangburn uses examples of the growth of censorship by mentioning that, “of course, it isn’t right to steal and distribute content, but it’s also not right to resort to draconian, Orwellian measures that empower governments to control the Internet.

Indeed, this architecture of control could be used for any variety of measures to stop what the government doesn’t want Internet users to see. This Internet censorship effort is truly global, with various treaties, executive agreements and UN proposals such as one currently being pushed by Russia, Iran and China that would have the UN implement an Internet code of conduct and create a superstructure to manage it all.”

The group ‘Anonymous’ keeps their identity concealed by wearing decorated masks or cloth to cover everything but their eyes. The group is communicating with the Indian government and the rest of the world through a program on the internet they created called ‘Anonymous Operations.’

On their website, the group recently announced they “had taken down the Indian Supreme Court and All India Congressional websites, as well as the Department of Telecommunications with the hacking collective accusing the Indian government of censorship and corruption in the form of bribery,” says Pangburn.

A member of India’s Upper House, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, wrote a letter to India’s Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, expressing his opposition over India’s recent attempt to control the Internet through a United Nations committee. He wrote that, “any attempt to expand government’s power over the Internet should be turned back,” according to his website, Death & Taxes.

‘Anonymous’ chose June 9 as the protest day for the censorship of the internet in India. Several protest sites have already been announced including Mumbai, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Indore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kochi, Kozhikode, Nagpur and Pune, according to the Times of India.

‘Anonymous’ has made a statement in regard to what they are hoping for as a result of the protests, but wants it to be known that they have no plans of this becoming a violent retaliation against the government. In the groups press release they stated, “this is to be a 100% Non-Violent Civil rights protest,” and encouraging “any one who feels they need this movement needs to be in their city can start a FB page for the Occupy City movement and let us know about it.”

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BANGKOK, Thailand – Despite the devastating floods that hit Thailand in 2011, forcing a freeze in automotive and computer chip manufacturing critical to the global supply chain, the country’s GDP is expected to reach six percent this year according to the Bank of Thailand.

In fact, the latest Bloomberg Emerging Markets (www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-22/thailand-proving-best-after-china-among-global-emerging-markets.html) report ranked Thailand second only to China as one of the most-promising emerging and frontier markets for investors. Thailand was also ranked as the easiest place to do business of all top 15 emerging markets in the study.

Thailand’s government has invested over $11 billion in future flood defenses to protect the country’s infrastructure which plays a significant role in attracting major investments from the world’s most innovative companies, including GE, Ford, Kraft and Pfizer. The Thailand Board of Investment, the government’s investment promotion agency, recently reported that despite flooding, foreign investment applications for Thailand increased by 92 percent year-over-year in the first two months of 2012, to over $5 billion.

“Thailand’s strategic location at the center of Asia is an asset that will only increase as the new industrial economies and their populations’ GDP and purchasing power rise,” said Atchaka Sibunruang, Secretary-General of the Thailand Board of Investment.

“Our country’s world-class infrastructure is comprised of well-developed supply chains for automotive and technology manufacturing and our workforce has a knowledge base in those industries that has advanced for decades. These strong economic fundamentals will continue to solidify Thailand as a leading economic power in the future.”

Thailand’s strengths lie in its position as the largest car manufacturer in Southeast Asia and the producer of around 40 percent of the world’s computer hard disk drives. The country’s vast natural resources have also made it the world’s top producer of rubber, the second largest exporter of sugar and the top rice exporter. These assets, along with quick access to 575 million of Southeast Asia’s consumers, make the country a prime investment location for multinationals in the decades ahead.

With manufacturing expected to fully recover to pre-flood levels by the end of the second quarter, and domestic and export markets on the rebound from the global financial crisis, Thailand’s location at the center of Asia’s rapidly expanding consumer market looks ever more attractive to future investors.

For more information about the Thailand Board of Investment, visit www.thinkasiainvestthailand.com.

Image Courtesy of  Wutthichai / Shutterstock.com

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During a recent investigation carried out for BBC World Service and Radio 4, Natalia Antelava gathered direct evidence of what seems to be a state-run secret program of forced sterilization in Uzbekistan. Uzbek women victims of sterilization and doctors gave their own account to the BBC journalist, uncovering the details of this absurd secret policy pursued by the ex-Soviet state.

