Women in the Colony, Prabha Khetan and Nuclear Patriarchy

Women in the Colony, Prabha Khetan and Nuclear Patriarchy

Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 78


Palash Biswas

kolkata has Invoked nuclear Durga this time. Though the media describes the Dream is dead just because Tata said TA TA to Singur. The Telegraph pasted Ratan Tata on its mast head. Media news break and headlines cried and accused against singled out Mamta Bannerjee as she did not allow the Goddess of Indigenous Mass destruction, the joy ride of Nano as has been hyped for!

In Bangladesh,the five-day long Durga Puja, the largest religious festival of HinduS begins today through the Mahashashthi puja.

Around 22,000 mandaps have been set up in the country including 165 in Dhaka on the occasion.

Leaders of Bangladesh Puja Udjapon Parishad said the government has taken adequate measures to ensure security at the Puja Mandap areas in the city.

The Mahashashthi puja begins at 9:58am across the country, following Bodhon preparations.

Durga Puja is observed in sync with the moon's movement. The fortnight long puja begin as the Mahalaya marks the homecoming of the goddess a week before Bodhon.

The five-day long festivity and prayers begin on the sixth day of the full moon phase and ends on the Dashami or tenth day.

Goddess Durga, the slayer of Mahishashur, is lion-borne and wields an array of arms including kripan, chakra, gada, and bow and arrow in her ten hands.

The goddess descends on earth today -- the Mahashashthi, accompanied by her children Ganesh, Kartik, Lakshmi and Saraswati, at the invocation and supplication of the devotees and stays on earth for the next four days. The days this year are Mahasaptami on Monday, Mahashtami on Tuesday, Mahanabami on Wednesday and Bijaya Dashami on Thursday.

On Bijaya Dashami, goddess Durga leaves the earth -- on a Dola (palanquin) this year -- after slaying all evil forces and blessing the devotees. On this day devotees pray for her appearance on earth again after a year and also ask for forgiveness from her.

Preparations are already set for the event. Devotees will assemble at the mandaps today and make offerings to the goddess Durga. These offerings will later be distributed among people.

The main Puja mandap in the capital is at Dhakeshwari National Temple. Large mandaps have also been built at Jagannath Hall of Dhaka University, the Ramkrishna Mission, Ramna Kali Mondir, Siddheshwari Kali Mondir, Tanti Bazar, Shankhari Bazar, Bangla Bazar, and at Mohakhali and Farmgate.


"We have lost everything" was the anguished cry of villagers in this rural pocket of West Bengal's Hooghly district on Saturday, a day after the Tatas pulled out the Nano project from the area.

in Chennai, Sourav Ganguly, who supported CPIM and tatas desparately to save his brand image, failed to get the match practice that he desperately sought ahead of the opening Test against Australia after being dismissed for just 14 runs!

KOLKATA: Kolkata Knight Riders owner Shah Rukh Khan on Saturday hailed Sourav Ganguly's selection to the Test squad and said he was happy for the for
mer Indian skipper.

"I feel happy for Sourav Ganguly," Khan told reporters on the sidelines of his first meeting with the new Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) President Jagmohan Dalmiya.

"I am a Kolkata Knight Rider, so be it Sourav (Ganguly), Ajantha (Mendis) or (Brendon) McCullum... it makes me happy when any of our players do well. We have already started our next season preparation (in Australia), and we are upbeat about our good show next season," he added.


On the other hand, landing in New Delhi, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has indicated that while the US would honour its commitments to India regarding their civil nuclear deal, the contentious Hyde Act would come into play if India tests again.

Reflecting global financial Crisis, The Sensex ended lower for the second straight week on the back of significant weakness in metal and energy stocks. The index moved in a range of 1050, and finally settled with a loss of 4.4 per cent (576 points) at 12526.

The Manmohan Singh government on Friday moved in swiftly to stem the growing discontent within the armed forces over the severe anomalies in the execution of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations by creating 1896 new top-level posts in ...

Meanwhile, Union home minister Shivraj Patil has asked the Orissa governor for a report on whether the state needs to be put under President's rule!

The government on Friday cleared the raising of income limit for the ‘creamy layer’-OBCs who would fall outside the purview of reservation!


I have to write on Prabha Khetan who would have been more relevant if she had survived!


In one of her interviews Michele Roberts says that because she had been "a Catholic and the body is very scorned in Catholicism-particularly the female body-(she) wanted to rescue the body and cherish it and love it and touch it and smell it and make it into language" with "a feminist urge" and that has become her sole "political reason" to write. That is to say, like Jonathan Swift in Gulliver's Travels, Roberts too, applies a method which makes use of the human body as an object as a means of analysing the social order. She is one of those writers who can look accurately into human anatomy while seeing a parallelism between social and sexual politics and therefore opens up the human body for discussion. Like Swift, Roberts is a satirist whose work is marked with farcical comedy. The strategy of her satire is based on religious fanaticism and sexual degradation of women.

At this point, however, one has to remember her catholic background: as is the case with every other writer whose writing becomes a product of his/her past. Roberts is also a product of her own Catholic past no matter how much she rebels against it. Like a good Catholic, she cannot help giving that gloomy, fatalistic message to the world...

Uttara team sent me an email to write a comment on the working Women as a Male. They sent me a questionair to answer.

I could not respond immediately.

Death of Prabha Khetan stunned me! Famous Hindi poetess and litraraturist and novelist Prabha Ketan is no more. She died on 21st september, o8, after heart attack in Amri Hospital, Salt Lake, Kolkota. She was 66.

Global women.biz provides current topical information on the topic of Women and International business travel and success. Dr. Tracey Wilen-Daugenti, founder, is the author of China for Businesswomen, Mexico for Women in Business, International Business: A Basic Guide for Women, Europe for Women in Business, and co-author of Asia for Woman in Business, Doing Business with Japanese Men, and Doing Business with Western Women (Tokyo Only). She has published numerous articles, chapters, and essays on International business. She holds a Doctorate and MBA in International Business and continues as an active volunteer for Globalwomen.biz.
Prabha khetan belonged to this world but she never forgot her roots. She dealt the social fabrics of Marwari Samaj in her novels while she dealt with Imperialism and fascism in her prose quite contrarily to her business links!

Mahasheta Devi wrote on my novel `Amerika Se Savdhan’ recently in Dainik Hindustan. But it was Prabha Khetan, who insisted to publish the interactive Novel while it was being serially published in Dainik Awaz simultaneously from Dhanbad and Jamshedpur.

I met Mahashweta Devi in Dhanbad way back in 1980. Since then, she has been very instrumental to decide my stance on various issues. Though, we have some very serious differences. I often complain her detachment with the issues of Scheduled castes, OBC and Refugees. I owe my commitment to nationalities only to her. Despite all this we seldom meet. We are based in the same city, where as an editorial team of Bhasha Bandhan we used to meet almost daily. But I am more concerned with my underprivileged, deprived, persecuted and repressed Indigenous Black Untouchable Aboriginal people worldwide. Thus, I often try to avoid her. Nevertheless, Mahashweta Devi remains the Lighthouse of my activist life!

Mahasweta Devi is an eminent Indian Bengali writer, who has been studying and writing incessantly about the life and struggles faced by the tribal communities in the states like Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Mahasweta Devi was born in 1926 in the city of Dacca in East Bengal (modern day Bangladesh). As an adolescent, she and her family moved to West Bengal in India. Born into a literary family, Mahasweta Devi was also influenced by her early association with Gananatya, a group who attempted to bring social and political theater to rural villages in Bengal in the 1930’s and 1940’s.Some of her writings will undoubtedly overcome the barriers of time and live in people’s minds, for years to come. Bioscoper Baksho, Aranyer Adhikar, Hajar Churashir Ma, Chatti Munda O Tar Tir are considered to be her masterpieces. She has also contributed to Economic and Political Weekly, Business Standard and other magazines. In her life she has been honoured with a number of literary awards including the prestigious Gyanpith award for literature in 1996.

THE SINGUR blockade had the backing of many intellectual and environmental activists – right from Mahasweta Devi to Medha Patkar to Vandana Shiva; unfortunately, they are being branded as anti-national, corrupt and anti-development activists.

I met another woman of international significance who belongs to the same roots as I belong too! Taslima Nasreen! I read almost all of her works. I interviewed her. We shared our ideas. She, in fact, sounds like a Marxist when she cries against Religion! She is not anti Muslim, as portrayed all over. Neither she happens to be an atheist. She is a Human Right Activist of the finest kind. She emphasises that no human or civil right is possible until the Religion, all religions wither away. Taslima identifies and singles out Religion because it sustains the Global patriarchy. I met Taslima several times and always stood with her against her persecution. But I may not pass her in her creative works as well. she does not belong to the Women`s lib Movement, we know. But in her creative works, novels and poems she focuses on the Body of the women. Bengali young writers generation from Mandakranta to Sangeeta and Tilottama follow the line and turns out to be soft or hard Porn Writers! just because they have not struggled as taslima Struggled. Just because they may dare not to launch a n all out campaign against patriarchy and religion! She is persecuted because she may not be tamed in the way the patriarchy has been taming woman for thousands and thousands years! I know, these are the causes why Mahashweta Devi also supports her.