Bakhor, a 32-year-old Uzbek woman, said that for some months after she gave birth to her second baby she “kept bleeding heavy black lumps, and the pain was unbearable.” She understood something was wrong, but she could not imagine what it was. Then, when she was able to afford an ultrasound check, the shocking news was unveiled. She had had a hysterectomy during the cesarean section. The doctor explained to her, “You don’t have a uterus anymore” and added “What do you need more children for? You already have two.”

The same thing happened to Adolat. She always dreamed of having four children, but after her second daughter she realized she could not get pregnant. When she consulted a doctor, she found out she had been sterilized during the cesarean section when giving birth to her daughter.

“I was shocked. I cried and asked: ‘But why? How could they do this?’ The doctor said, ‘That’s the law in Uzbekistan,’” she said. Nigora, 24, is another victim. She had an emergency cesarean section, and the day after, her baby died. She was also told she was sterilized, and now she will not be able to have children.

These are just some of the hundreds of stories of the victims who have been surgically sterilized without their knowledge or consent under the Uzbek regime’s abominable policy. It is very likely that the majority of these stories will remain obscure and that most of the victims are still unaware of what happened to them, especially those in the rural areas.

The first reports of forced sterilization cases in Uzbekistan emerged in 2005, when the pathologist Gulbakhor Turaeva gathered evidence of around 200 uterus removals. This practice became a state policy only in 2009, although it seems to have originated in the late ’90s. Instead of promoting contraceptive methods, the government adopted forced sterilization and reproductive organs removal as a means of birth control and to curb fertility.

President Islam Karimov introduced the surgical contraception policy under presidential decree PP-1096 called “On additional measures to protect the health of the mother and child, the formation of a healthy generation.” The Ministry of Health argues that the sterilization program is intended to control the country’s growing population and, also, that it is carried out only on a voluntary basis, with the consent of both parents and after specialist consultation. The government strongly denies allegations of forced mass sterilization and says it has “nothing to do with reality.”

Nevertheless, doctors and medical professionals who were interviewed stated the opposite. They said that over the last few years, the number of cesarean sections has dramatically increased in relation to the practice of sterilization. Cesarean birth “makes it very easy to perform sterilization and tie the fallopian tubes,” said an Uzbek surgeon at a hospital near Tashkent.

There is an official directive not to let the birth rate rise above a certain figure, and doctors have a quota for the women to sterilize each month. There is a plan for each district health department, and doctors are ordered to persuade women and convince them about sterilization procedures.

“On paper, sterilizations should be voluntary, but women don’t really get a choice,” stated a doctor. “It’s very easy to manipulate a woman, especially if she is poor. You can say that her health will suffer if she has more children. You can tell her that sterilization is best for her. Or you can just do the operation.”

The doctors who fail to reach their quota risk reprisal and fines, so because of this, they often opt for sterilization during cesarean sections. Under the pressure of a dictatorial government, doctors become party to an abhorrent crime of which women are the victims, being unconsciously mutilated and slaughtered like animals.

While the world keeps a deafening silence, and Western countries pretend not to care for lurking interests and economic ties, you can take action, and sign the petition of Avaaz  to call U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to publicly condemn Uzbekistan’s forced sterilization and human rights violation. It is time to break the silence.

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Beauty is an immeasurable entity every girl possesses, and to what extent she would like to maintain or enhance it depends on how she sees herself. Every community has its secrets, the bad and good alike. For instance, the Bangladeshi Brothel workers consume steroids used to fatten cows on a daily basis in order to look healthier and more attractive.

Andrew Biraj of Reuters reported that around 900 prostitutes, some of which are teenagers, are forced to take the steroid “Oradexon”, also known as “Dexamethasone” by their madams or “sardarnis”, to increase their weight and improve their appearance. Despite health risks, such as liver damage, skin rashes, and high blood pressure, sex workers do not regret consuming Oradexon.

“I don’t worry about the health risks because I have a son. I take Oradexon, and I have good customers, and I have made quite a good future for my son. If I die because of taking Oradexon, I won’t have any remorse because my son is all set,” Ranu, a brothel worker, said.

According to BBC News, most sex workers, called “chukris”, join the brothel unwillingly; they have either been kidnapped or sold by their poor families. Chukris usually start work at an average age of 14, where they can deal with up to 15 clients per day with rates as little as 50 taka (60 U.S. cents), according to Reuters.

The steroid Oradexon is an over-the-counter drug used by humans to cure inflammation and allergies and by farmers to fatten their cattle. The drug is readily available and sold for 15 taka (18 U.S. cents).  The charity ActionAid has been running awareness campaigns against the drug since 2010. However, without the government’s support, they fear that it will not be able to have a major impact.

Once women become sex workers and start working at brothels, they are viewed as social outcasts and an embarrassment to their families. BBC’s Claudia Hammond reported that some families stop searching for their kidnapped daughters only after a week because they are afraid their daughters were sold to a brothel. She also mentioned that around 350 children live at brothels and hide under beds when clients visit. The average accommodation given to a sex worker is a room with a TV, fan, and double bed.

Bangladesh is one of the few Islamic countries that have legalized prostitution. “Bangladesh is a poor country, and the women who live in brothels are the poorest. Nobody helps us, but we sex workers need help. People are only interested in us when they can exploit us,” said Aklima Begum Akhi, the head of the Tangail Sex Worker’s Association.

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A Bangladeshi labor rights activist and former apparel worker was tortured and murdered last week in Dhaka. His body was dumped outside of the capital city and was found by local police last Thursday. According to the police report, Aminul Islam’s body bore signs of brutal torture.

Aminul’s family, who had been searching for him since he disappeared last Wednesday, identified him on Saturday from photos appearing in local newspapers. Labor rights organizations in Bangladesh and the United States believe the killing is associated with Aminul’s work on behalf of apparel workers who sew garments for suppliers to major U.S. retailers and brands

Aminul had worked for several years as a labor rights organizer and advocate. His organization is among the most prominent labor rights groups in the country. Levi Strauss called BCWS “a globally respected labor rights organization that has played a vital role in documenting and working to remedy labor violations in the apparel industry in Bangladesh.”

The Bangladeshi Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS) was featured in a recent ABC TV News story (http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/workers-die-factories-tommy-hilfiger/story?id=15966305) exposing the relationship of U.S. brands to a sweatshop factory fire in Dhaka that killed twenty-nine workers last year, and describing the repression of labor rights advocates.

BCWS and its staff have been the target of a campaign of harassment by the Bangladeshi government and apparel factory owners for two years. The organization’s license to operate was revoked and Aminul and two of his colleagues were jailed in 2010. Their release was secured only after international pressure.

Aminul had disappeared Wednesday evening on his way to meet a worker who had called him seeking assistance. Aminul’s family and friends searched for him until Saturday, when his wife recognized a photograph of his body, published in a local newspaper.

Aminul had been detained by officials of the National Intelligence Service (NSI) in June 2010. According to Aminul, he was subjected to severe and repeated beatings, which his captors said would stop only if he agreed to give false testimony against his colleagues at BCWS.

The NSI officials demanded that he write a letter stating that his colleagues were the instigators of recent worker protests, which had resulted in damage to some factory buildings. Aminul refused. While being transported to another location, he managed to escape his captors and went into hiding.

Later that year, Aminul and two colleagues, Kalpona Akhter and Babul Akter, were arrested and jailed on charges of fomenting riots and related acts – charges regarded as baseless by international labor and human rights organizations. They were released only after substantial international pressure on the Bangladesh government and they still face trials.

On Wednesday of last week, after working during the day at BCWS’s office in Savar, Aminul went to evening prayers. While there, he noticed a police van parked outside. Fearing harassment or arrest he called a colleague to say that they should close the BCWS office for the day.

Aminul then returned to his home. Later in the evening, he received a call from a worker urgently seeking assistance. He left home to meet the worker and was never heard from again. Labor rights organizations in the U.S. and Bangladesh are calling for a full investigation of the murder and for those responsible to be brought to justice.

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In honor of World Water Day, The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) initiated a campaign to raise US$25,000 in matching funds to support The Adventure Project (TAP) effort to provide sustainable water services to almost a million people in West Bengal and the District of Sheohar in Bihar, India.

The TAP vision is to train mechanics to repair wells in rural India, where over one third of wells drilled in the past 20 years are in disrepair. TAP set an ambitious goal to fund the training and initial supplying of 186 mechanics who could help sustain a clean water source for close to a million people.

Like any machinery with moving parts, wells with pumps need maintenance every few months to avoid costly breakdowns. Each mechanic can service up to 50 wells, providing water for an estimated 5,000 people. In the end, TPRF exceeded its goal, raising $27,643, an amount that will train and supply 50 mechanics and help an estimated quarter of a million people.