Controversial writer Taslima Nasreen, who has avoided public glare for long, made an appearance at a function in New Delhi where she said women are in better condition in India than their counterparts in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Taslima Nasreen said women are oppressed across the globe.

"But the degree of oppression varies from region to region and country to country. Women face various types of oppression due to social and religious factors," she said.

"I think women are oppressed everywhere. But in India they are far better off than women in Pakistan and Bangladesh," Nasreen said.

The oppression is due to tradition, culture, custom and religion, she said. Every country should make efforts towards women empowerment, the writer said.


I had been knowing Madhu Kishwar and Manushi since my Dhanbad days. i had been knowing Brinda karat since those days while she was involved in Mahtosh More movement in late eighties with Uttarakhand Pragatisheel Mahila Samiti!

I am acquainted with Maitrayee Pushpa, the eminent woman writer well recognised for her dalitology. I know many of the women writers and some of them have been my excellent friends. My friends in the Ladies` circle never betrayed me. They are more genuine in personal relationship , I felt this always.

I have been keen reader of writers like Pearl Buck, Kurtul En Haider, Amrita Preetam, Krishna Sobati, Aashapurna Devi,Selina Hussein and all classics written by women! I also read Suchitra Bhattacharya, Baani Basu,Madhu Kankria, Urmila Sireesh and the Indian writers like Pratibha roy, Arundhuti Roy, Jhumpa Lahiri, indira goswami and so on.

Prabha khetan was always different. I was not impressed with her novels like Chhinnamasta, Peelee Aandhi, Apne Apne Chehre and so on. But I was astonished to see her works on Sartre and issues involving woman inthe colony! She was quite different from others.

She also led Industries and had been the Vice President of Kolkata chambers of commerce. She had factories in karnataka. I was never sure at any point of time where to locate her.

` Why and how, you happen to be academically so sound?’

I asked her once. She just smiled!

Prabha khetan was associated with Janwadi Lekhak Sangh. She had friends like Biman bose, the Left Front Chairman, Pabitra sarkar and Indranath Chowdhari, everyone belonging to the Ruling Hegemony! I know that she was offered CPIM party ticket from Chowrangee. she rejected just because she was well aware of her identity as a Creative writer! I also know that Bimanda, as we call him for hispersonal integrity, honesty and commitment, was pressing her to accept Rajyasabha seat for CPIM. She had powerful links and never misused. it was the Real Prabha Khetan who paid renumerations for Hans contributors and helped everyone she used to know.


We became friends, I was fortunate. But long before she knew me, she gave me Rs, ten thousands while my wife was to undergo open heart surgery and I was quite unknown in Kolkata. Just she knew my friends Arvind chaturved, a poet and Kripa Shankar Choube, she decided to help me. Shaym Acharya, Jansatta editor advised me not to worry. I had not the money to pay fee when we consulted the Cardeologist Dr Coraria. Acharya Jee offered the money and the doctor refused. Mahaveer Prasad Rawat contacted the Marwari Samaj and got the money for Open heart surgery. Acharya Jee and Rawat jee also managed the Post operation expenditure. Indian Express employees contributed Rs fifteen thousand and Press Club stood with me.

Dr Devi Shetty Operated and refused to charge the Fees! My Residential area Amarawati people donated Blood along with my friends Manoj Kumar, Mahendra Roy and Pramod kumar.

On 21 st June, 1995 savita underwent Open Heart surgery in BM Birla Heart Research centre. It was raining all the night. Dr Shetty wanted to do it immediately after he saw the patient. But it was late in night and the Blood Bank was closed.
Savita suffered from LA Myxoma, a tumour in the Heart! dr Devi Shetty,Dr MD Dexit and Dr L kapor made the surgergical team. Anesthesia was given by Dr S. Bagchi and Dr sanjay!

My son Tussu was only a ten years boy and was reading in class four!

I had decided to shift myself from Kolata and finalised the Job in North India. but the Open Heart surgery preempted the effort and ultimately I had to settle in Kolkata.

Since then, Prabha Khetan had been always a friend. We discussed so many things together.

Snadeep Bhutoria, her sonhelped CPIM to eject out Taslima Nasrenn. it was an irritation for me. but our friendship remained intact until her death.

I had to write the Comment as Uttara team demanded. Uttara is a little mag published by women , for women and of women from Nainital. Dr Uma Bhatt, our lovely Uma bhavi,Wife of Shekhar Pathak, heads the editorial team. She is a reader in the department of Hindi in my college, DSB college. I also know other memebres of the editorial team. Sheela Rajwar, also a reader in Hindi in DSB, kamala Pant, excellent Woman leader in Uttrkhand who has been habitual to lead all mass movements from the front, an advocate and Basanti Pathak, our beloved sister, who was a girlie in late seventies! She is the sister of shekhar. These two ladies used to be always silent and proactive in those stormy days Chipko Movement and Nainital Samachar. Shekhar, me and girda used to write the cover story jointly on every important issue. We would go to talla danda and sit down at Shekhar`s residence. We would debate on every point adn the exact diction, the form like wild animals. I was a student. shekhar was the Professor in my college. Uma bhabhi was also in the Hindi department. but, they unhesitatingly, included me in the family and always treated equal! We had been addressing the Nationality and Identity issues since then!

Why should I see the working woman as a Male? May I ever got over Patriarchy and Manusmriti superstition as a male, it was the question.

The patriacrhy is Nuclear now as the Nuke deal is done!

Prabha khetan guided me even after death. I had to see her book, UPNIVESH ME STREE ONCE AGAIN TO ASSESS THE mODERNTIMES WORKING WOMAN.

It is true that my primary teacher Peetambar Pant and GIC teacher Tarachandra Tripathi were the main architect of my character and personality. But I also owe much to the ladies in my life. my father was a fighter and inherit the legacy of struggles and insurrections from him. He used to be always on travel. My mother remained at home lifelong. She never visited even those places where we brothers and sisters settled. she never left the village named after her, Basanti pur.She was so close the roots!

Madam Christie was my first teacher even before Peetambar Pant. She was elegance personified. She introduced alphabets to me. The rhythm and music , I feel in life, I am grateful for it to her only.

Veena Pandey, my science teacher in Dinesh pur High School, was the first young lady who treated me friendly at first and inspired me to succeed.

Madhulika Dexit and Mrs Anil Bisht were my lecturers in the department of English in DSB. These two ladies cared to enhance my creativity. Mrs Prema Tiwari of sociology and Mrs Kavita pandey of Physics depts in DSB also contributed to make my character! I have not assessed the role of these women in my life as yet. I have to do.

Then my wife, Savita, always the best Critic I ever encountered and am afraid of, supports me in creativity as well as family matters and bears all the burden of my suicidal anti establishment stance for over Twenty five years!

I answered the questions in just one para as i felt that the girl children are much more focused and the women are more competent anywhere in the workplace. they are expert in interaction as well as man management. I support reservation for the women and know well that the brahminical patriarchy would never allow the real empowerment of Women. i quoted instances from Manipur, Assam and uttarakhand where the women lead the society and economy. in West Bengal and elsewhere the Women Social activists like Mamata, Medha, Arundhati, nandita, Anuradha, Shaoli, Aparna and other lead the society and address the genuine problems of the time. I don`t know most of them personally while i have interactions with some of them. I don`t find the male role so significant.

I don`t know Mayawati personally but the lady has changed the political equations single handedly and stopped fascism in North India most effectively without following any definite Ideology. contrarily the Ideologists betrayed the nation, The nature and the People.

Development does not mean bringing in the IT sector, heavy industries, highways, retail shops, railway lines and real estates to the detriment of agricultural land; nor does it mean denying proper rehabilitation package and alternate source of livelihood to the farming community. Such a development will result in increased displacement, increased unemployment and increased poverty rather than overall economic growth.

I ringed telephones in Nainital and could found Basanti on the line. I told her that I don`t see the women with an outlook of Woman lib. I rather follow Prabha khetan.

Prabha Khetan consistantly wrote to liberate the Woman in the colony.

Now the colonisation is complete and Ameriacanism as well as Us interest target Indian united geopolitics singling out Afganistan and Pakistan. Would the US Military presence across the border would save national interests, national Integrity and national Unity!

Just see how darling CONDY landed in New Delhi and what she says,echoed by the Brahminical gestapo head of west Bengal, Pranab Mukherjee!