TPRF helped to fund a similar TAP project last year in the state of Bihar. “These mechanics are now operating in a self-sustaining mode,” said Linda Pascotto, President of TPRF. “The goal of this year’s campaign is similar, but on a wider scale,” Pascotto continued. “The aim is to help provide jobs, training and tools to hire mechanics, each of whom works as an entrepreneur to maintain and fix wells. In addition, TAP provides a one-year stipend to help each mechanic launch his or her business.”

Training mechanics to service wells is part of TAP’s goal to create a million jobs over 10 years in developing countries worldwide. TAP was established to increase investments in positive social enterprises around the world, according to founders Becky Straw and Jody Landers.

“I cannot thank TPRF enough,” Straw said, “for all their support, inspiration and shared belief in investing with dignity.”

About The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF)
The Prem Rawat Foundation promotes Prem Rawat’s message of peace and his vision of addressing fundamental human needs so that people everywhere can live with dignity, peace and prosperity. For more information, visit: www.tprf.org.

Image Courtesy of  Pal Teravagimov / Shutterstock.com

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India’s finance minister, Pranab Mukharjee, recently presented the union budget for the 2012-2013 fiscal year in Parliament, amid sky-high inflation, deep fiscal deficits, lagging economic growth, unemployment, and of course, dwindling expectations for subsidies.

Almost 21 years after India opened its markets, the country adopted new industrial polices and moved on to a new economic model.  Unfortunately, India still lacks a strategy for stable economic growth. The term ‘stable economic growth’ generally refers to the economic growth rate of a country; it should not be like a roller-coaster ride. The term ‘even growth rate’ implies a situation where all the sectors in the economy move in a unified fashion.

The Indian government is currently stuck between the ongoing problem of fiscal deficit, and the continued expectations of subsidies by the people. This is because the revenue of the government does not correspond with what it spends.

To get through, taxes are usually increased but this will inevitably only tighten the shackles, because an increase in tax rates usually leads to a decline in consumption and further weakening of economic growth. This has come at a time when global economic conditions are not conducive for any such action that hampers growth.

Budget Highlights

Total expenditure in 2012-13 is projected at INR 14.9 trillion, an increase of 29 percent compared to last year. The major subsidies bill is estimated at INR 1.87 trillion while headline inflation is expected to get moderate in the next few months.

The income tax exemption limit rose from INR 180,000 to INR 200,000, which is at the upper limit of the 20 percent tax slab, which rose from 8 lakh to 10 lakh. Amendments of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM) as part of the finance bill has been proposed.

Central government subsidies are to be kept under 2 percent of GDP, which implies subsidies may be hammered down in the future. Almost INR 15,900 crore have been provided for capitalization of public sector banks and other financial institutions, while investment under a 12th five-year plan increased up to INR 50,00,000 crore and half of this is expected to come from private sector. Allocations for road transport and the highways ministry was enhanced by 14 percent; the target for agriculture credit was raised to INR 575,000 crore.

The fiscal deficit of the central government is likely to reach 5.9 percent of the GDP for the year ending March 2012 and for the next fiscal year, the finance minister projects it would fall to 5.1 percent.

Certainty of Slow Economic Growth

The only thing that can be done to calm down asymmetric budgets in India, or anywhere else in the world, is to bring austerity, the systematic reduction of spending in order to reduce the burden of interest on borrowings and fiscal deficit. But ironically, fiscal authorities have chosen a different path in these turbulent times that will hamper growth and unemployment among other factors.

When the growth rate of Indian economy was revised to 7 percent from more than 8 percent in 2010-11, this showed that the pace of economic growth has been badly affected, while increase in service tax from 10 percent to 12 percent along with excise tax to 12 percent, it will derail economic growth.

Inflation in India for the last three to four years has become part of life. People rely on subsidies for cooking, gas, diesel, and petrol. Unemployment is also largely dependent on outsourcing and while income levels are relatively stagnant, the signalled increase in indirect taxes will make life even harder to sustain.

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The multiplicity of global economic complexity of the recent past and a fragile economic future has led the Asian economic linchpin, China, to cut its growth forecast. Recently, the country cut its economic growth rate to 7.5 percent from its previous 8 percent, which had been in place since 2005.

Premier Wen Jiabao, in his annual state of the union, announced at the National People’s Congress in Beijing that the government has a gross domestic product target of 7.5 this year. This is the lowest economic growth target for China since 2004.