Asserting that that there are ‘no open issues’ on the nuclear deal, the United States on Saturday said it will stand by its commitments in the 123 agreement with India and the Hyde Act and that the Congressional legislation will be signed ‘very soon’.
"The President will sign the legislation passed by the US Congress very soon. He wants to do it very soon. There are administrative reasons," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a press conference after talks with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

The Bill once passed has to be transmitted to the White House. It has been a busy time for last several weeks, she said explaining the reasons for the delay in signing the legislation by Bush.

Rice's visit coming shortly after the Congress approval of the legislation sparked speculation that the 123 would come up for signing with Mukherjee on Saturday. In fact, she had rescheduled the visit by a couple of days.

"The President is looking forward to signing it very soon. The Hyde Act is completely consistent with 123 agreement, 123 agreement is consistent with the Hyde Act. The US will keep its commitments to both," she said in reply to a question why there has been a delay and whether there were concerns on the Indian side.

"We don't have open issues," Rice said adding it was a matter of administrative and procedural details which would be worked out.

In his reply Mukherjee said once the President signs it into law and the process is complete ‘we will be in a position to sign the agreement on a mutually convenient date.’


Meanwhile, the overnight blockade of the Durgapur Expressway that runs beside the Tata Motors small car plant and railway lines at the nearby Kamarkundu railway station in Singur, was lifted at noon today, though the dawn to dusk bandh continued. CPI (M) supporters, who were demanding that the Tata Motors factory reopen after the announcement by Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata last evening that the Nano plant was to be wound up, decided to lift the blockades as it was pay day, Hooghly CPI (M) District Committee member Dibakar Das.

Since many factories in the area were to pay wages and bonus ahead of the Durga Puja festival today, it was decided to lift the Durgapur Expressway and railway blockade, Das said.

"The blockade of the expressway and the Kamarkundu railway station would have prevented workers from collecting their pay and bonus, therefore we decided to lift it," he said.

Meanwhile, a CPI(M) leader, Uma Ghosh, who had gone to visit his relatives at Beraberi was assaulted at the Beraberi Bazar.

Das claimed that Ghosh was beaten up by Trinamool Congress supporters.

A police complaint has been filed, he said. Beraberi is one of the areas from where land was acquired for the Tata Motors project. The bandh since 6:00 am, meanwhile, was continuing.

The blockade was, however, to be lifted at Sanapara, where there was a 2 km line of Kolkata-bound trucks on the Durgapur Expressway. Sanapara is half a kilometre from the main gate of the Tata Motors plant.



Some Golden poem by Prabha Khetan
Ujaale ( First Poem's Book published in 1981 ) - Poem
Sidhiyan Chadhti Hui Mai
Ek Aur AAkash ki Khoj me
Krishna Dharma
Husnabano
Ahilya

Golden novels by Prabh Khetan
Aao Pepe Ghar Chale ( First novel published in 1990) - Novel
Talabandi
agnisambhwa
Aids
Apne Apne Chehare
Peelee Aandhi
Stri Paksh



Singur made a Rs 76-crore hole in WBIDC pocket: CAG
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Express news service
Posted: Mar 28, 2008 at 0101 hrs IST
Kolkata, March 27 The CAG report for the year ending March 2007 has revealed that West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) has incurred a loss of Rs 76.11 crore by subsidising the lease of the land granted to Tata Motors Limited (TML) for setting up its Rs 1 lakh car unit at Singur.
The report adds that the loss should have been borne by the state government rather than WBIDC, which is not a subordinate office of the government.

On the directive of the state government, the WBIDC acquired 1,006.45 acres of land at Singur, of which it leased out 645.67 acres to Tata Motors’. A portion of the remaining land, 190.44 acres, was leased out to 30 vendors of the TML. Another 70.78 acres were waterbodies and land meant for internal roads, sub-stations etc.

The corporation leased the land to TML for a period of 90 years at a value of Rs 96.72 crore. As per government directive for long-term leases, the lessee (Tata Motors in this case) should pay 95 per cent of the market value of the land as one term premium (salami) on the commencement of the lease. An annual rent at the rate of 0.3 per cent of the market value of the land would also have to be paid.

“The present value of aggregate of premium (Rs 91.88 crore) and cumulative annual lease rent (Rs 2.85 crore) comes to Rs 94.73 crore, at a discount factor of 10 per cent. Against this, the present value of cumulative lease rent of Rs 855.75 crore payable by TML over 90 years works out to Rs 18.62 crores at the same discount factor, entailing loss of Rs 76.11 crore to the WBIDC over the entire lease period,” the report states.

To this the WBIDC said that the discount was made as part of the “special incentive package” announced by the government for the TML.

The clarification was forwarded to the CAG by WBIDC management.

The CAG noted: “The management stated that the terms and conditions of the lease had been drawn in pursuance to special incentive package, decided by government for the TML. The contention is not tenable because (1) according to the company, WBIDC is not a subordinate office of the state government. Hence, the subsidy, if any, to be passed on to the TML should have been borne by the government and not by the company, which was already burdened with the liability to repay the loan and interest from its own fund at the instance of the government and (2) the details of special incentive package were not furnished to Audit though called for.”

The CAG also observed that the WBIDC had drawn excess loan than required which led to an additional interest burden of Rs 1.44 crore between September 2006 and July 2007.

The WBIDC also placed funds to the tune of Rs 1.55 crore for disbursal as delayed “consent awards”. The CAG states that under the Land Acquisition Act 1894, there was no provision for payment of additional compensation when the landowners had already agreed to the valuation of the Land Acquisition Collector.

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Singur-made-a-Rs-76crore-hole-in-WBIDC-pocket-CAG/289412/

President Bush yet to sign the nuke deal: Rice

Agencies
Posted: Oct 04, 2008 at 1027 hrs IST


Washington, October 4:Indicating that the nuclear deal may not be inked during her India visit, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said there are still a number of administrative details to be worked out, even as she insisted that the US will abide by the Hyde Act on the testing issue.
".... there are a lot of administrative details that have to be worked out. This (the deal) was only passed in our Congress two days ago. The President is looking forward to signing the bill, sometime, I hope, in very soon, because we'll want to use it as an opportunity to thank all of the people who have been involved in this. That means the US-India the Indian American community, the US-India business community, and the diplomats and others who have been involved," Rice told reporters on her way to India, according to a transcript released by the State Department in Washington.

Rice said the Bush administration is working through administrative details but the more important thing now is to look beyond the historic agreement to what else could be done in the broad bilateral relationship

"....I'm going to draw a line under this one way or another, because this is now time it's time to put the historic agreement, say that that's done, and move on to what else we can do, because we've got a very broad relationship. It's got to be worked out at the last minute, because there are so many administrative issues that we have to deal with," Rice said.

Elaborating, she said "... for instance, we have to enrol the bill when it comes over from the Congress. So look, the important thing about this trip is to talk about the next steps in the US-India relationship, not the last step...."

"The President does not have to sign before I sign (the deal). But we're working through the details of this. I'll let you know. But the whole purpose of this trip is to move forward, not to look at where we are," Rice said.

The Secretary of State made it known that the views of the United States on the issue of nuclear testing by India are very clear; and that Washington will remain true to the commitments of the Hyde Act as also to those made by President George W Bush to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

She stressed that the Bush administration is satisfied with the commitments made by India on the participation of American firms, especially on the issue of liability of damage in the event of an accident.

"I think we've been very clear about US views on this issue (testing). The Indians have a lot at stake here. And they have made very clear that what they want to do is they want to move on to civil nuclear cooperation. And I think they understand the grounds on which we've done this. The United States is going to remain true to its commitments under the Hyde Act and true to the commitments that President Bush has made to Prime Ministers Singh. And I know that the Indians will do the same," Rice said.

The Secretary of State was asked on liability, limiting damage if there Is an accident before US businesses can really benefit from this and when a convention on this would be settled with India.

"We have a letter of intent from the Indians that we believe is a very firm set of commitments and a framework for making sure that our businesses can do business in India. So I'm satisfied about the details of all of this. This really is about administrative matters, not about the substance of it," Rice replied.

Rice maintained that the purpose of her trip to India was not to push the 'Buy American' angle. "You know, it's not. I'm confident that the United States will - American companies will compete with - we're free traders. And we believe that American companies will compete. Now, what we have done, I think, is to demonstrate that the United States was willing to take a strategic step that has made it possible for India to enter a new realm in terms of its ability to cooperate and to be integrated into what is a global industry that is bigger than just nuclear reactors."

The State Department, meanwhile, clarified some procedural steps that would have to be taken before civil nuclear trade can commence with India. One of these being that after the President signs the legislation into law he would have to make a certification that it is the US policy to work with NSG to further restrict transfers of equipment and technology related to uranium enrichment and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.