Across the board, there are plenty of problems that may impart great damage on the Chinese economy. Starting with a decline in European services and manufacturing output, a fall in US factory orders for the first time in three months, and an impending Greek debt storm, China is going through a radical demographic makeover.

The main suspect for this turnaround in growth forecast is the debt crisis in Europe and the US. This is because there is an iron-strong connection between what China produces and with whom it exchanges goods.

Demand for Chinese goods declined in troubled economies due to falling employment, diminishing domestic production, dragging corporate profits, high borrowing costs for the government, and perhaps only a few ways to get out of it. After years of a torrid growth rate of at least 9 percent, China needs better quality development over a longer period of time. Economists and investors agree that China is now entering a new era of slower growth rate, where the 8 percent growth figure is no longer important.

On the other hand, what happens in China does not stay in China. China had been the number one trading partner for most Asian countries, and a declining economy for the dragon will hit many Asian economies negatively. On the face of it, Chinese commodity imports may slow down, impacting economies from Australia to Brazil.

Interconnections at the global economic platform have created a scenario where it is legitimately impossible to imagine escaping from these  events.  It is ubiquitous that a lower phase of GDP growth in China will diminish import demand in the country, affecting economies or trading partners directly.

In a globalized environment, interconnection is interdependence. Suppose, for example, X is partly independent, and Y and Z are mostly dependent on X.

Any event that has a direct forbearance on Y and Z that takes place in X will for sure impact both Y and Z. In this case, export-oriented economies, like Australia, whose economic growth was derived from fast and partly unfettered GDP run-up in China, will suffer. On the face of it, prices of copper, gold, and the Australian dollar have fallen immediately after the announcement in Beijing, mining stocks in the Australian stock exchange felt headwinds, and the region’s stock market closed on a weak note.

Gerard Lyons, chief economist at Standard Chartered Bank in London, stated, “What the authorities are trying to do is to move from strong to sustainable rates of growth. No one is quite clear where sustainable is, but clearly, it’s one that’s slower than we’ve seen in the recent past.”

At the end, we could say there is a possibility of radical economic transformation in China, emphasizing development, rather than an erratic chase for economic growth.

Image Courtesy of  BartlomiejMagierowski / Shutterstock.com

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On Tuesday, troops at a NATO military base in Afghanistan mistakenly burned copies of the holy Quran, triggering angry protests and resulting in the deaths of seven people. This all started when Afghan workers saw soldiers throwing books in a quarry, where garbage was being burned and noted that Qurans, among other religious materials, were in the midst of the trash. More than 2,000 Afghans have protested, shouting, “Die, die, foreigners!”

The clashes emphasize the U.S. targeted resentment in Afghanistan as protests across four eastern provinces exemplified the strength of Afghans’ anger at what they perceive as foreigners breaking their laws and insulting their culture. Despite having top American officials apologize to Mr. Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, the Afghans did not calm down.

The Associated Press quoted Mohammad Hakim, saying, “They should leave Afghanistan, rather than disrespecting our religion, our faith; they have to leave, and if next time they disrespect our religion, we will defend our holy Quran, religion, and faith until the last drop of blood has left in our body.”

News sources reported that investigations have been launched to determine why soldiers were ordered to destroy Islamic books from the detention center’s library. Mohammad Shaker told the Associated Press that he first heard of the Quran burning on Tuesday and decided to storm the streets with his friends on Wednesday after fajr/morning prayers. “This is not the first time they’re doing these things. They are killing civilians and taking photos of them.

Every day, they kill civilians with airstrikes. We can’t accept their crimes in our country,” Shaker said. According to CNN News, Obama apologized to Mr. Karzai, referring to the act as “inadvertent”. In a letter delivered by Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Obama said, “We will take the appropriate steps to avoid any recurrence, including holding accountable those responsible.”

Anayatullah Baligh, an Afghan religious scholar said, “I can’t tell you whether Americans intentionally burned the copies of the holy Quran to make Muslims angry, or if they did it mistakenly, but their carelessness was a crime they have committed against the holiest book of two billion Muslims around the world.”

Mr. Karzai supported the demonstrations and said, “The people have the right to protest peacefully, but I appeal to my countrymen not to resort to violence.” According to initial Afghan government reports, four copies of the holy Quran were burned before the fire was extinguished. Protesters have burned down American flags and yelled “Death to America” in retaliation.

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