"Before civil nuclear trade can commence with India, some procedural actions must occur," the Department said. The two countries "must sign the US-India Agreement for Cooperation Concerning Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy (123 Agreement). This text has been finalised and initialled since July 2007" and that the President must sign into law the legislation recently passed by Congress approving the 123 Agreement," it said in a statement.

"After it becomes law, the President will make two certifications required under the law: (1) that conclusion and implementation of the agreement by its terms is consistent with US obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; and (2) that it is the policy of the United States to work with members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group to further restrict transfers of equipment and technology related to uranium enrichment and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel."

Following the certifications, it said, India and US will exchange diplomatic notes pursuant to Article 16(1) of the 123 Agreement, thereby bringing the pact into force.


N-deal historic, says Bal Thackeray; praises PM

Agencies
Posted: Oct 04, 2008 at 1023 hrs IST
Mumbai, October 3: Describing the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal as "historic" and in "national interest", Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray did not buy his ally BJP's argument that UPA government has compromised the country's sovereignty.
"I don't think there is any truth in this political criticism. The voluntary moratorium on not conducting further nuclear tests was imposed by our government," Thackeray said in an editorial in his party mouthpiece 'Saamna'.

Thackeray, however, said only voters will decide whether the Congress and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will derive any political benefit due to this "historic" deal. The octogenarian leader said the deal has opened horizons of nuclear trade for India.

"This deal should be viewed in this respect only. Due to the NSG waiver, India can procure reactors and nuclear technology to tackle energy shortage from various countries. American trade and commerce will get a fillip while India can provide for its energy security. Because of the NSG waiver, India can ink nuclear pacts with the member countries," he said.

Praising Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Thackeray said he staked his integrity and honesty for the deal. "He has already clarified issues related to 123 agreement and the Hyde Act. Even though the Congress can't be trusted, the same yardstick cannot be applied to the Prime Minister," he added.


The attacks on her have roots in ivory-tower intellectualism.
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/why-do-feminists-hate-sarah-palin-its-academic/

October 2, 2008 - by Mary Grabar

Feminists have long blamed male oppression for women’s cat fights. But
this election season, feminists have engaged in the worst kind as they
lobbed personal insults at Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah
Palin, who more than any of their feminist standard-bearers seems to
not only have “had it all,” but to have done it all. Conservatives
have rightly noted this deterioration of the “sisterhood.”

The histrionic attacks are rooted in something much deeper than simple
political disagreement.

What the feminists hate is that, on the job, Palin is one of the boys.

That Palin thinks like a man, or logically, is what has made the left
livid. As appropriate to their modes, they respond emotionally. The
men in their movement, who have become one of the girls in terms of
thinking, respond with personal insults, even going so far as to mock
the looks of her baby, as Bill Maher recently did.

But if one looks to other arenas, like the humanities departments in
universities that have been transformed by feminism, one can see that
such personal attacks are entirely consistent with the left’s version
of intellectualism. When I entered graduate school in the 1990s I
quickly found out that character assassinations had become the staple
of literary scholarship.

This change followed the takeover of humanities departments, like
English, by women, beginning around 1980. That year women began out-
earning men with regard to doctorates in English, by two percentage
points. The percentages rose, until in 1995 women began earning about
60% of such Ph.D.s, a figure that has remained roughly consistent
since then.

The influx and domination of women in the field has had a devastating
impact on intellectual discourse, for not only did men capitulate to
women’s demands on affirmative hiring practices, but to their demands
to change the tenor and standards of scholarship itself.

The 1980s saw a concomitant change in the popular culture, as women
wedged their way into boardrooms and military academies. While John T.
Molloy may have in 1978 urged women to dress and act for success by
imitating their male business colleagues, psychologist Carol Gilligan,
in her 1982 bestseller In a Different Voice, promoted women’s ways of
thinking, based on emotion and consensus, as superior to the old
patriarchal mode of logic and independence.

The result of such modes of thought, in my field of English, has been
the attrition of majors, as students flock to more masculine fields,
like business administration. Among the humanities, it is English
departments that suffer the worst reputations as inconsequential and
useless places.

Even the radical magazine The Nation ran an editorial last March by
staff writer William Deresiewicz bemoaning the loss of the
profession’s prestige and its relegation to a service unit, where
basic writing skills are taught to undergraduates (who increasingly
require remedial help, I might add) — ironically the province of women
in pre-second-wave feminist days. While Deresiewicz may wrongly
attribute the decay to the lack of exciting new theories since Judith
Butler’s book Gender Trouble, it is precisely the patriarchy-
challenging feminist theories of those like Butler that brought the
profession down.

In 1952, the poet Allen Tate could herald the “man of letters” in a
speech and claim for him a salvational role for our culture. While
around the same time Modern Language Association presidents in their
convention speeches could assign to their profession the task of
providing a moral vision for the nation, today’s MLA presidents bring
down high culture by conflating it with the lowest popular culture
like obscenity-laden rap music, as Patricia Yeager, MLA president, did
in the March 2007 issue of PMLA.

In order to climb the tenure ladder, one must join in the emotional
championing of the “oppressed” and reject linear (logical) thought
even as carried out through the grammatical structure of writing for
spectacle, performance art, and female pop icons like Madonna and
Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

But this kind of “scholarship” provides evidence of an extension of
what the academic establishment had been trying to do since the 1960s
— overthrow the West at the roots, at its intellectual base. The anti-
logical theories of postmodernism, where truth itself is questioned,
parallel feminist thinking. Reason, as part of the “Western
patriarchal hegemony,” is indicted over and over in jargon-laden
obscurantist academic prose.

While anti-reason theories circulated and were repeated in academic
discourse, in politics the new ethic of “caring” was promoted by Bill
Clinton and in the media by women’s talk shows like Oprah, Ellen, and
The View, where politics was wedged into teary discussions about
makeovers in fashion and self-esteem. Barack Obama, with his
“community organizer” experience, recalls the efforts of women with
settlement houses, as proto-social workers.

Women — and men who think like women — rule the liberal media and
grant such emotion-based politics legitimacy. But the other side of
the “caring” coin is the personality-based “critical” side — a nasty,
catty one, indeed.

The confusion of the two spheres, the application of “caring” that is
appropriately reserved for the domestic sphere where all fetuses are
allowed to be birthed and nurtured, is illustrated by Palin, who does
not make such confusions. She does not infuse public policy with those
notions suited for the home by promoting increased welfare,
negotiation with terrorists, and efforts to “understand” the root
causes of terrorism, as Obama said we should do in his post-9/11
speech.

And she enjoys an approval rating among men of 62 percent, nine points
higher than among women. Those in middle America who have not been
taken up by the postmodern theories dominating our universities,
especially at Ivy League schools like Barack Obama’s Harvard and
Michelle Obama’s Princeton, like what they see.

Palin presents the American ideal: the frontier woman who lovingly
takes care of her family, with a shotgun if necessary. The feminist
and her male followers who attempt to change American culture through
histrionic grievances, demands, meetings, and mass protests see in
Palin a glaring example of how their ideas were not only wrong, but
unnecessary and, indeed, harmful to women’s advancement.

Now that she tossed out the political tribute to Hillary Clinton and
Geraldine Ferraro in her speech on the day John McCain announced his
choice, Palin needs to continue in the patriarchal vein and not give
lip service to feminism.

Unlike the closed halls of academe, where hiring and curriculum
decisions are made by the priestly class of politically correct
Ph.D.s, with virtually no oversight by the public, American voters
will make the decision this November 4.


Friends

Find attached a brief note prepared on the basis of discussions with Sri Amit Bhaduri on his book "Development with Dignity". Both English and Bengali versions of the same note are attached.

It is sent for discussions and for forming opinion in this regard. This may kindly be circulated among your friends and associates. You are free to use the document in any form you like.

This is only a very brief note and we are endeavoring to prepare an extended version of the same in near future.

Greetings,

Rabin Chakraborty

Discussions with Amit Bhaduri regarding his concept of "Development with Dignity" led some of us to think that thealternative path of development he was trying to chart could present before the resistance movement against thecurrent onslaught of the big corporations a current programme of action which would also be relevant to thegreater task of social transformation. A draft of such a programme of action is being hereby circulated for discussion.- Meher Engineer, Rabin Chakraborty, Subhasis Mukherjee, Soumya Guha Thakurta and Dipanjan Rai ChaudhuriWork for all: An alternative path of development We start with two central questions: Development for whom? Who is to control development? The most pressing problem at this juncture is that of the great majority of Indians living ininhuman poverty. Their existence is marginal and they have no role to play in the country’scurrent path of development. Their agony and latent anger accumulate like thunderclouds on the horizon. They have lost faith in the promise that the ‘trickle down effect’ will better their lot some day. Their experience has convinced them that the ‘trickle’ reaches only those who haveaccess to influence. An alternative path of development is immediately called for, an alternativethat might chart a course of freedom for the teeming millions from their current miserable state of poverty.If the alternative path of development is really to be for these teeming millions mired in poverty, then, to start with, everybody has to be guaranteed a living, which usually means employment.Living on wages for one's own productive work, rather than on doles, will not only ensure economic security but also lead to recognition of social worth. In course of time, these citizenswill take an interest in shaping their own development as well as that of fellow citizens; will find their voice and eventually the confidence to intervene locally and nationally in the participatorypolitical and economic democracy that India ought to be. This complete economic, social andpolitical transformation arising from full employment has been termed, ‘Development withDignity’. The current model of growth without employment (West Bengal, in fact, exhibits negativegrowth of employment in the organised sector) under the leadership of big business houses(national and trans-national) must be summarily rejected. The significant characteristic of thismodel is not only its inherent antipathy towards the interests of the poor, but also that the growthof corporate profits occurs at the cost of a majority of the population surviving in conditions ofpoverty; in fact, these profits are extracted by forcing deprivation on them . • Huge Capital intensive investments, negligibly few incremental jobs Large investments, with highly automated labour saving technology, which require fewer but more highly skilled labour, significantly reduce the gross wage bill, with the objective ofselling cheap in the export market and earning dollar profits. This is the theme of the current development model resulting in GDP growth without concomitant growth in employment.Take the Tata Motors plant at Singur, a flag bearer of this development model. It is designedto manufacture the Nano at Rs. 1 lakh per car, the competitive price being a directconsequence of minimising the number of employees. The Tata Motors plant which manufactures the Indica car employs 300 employees only. In the motor car industry, everyjob is currently backed by a worth of three-quarters of a crore. Had the Singur plant the sameproductivity as Bajaj Auto’s plant of 2004, it would have employed 760 persons. For everyjob there would have been Rs 2 crores of investment. Actually the employment potential will
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be possibly even lower in Singur because the Tatas will apparently be using updated technology.After a big plant starts production, the number of employed hands goes down even asproduction goes up. So, productivity per employee goes up, this being the object of the reduction in the number of employed. To cite an example, Tata Steel, at Jamshedpur, in the decade since 1991, reduced its employee strength by half while production went up fivetimes.Another ploy to reduce labour cost is to replace employees on the roll with casual employees. This is another attack on the working people. Casual employees normally work at lower wages, under much tougher conditions of work. To retain and enhance benefits and subsidies, Tata Motors have intermittently threatenedwithdrawal from Singur. Political and cultural bigwigs, camp-followers of the Tatas, have been crying themselves hoarse that with the exit of the Tatas, development will come to a halt in West Bengal. The reality is that although the quantum of investment in the Nano car plant and its ancillaries is huge, its employment generation capabilities are minimal (a fewhundred in the main plant and a few thousand in the ancillaries?). Talking of long termdevelopment, the Tatas have been in Jamshedpur for 100 years, and for many years inOrissa. Yet, Bihar (and Jharkhand) and Orissa remain persistently within the last three ranksof the poorest states of the country. That the Tatas in Singur have nothing to offer to the unemployed of the surrounding district of Hooghly and, in fact, to the unemployed youth ofWest Bengal is amply borne out by the fact that they have not sent any notices of vacanciesto any employment exchange in the district of Hooghly.• Loot of natural resources, expropriation of inhabitants, destruction of livelihoodLand-water-forest-mineral resources are being cornered by corporate houses with the active connivance of the central and state governments of all political colours. About 1000 acres ofhighly fertile cultivable land (significant portions of it yielding three crops) were gifted to the Tatas in Singur under the cloak of a secret agreement. A portion of the agreement released by the government of West Bengal, under public pressure, reveals that, a 90 year lease has been allowed to the Tatas at rates much lower than that prevailing in the market. Aloan been advanced to the Tatas at 1% interest (payment to commence after 20 years) and tax holiday (VAT and other state taxes) has been given to the Tatas, all at a cost of Rs.800-850 crores to the public kitty. It is indeed loot. Not only has the interest of the Singur landholders been adversely affected, the Nano project has impacted the sources of livelihood of another 10,000 persons like daily labourers, sharecroppers, van rickshaw pullers, vegetable vendors etc. The same Tata group facedresistance when they tried to expropriate adivasis from their land in Kalinganagar with the active connivance of the Orissa government. The resistance culminated in the death bypolice firing of 14 adivasi agitators. Goons in the pay of the Tatas have threatened to kill allthe resistance leaders and have already killed one and injured another. One of the Ambanibrothers is operating in a similar manner in Uttar Pradesh and another brother inMaharashtra. Soft drink manufacturers’ unbridled use of groundwater and spread of polluting activitieshave faced resistance in Uttar Pradesh and Kerala.
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Another recent example of expropriation and loot is the proposed Coastal Management ZoneNotification 2008 which intends to extend the tentacles of corporate led predatory growth tocoastal India. If it evolves into an Act, national and transnational big capital will have accessto the 7600 km long Indian coastline and they will certainly imperil the lives and livelihoods of more than 1 crore people from the fisher and fishworker families through eviction anddestruction of coastal resources.Retail trade, which is a source of livelihood of at least a sixth of the country’s population, isbeing opened to national/trans-national big capital to the peril of small retailers/vendors.Kolkata Municipal Corporation has released 150,000 sq. ft area in its Park Circus market toReliance for retail trade whereas only 55,000 sq. ft. has been set aside for the existing smalltraders/vendors.The current national-transnational big capital sponsored development model does not improve the living conditions of the poor, enhance the natural resources they can commandor develop their various sources of livelihood; rather, it destroys what is already there. Not only for the poor but also for unemployed young men and women, big investments by Tata and its ilk are meaningless –they do not generate employment -- it is noteworthy that noemployment vacancy notice has been released for the Singur project. Big business is not interested in unemployed youth. This development model ought to be rejected outright. • Development with Dignity The desired development model must start with an objective of generating employment, witha goal of employment for all within a period of five years. Can a beginning be made right now? The spread, effectiveness and reach of the 100 days employment per householdprogramme under NREGA has faced resistance from rural vested interests and bureaucrats(in 2007-08, only 18 days work under NREGA was provided in West Bengal). For NREGA to be fully functional in West Bengal work must be available on demand. There are manypockets of inhuman poverty in urban areas too. In the 74thamendment, employmentprogrammes are envisaged in urban areas -- this must also be implemented. There is no reason why this development model should not lead to a high rate of economic growth. Persons outside the production process will now start to produce, albeit a small amount per head -- but they will be many crores in number. So growth will continue, and,for a change, the distribution will be spread over many crores, the rich getting richer and the impoverishment of the poor will stop. Money in the hands of the poor will enable them to have square meals, dispense with tatteredclothes, and, after satisfying their basic needs of food, clothing and shelter, go on to buygoods and services beyond their basic necessities. Purchasing power in their hands will therefore expand the internal market. Items of daily use such as knives, scissors, cycles,televisions, soap, cosmetics, frocks, salwars, trousers will be in demand and will support local small industries. These local initiatives will produce ordinary goods for local use at lowprices. Such small industries have huge employment potential vis-a-vis large capital intensive industries. Whereas, in the case of big capital intensive industries every Rs.2 crores investedgenerates employment for one person, in the case of small industries every Rs.1 crore
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investment generates employment for 150 persons, on an average. Annually, 12 lakhaspirants are being added to the job market in West Bengal. A few hundred or even a fewthousand jobs generated by big capital investments will not be of much use in absorbing thisinflux. Rather, it is improvement in agriculture and expansion of small industries that isexpansion of the domestic market which will secure their future. This scheme of expansionwill require engineers, science graduates, teachers, doctors etc. Perhaps the job options will not be as lucrative as in the IT industry, but there will be much greater security and muchless tension, since these sectors will not show a person the door every time the US economycatches cold, as is the case in Sector V. The surprising, but logically compelling conclusionis that the futures of our young men and women are linked not with the Tatas but with the agriculturists-share croppers-agricultural labourers and small businessmen and their workers. Who will provide the seed money for employment generation through a NREGA-like programme which is the first step in this alternative economic model? Gradually the expanding domestic market and rejuvenated agriculture will be able to fund the expenditure.Till such time the expenditure will have to be provided in the central budget, for nothing canbe more important today than employment generation for the vast majority. If the expenditure results in a deficit budget, so be it. Such deficit will not lead to inflation if this NREGA-like programme is oriented towards production of goods and services. Roads for transportation, irrigation canals, granaries,godowns and cold storages for agricultural products, measures for improved utilisation ofwater, forest, plantations and land will result in the production of goods and services side byside with the rise in incomes arising from the expenditure for the programme and there is noreason to fear inflation. On the other hand, the demand for wage goods like food and clothing will go up as theexpenditure for the programme finds its way into the hands of the wage earners as income.Moreover, construction of infrastructural projects, towards which the thrust of NREGA is directed at the beginning, will increase the demand for materials like cement and steel. The food grain reserves of the government of India are currently hovering around the just adequate level (though transnational big capital has been allowed in this sector and the public procurement of food grains has slackened) and the cement industry is installingadditional excess capacity. So there is no compulsion for price rise in the case of food grainsand cement. However, there is no idle capacity in the steel industry nor an adequate reserve of oil seeds. None the less, these can be easily imported using India’s current huge reserves of foreign exchange. From whichever point of view we examine the question, the chances of too much moneychasing too few goods is a remote possibility and so is the inflationary potential of the full employment programme. Now, the Fiscal Regulation and Budget Management Act prohibitsthe government from indulging in superfluous expenditure leading to a deficit budget. Atfirst glance, this definitely looks good, for all of us are aware of and not favourably disposedtowards superfluous expenditure by government. However, this IMF and World Banksponsored enactment is a road block for schemes targeted at the marginalised and the poor, like the 100 days work for eligible rural households under NREGA. Curtailment of rural developmental expenditure has contributed to a fall in rural incomes andconsequent decline in the per capita utilisation of foodgrains, malnutrition becomes a danger.Reduction of subsidies on inputs, higher power tariffs and dearer bank credit, added to a global fall in the export prices of most crops including raw cotton has led to mass- scale
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farmer suicides. This enactment must forthwith be scrapped if we want the government tofinance pro-poor expansionary economics. • Development by whom? Who will implement this programme? There have been many development programmes in the past but none have involved the participation of the poor in its implementation. The disappointing implementation status ofNREGA (18 instead of 100 days in W Bengal in 2007-08) makes it amply clear once morethat for any development programme targeted at the poor to succeed, the reins of the programme must be in their own hands. If this programme is implemented through panchayats, then an avenue for participation ofthe target group in its implementation is immediately opened up. The participation can takethe form of according one’s consent or exercising veto to a particular proposal at the gramsansad. The strength of a gram sansad is on an average 700, which is not too large for allmembers to meet formally and take decisions. Under existing law, gram sansads can act inadvisory capacity only, but a demand must be made to enhance/extend their power to takebinding decisions on developmental matters pertaining to villages and anchals. In the 73rdamendment, list no. 11 enumerates activities earmarked for panchayats (namely povertyeradication, education, health, land reforms and the like), and these ought to be brought (like administering the village school) under the administrative control of the panchayats. It maybe emphasised that the present system of dual administration by the state government andlocal self government bodies is in effect ineffectual, on the ground. Finance for activities earmarked for local self government bodies must be separatelyprovided for in the state budget and it must be ensured that it flows directly to the panchayats, without any intervention. Further, although allocated funds get parked in the panchayat’s account with the nearby branch of a nationalised bank, any withdrawal requiresapprovals from the BDO and district authorities. A demand must be raised for locating the authority for withdrawal and utilisation of the funds with the elected gram panchayat and not with state government bureaucrats.What about misfeasance and defalcation? On one side, gram sansad and any citizen must have the right to inspect panchayat accounts. Their statement of income and expenditure,lists of individual beneficiaries, and a progress report of projects must be prominentlydisplayed at the panchayat office. On the other side, banks will monitor the panchayat’s accounts from the point of view of utilisation of funds for implementation of the project andrelease further funds when financial and physical landmarks underlying the project are fulfilled. Yet, there will be some misfeasance. Does not that happen even now? • Achieving Local Self government is a political struggle Rural India is ruled by a nexus of feudal landlords-kulaks-dishonest traders-petty officials-political partymen. Trying to ensure that panchayats function in a way so as to further the interests of the rural poor is an invitation for a struggle with this nexus of vested interests onevery issue. This nexus draws its power from the state and its coercive apparatus. Themoment their authority is resisted and their interests affected, the state apparatus will bare itsfangs, and perhaps the police will march hand in hand with arrogant political gunmen, ashappened in Nandigram.
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So, the method of struggle will depend on the nature of the reaction of this nexus and the state. The crux of the matter is that the poor are today with their backs to the wall and theyhave no space to retreat. Will even the right to livelihood given by law be denied to them?No longer will this be tolerated. The right to live with dignity will be won by the people whatever be the method required.How to organise has been shown by the people of Singur-Nandigram. The Nandigramresistance was initially organised by peasant committees comprising both men and women drawn from the struggling people, based on their individual records of integrity and activity,and irrespective of their political colour. There is another lesson to be learnt from Singur-Nandigram. On broad issues and questionsaffecting everybody (for example on the question of forcible acquisition of land) the rural poor can unite and rally the entire rural society (including the richer peasants) against aggression by the state. Immediate programme • Every person who demands work must be provided with 100 days work under NREGA through gram panchayats.• Everyone must be entitled to see panchayat accounts, list of beneficiaries, progress report of projects; these details must be displayed prominently for public knowledge. • Gram sansad has to be empowered to take decisions autonomously about the development of villages and anchals; elected gram panchayats have to be liberated fromthe control of petty officials and must have financial autonomy• Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act is to be scrapped. • Immediate stoppage of the transfer of scarce land and other natural resources (fertile multi crop land as in Singur) to corporates.(NOTE FOR READERS: What has been presented above comprises some aspects of a road-map. Of necessity, the road-map refersto the target as it is today. Any other view would be theoretical. The target is a moving one, and, as the economic, social, and political situations change so will the road-map. Development is a process which is shaped by politics and through which politics is shaped. There are stages in every developmental process, and so long as we have too many desperately poor people thismust be the focus and content of developmental politics. One should not fall into the trap of trying to gobeyond this immediate focus to a model for the "whole" economy including the market for the rich andthe export market and the roles of the corporations and the public sector. When we reach fullemployment following development with dignity, we will chalk out the next step in a changed political environment; until then corporations can coexist but without interfering adversely with this core developmental process. No doubt, even such containment of the corporations will require tremendous struggle.)


From:
Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 5:08 PM
To:
Subject: Author and Trial Lawyer Vincent Bugliosi Speaks Tuesday, Oct 14 at 7:30pm

Author and Trial Lawyer Vincent Bugliosi
Speaks Live at NARO Cinema!
Tuesday, Oct 14 at 7:30pm



In the early seventies, Los Angeles prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi convicted Charles Manson of murder. Since writing his first book "Helter Skelter", he's been one of the nations's top writers of true crime novels and has written three number one bestsellers and has received numerous literary awards.

In his new best-selling book, "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder", he makes a devastating, well documented case that President Bush is guilty of murder as a result of lies that he told as part of the propaganda campaign by the administration to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Vincent Bugliosi will speak about current developments in the efforts to bring President Bush to trial. The evening will include film clips from the new documentary SECRECY -- www.secrecyfilm.com

Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy
Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild, Editors

New York: Henry Holt and Company, Metropolitan Books, 2003. Hardcover. 328 pp. ISBN: 0-8050-6995-X.

Reviewed by Paula Smith-Vanderslice
http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/03/books/ehrenreich.htm
This book may be ordered online through Hunger Notes bookstore.

Global Woman describes with firsthand insight the global patterns of relationships among people struggling to survive in the domestic service sector and in the illicit sex trade. The editors are among several others who have authored essays within, including Cheever, Salazar Parrenas, Hondagneu-Sotelo, Rivas, Anderson, Constable, Zarembka, Brennan, Lan, Gamburd, Bales, Hung Cam Thai, and Sassen. Robert Espinoza outlines current migration trends with the most recent data available through maps and charts, as well as listing other migration route detail as text. Valuable contact information including website addresses is given for activist organizations involved in assisting women in fighting low wages, poor working conditions, trafficking, domestic violence, problematic immigration status, and other human rights violations. As a suggested "read," this book is to be considered along with others in the Hunger Notes subspecialty of women in developing countries as its main focus, as there is only brief mention of food issues in a few essays.

In speaking of domestic work, Ehrenreich in her essay discusses her own experience cleaning floors while working with The Maids International in the United States, a company that is part of the trend of corporate-run cleaning services. She says, “It’s a different world down there below knee level, one that few adults voluntarily enter.” With the increase in two-earner households of both genders between 1965 and 1995, and the increase in feminist conscience, women’s and men’s housework is measured in hours per week. With the decrease in cleaning hours spent by the woman of the house, men were still found to spend only 1.7 hours per week by 1995 in scrubbing, vacuuming, and sweeping, whereas women still spent 6.7 hours per week performing these particular chores (p.89). Ehrenreich shows how rather than a relaxation of standards of cleanliness in the home taking place, the equation is expanded with an increase in number of people required to do the household job, and the creation of outflow of cash. Money is paid to another female, a “cleaning lady,” to fill in the gap caused by the female earning wages outside her home, somehow perpetuating gender oppression in the identification of females with this employment classification.


Where do the women come from who willingly fill in for other women in homes not their own, and why? This question is answered in this book. The general domestic worker migration pattern globally is from the poorer nations to large cities in the developed Northern Hemisphere. In many cases, those traveling, whether thousands of miles or merely across country borders, need to cross a language barrier, as well. According to Hochschild, many of these women cannot make ends meet at home for themselves and their families (p.16), so they travel abroad to work, reluctantly leaving their children, husband, and culture, specifically for the purpose of making money and sending much of it back home. Their poverty pushes them to where they are being pulled, to fill in that gap for the woman who works outside her home in the rich country (p.8). An analogy is made between the First World as the “old-fashioned male,” pampered, entitled, unable to cook, clean, or find his socks, and the Third World, as the “traditional woman” within the global family, patient, nurturing, and self-denying (pp.11-12).

With greater numbers of domestic workers than ever before in human history migrating long distances, legal residence records must be kept accurate so that hidden abuse cannot occur, such as is detailed in Global Woman. In the United States, this responsibility is and can be better met by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which takes up the slack for international agencies, including the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and United Nations. The latter three are required by law to keep their issuing of A-3 and G-5 visas confidential, for the privacy of the employer, who in these cases is an employee of these organizations, someone who has worked in developing countries and knows the economic situation of their domestic worker firsthand, an arrangement that should not lend itself to private abuse. The largest group of visa holders by far, the B-1, are prohibited legally from transferring from one employer to another, but the State Department does not keep records of the location of B-1 visa holders. Thus, it is practically impossible to locate a worker at risk of exploitation or enslavement, including unwanted sexual relations, especially when the worker cannot speak the developed country’s dominant language and is afraid to leave the employer, according to Zarembka (pp.145-46). Compounded with suffering in silence for fear of loss of legal status and subsequent deportation are the daily suffering of employers’ violation of promised rules. These violations include extending the worker’s day to 16 hours, wages lower than minimum wage, forcing employees to sleep with the family dog, violence, and confiscation of passports (p.147). In these ways, hope of a better quality of life, equality, and trust in human relations in the developed country is destroyed, creating a negative emotional deficit, rather than a reward, for the domestic worker, who has brought ‘caring,’ a positive emotional quality, as part of her package.

More deeply disturbing is the case of sex workers worldwide, who have even less human rights built into their contracts. One example given in depth by Bales is what occurs with conditions in Thailand. Geography has defined land use, and culture, for the hill tribes of the mountainous north. Historically, those without good land were forced to view their children as commodities in bad times, such as when a harvest failed. The custom was to sell a girl, never a boy. Since 1977, government policies have created an unprecedented lag in the economy of the mountainous north relative to the industrialization of the rest of the country. The price of consumer goods is met by an old source, where “one girl equals one television.”

Recent research in Bales’ study shows village girls’ naïve attitudes about what prostitution entails. A girl is lured into prostitution without really knowing what it is, because it is removed from village life. The girl thinks she is helping her family’s living conditions when a brothel’s agent draws up a contract with her parents, and that by example of the slightly older, young woman visiting her home, she also will be wearing nice clothes and have money. "The results of this thing called prostitution are good, she thinks," says Bales.

The reality of the debt burden induced by her pimp is too overwhelming to ever repay, because the original rules of the contract are bent. Enter money again coupled with lack of regulation of his part of it by the pimp, this regulation being within his power, on how much he controls as a percentage of the girl’s earnings, as long as the brothel gets its share (p.213). The girl is coerced, through beatings and rape at first as punishment for trying to run away, into having sex with 10 to 18 men per night, and later her expectation of the same is reinforced. The girl earns an equivalent of U.S. $15 per customer, or Thai 400 baht. The emotional cost to the girl is so devastating that over time and repeated exposure she becomes resigned to her fate, reduced to surviving it. One 15-year-old girl, a sex worker for a year, who is called Siri, mirrors this resignation in her comment to Bales when he tells her how pretty she looks in a photograph, how like a pop star, when she replies, “I’m no star; I’m just a whore, that’s all” (p.209). What hope can she have for a future with a chance to develop and use any other talent?

Greed for profit in the illegal prostitution trade results in the youngest looking and most pretty girls, like Siri, demanding a higher price. For those who cannot get a higher price for sex, their debt increases at a more precipitous rate. Even at Siri’s rate of 400 baht, she must have sex with 300 men per month for her room, which costs 30,000 baht, and for her food and drink, for medicine fees including HIV-testing, and for fines incurred if a customer is displeased. She is required to send 10,000 baht per month home to her parents, keeping this part of the original contract, and visit with family on holidays, both of which serve to keep her locked into prostitution, and a personal debt. With the increase in new relative wealth in Thailand over a shorter period of time than anything ever experienced in the Western world, and an ingrained cultural more in the dominant society there after the Thai kingdom connoting status among males if a man has sex with more than one woman, the demand for girls is always there and has increased in recent years (pp. 214-15).

A lesson to be learned from reading this book is that we in the developed world should ‘care’ to be grateful for assistance from domestic workers from poorer countries, and not carelessly dismiss circumstances that most of us have not personally grappled with in our home and family lives. In my opinion, to physically or even verbally abuse these women is indeed a transgression of what should be any individual’s universal human rights, especially to people who are developed world actors, educated to understand the concept of human rights, together with freedom. Any less humane behavior than the basic mutual civil respect we show our fellow citizens in our own developed world countries, which should be reciprocated, is contemptible, not indicative of our best possible human condition. With respect to sex workers, speaking honestly as a woman I find that the situation mentioned above suggests nothing more than wanton exploitation of one’s female resource within one’s country, and not for individual want of their product, sex.

Reading this book, I was depressed and angered at Siri’s emotional and physical plight, wondering what the odds are that she would escape infection from the AIDS virus, and death. I also imagined what other options were not available for her and could be. Why run away, if you could escape, when within your own country there was either no helping institution you could turn to, or you didn’t know of it, or know where to find it, or any country border you crossed would bring much of the same fate for a teenage girl, a female, not a male, and without an adult’s rights? With respect to sex workers and domestic workers, all global players from the country level to the individual need to assess their needs on a micro scale for adjustment to reasonable moderation in behavior so that the key word ‘caring,’ an emotional factor, is not lost from the human condition, which is what this book suggests is happening when degradation of the human female, either hidden or not, in private or in public, supplants it. I urge reading of this book by men and women everywhere, for the insight and factual scope of what is happening to Global Woman in various parts of the world brought by several perspectives of authors of both genders.

Paula Smith-Vanderslice, B.S., is copy editor of Hunger Notes.



Henry Kissinger's 1974 Plan for
Food Control Genocide

This article appeared as part of a feature in the December 8, 1995 issue of Executive Intelligence Review, and was circuclated extensively by the Schiller Insitute Food for Peace Movement. It is reprinted here as part of the package: “Who Is Responsible for the World Food Shortage?”
Kissinger’s 1974 Plan for Food Control Genocide
by Joseph Brewda
Dec. 8, 1995
On Dec. 10, 1974, the U.S. National Security Council under Henry Kissinger completed a classified 200-page study, “National Security Study Memorandum 200: Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests.” The study falsely claimed that population growth in the so-called Lesser Developed Countries (LDCs) was a grave threat to U.S. national security. Adopted as official policy in November 1975 by President Gerald Ford, NSSM 200 outlined a covert plan to reduce population growth in those countries through birth control, and also, implicitly, war and famine. Brent Scowcroft, who had by then replaced Kissinger as national security adviser (the same post Scowcroft was to hold in the Bush administration), was put in charge of implementing the plan. CIA Director George Bush was ordered to assist Scowcroft, as were the secretaries of state, treasury, defense, and agriculture.

The bogus arguments that Kissinger advanced were not original. One of his major sources was the Royal Commission on Population, which King George VI had created in 1944 “to consider what measures should be taken in the national interest to influence the future trend of population.” The commission found that Britain was gravely threatened by population growth in its colonies, since “a populous country has decided advantages over a sparsely-populated one for industrial production.” The combined effects of increasing population and industrialization in its colonies, it warned, “might be decisive in its effects on the prestige and influence of the West,” especially effecting “military strength and security.”

NSSM 200 similarly concluded that the United States was threatened by population growth in the former colonial sector. It paid special attention to 13 “key countries” in which the United States had a “special political and strategic interest”: India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Turkey, Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia. It claimed that population growth in those states was especially worrisome, since it would quickly increase their relative political, economic, and military strength.

For example, Nigeria: “Already the most populous country on the continent, with an estimated 55 million people in 1970, Nigeria's population by the end of this century is projected to number 135 million. This suggests a growing political and strategic role for Nigeria, at least in Africa.” Or Brazil: “Brazil clearly dominated the continent demographically.” The study warned of a “growing power status for Brazil in Latin America and on the world scene over the next 25 years.”
Food as a weapon
There were several measures that Kissinger advocated to deal with this alleged threat, most prominently, birth control and related population-reduction programs. He also warned that “population growth rates are likely to increase appreciably before they begin to decline,” even if such measures were adopted.

A second measure was curtailing food supplies to targetted states, in part to force compliance with birth control policies: “There is also some established precedent for taking account of family planning performance in appraisal of assistance requirements by AID [U.S. Agency for International Development] and consultative groups. Since population growth is a major determinant of increases in food demand, allocation of scarce PL 480 resources should take account of what steps a country is taking in population control as well as food production. In these sensitive relations, however, it is important in style as well as substance to avoid the appearance of coercion.”

“Mandatory programs may be needed and we should be considering these possibilities now,” the document continued, adding, “Would food be considered an instrument of national power? ... Is the U.S. prepared to accept food rationing to help people who can't/won't control their population growth?”

Kissinger also predicted a return of famines that could make exclusive reliance on birth control programs unnecessary. “Rapid population growth and lagging food production in developing countries, together with the sharp deterioration in the global food situation in 1972 and 1973, have raised serious concerns about the ability of the world to feed itself adequately over the next quarter of century and beyond,” he reported.

The cause of that coming food deficit was not natural, however, but was a result of western financial policy: “Capital investments for irrigation and infrastucture and the organization requirements for continuous improvements in agricultural yields may be beyond the financial and administrative capacity of many LDCs. For some of the areas under heaviest population pressure, there is little or no prospect for foreign exchange earnings to cover constantly increasingly imports of food.”

“It is questionable,” Kissinger gloated, “whether aid donor countries will be prepared to provide the sort of massive food aid called for by the import projections on a long-term continuing basis.” Consequently, “large-scale famine of a kind not experienced for several decades—a kind the world thought had been permanently banished,” was foreseeable—famine, which has indeed come to pass.
To read the entire NSSM 200 document, click here.
To read the full report from EIR Magazine, follow the link below:
Who Is Responsible for the World Food Shortage?

This article appeared in the December 8, 1995 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.
Who Is Responsible for the
World Food Shortage

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ARTICLES IN THIS FEATURE:
World Food Shortage Follows Imposed Import-Depencency
Kissinger's 1974 Plan for Food Control Genocide
The Windsors' Global Food Cartel:
Instrument for Starvation
Control by the Food Cartel Companies:
Profiles and Histories
The Cartel `Experts' Decide Who Eats

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Introduction
by Marcia Merry Baker

This week's cover photo, showing corn piled on the ground, out in the open, near Minnesota grain elevators, is representative of the disintegration of the food supply system the world over. While the U.S. Midwest corn and soybean harvests were coming in this fall, the U.S. rail freight system broke down. After years of financial mergers, asset stripping, and rail track removal, such companies as Union Pacific, which are considered to be financial "successes," failed miserably on the economic front, and could not even supply engines to move the grain cars. Millions of bushels of grain are sitting, rotting on the ground.

This grain transport breakdown is but one recent example of breakdown in the food supply in what is considered the most food-secure nation in the world, and illustrates the fact that "natural disasters"—bad weather, floods, droughts—are not the cause of the world's food crises. These examples, and equivalent situations all around the world, are "unnatural" disasters, caused by years of takedown of agriculture infrastructure under wrong policies and assumptions, in particular, serving the interests of private financial and commodities control circles, centered mostly in London.

The worldwide food crisis is measurable in the decline of grains, of all types, produced per capita yearly. To provide every person with a daily diet of their preference, with sufficient calories and nutrients, would require well over 3 billion tons of grain produced annually. But as of around 1990, less than 1.9 billion tons were being produced yearly, and since then, world annual production has declined.

An estimated 800 million people are suffering from some degree of malnutrition. Besides the nearly continentwide food supply crisis in Africa, there are other locations, such as Russia and former Soviet bloc nations, plunged into crisis. Even under the Soviet command economy, Russia's annual grain production averaged 100 million tons. But output has fallen each year since 1991, to only around 65 million tons this year.

No paradox
What does the international community say? Officially, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and sister U.N. agencies—the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and the World Trade Organization (WTO)—blame hunger on "poverty."

The FAO gala conference in Quebec City in October, for the FAO's 50th anniversary, celebrated the fact that world tonnages of food have increased over five decades, but lamented that 800 million people don't have enough to eat—a "paradox," according to the conference speakers. But most of the 100 or more agriculture ministers present knew better.

The last 25-30 years have seen a consistent decline of agriculture output potential in almost all countries. Necessary ratios of infrastructure (water, transport, electricity) and inputs (chemicals, mechanization, quality seeds and stock) have fallen, to the point where output per capita is sharply declining.

At mid-century, after World War II, there were mobilizations to improve agriculture output potential on every continent.

In western Europe, the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) of the European Community saw spectacular rises in agriculture productivity.


In Africa, the wave of newly independent nations, such as Sudan (1956), made technology-based agriculture the keystone of national development plans. The "Atoms for Peace" movement backed such designs as the continental electrification of Africa, and the provision of nuclear-power-based energy grids in Egypt, Iran, and other countries.


In North America, plans were drawn up for the North American Water and Power Alliance (Nawapa), which would divert river runoff from flowing into the Arctic Ocean, southward. The Mexico College of Engineers produced plans for sister hydraulic projects.


In Eurasia, blasting was started on Siberian water diversion projects to channel flow southward from the Ob and Irtysh watersheds, to relieve the endangered Aral Sea Basin.


Development of the Mekong River in Southeast Asia, and improvements in the Indian subcontinent, were outlined.
But by 1975, most of these projects were shelved. In the eyes of today's "countercultured" generation, they have receded into the mists of science fiction, if they've heard of these projects at all.

Over the 1970s, the shift was made to "post-industrial" policies, casino economics (speculation, derivatives), and free trade demands, enforced by the IMF Bretton Woods system. And now that financial system itself is in the process of blowout. The food crisis is the evidence.

Dozens of nations, once self-sufficient in many food staples, have been forced into food import dependency over the past 30 years. And now, neither the food stocks, nor the financing, exists for their food supplies. The GATT launched the "Uruguay Round" for free trade in 1986, under the slogan, "One World, One Market," which culminated in the creation in 1995 of the World Trade Organization. But the cupboard of the "World Market" is bare.

Nevertheless, in 1996, the U.N. plans another World Food Summit, on the theme of "food security," while millions more people go hungry.

Behind the scenes, the private financial interests served by the U.N., IMF, and other Bretton Woods agencies, are making sweeping moves to acquire food stocks for hoarding, and to take controlling positions in food commodities production, processing, and shipping.

This is the last phase of an era of food-as-a-weapon politics, officially ushered in in 1974, when then-U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (now Sir Henry KCMG) gave the keynote speech at the Rome World Food Conference, the predecessor to the 1996 Food Summit. In 1974, Kissinger publicly talked of food security, while privately he worked to use food control as a weapon against a target list of nations.

Name the names
In this Special Report, we have assembled the documentation required to understand the crisis situation in depth, in order to intervene, and reverse it.

We provide:

the statistical overview of the past 30 years of forcing food import dependency on nations;


the record of Henry Kissinger and the use of food control as a weapon;


the names of the companies and individuals who make up the financial and commodities cartels controlling food supply lines.
These reviews are not the usual representation of today's food crisis. The "common-sense" reasons for food shortages that you usually hear—bad weather, backwardness, civil strife, etc.—are all wrong.

Worse, the "authorities" on food and agriculture who are usually presented by the media, will tell you specific lies that have been pre-approved for public consumption by the financial and commodities cartel interests that created and continue to back such bogus authorities. For example, Lester Brown, of Worldwatch Institute, who spoke at the U.N. FAO 50th anniversary, is constantly in the media, charging that the world's population has outstripped the world's resources base, and demanding that population be cut because it cannot be fed. We supply the pedigree of Lester Brown, and other hired hands of the food cartels, so you know where the lies are coming from.

Emergency measures required
The information below (with more to come in follow-up reports in 1996), has been assembled in order to spur the mobilization for emergency financial and economic measures to deal with food shortages and the overall physical economic breakdown.

Several rear-guard actions were launched in 1995. They are well motivated, but they will not do the job. A bill is before Congress, sponsored by Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and others, to create a special commission to investigate control over the U.S. food supply by a "concentration" of processors. An Agriculture Department investigation is under way of the monopolistic actions of IBP, the Nebraska-based, London-associated, largest meat processor in the world. The Justice Department Anti-Trust Division has grand juries working on international price-fixing charges against the London-associated cartel companies Cargill Inc., ADM, Tate & Lyle (A.E. Staley), and CPC.

But dealing with the famine-scale food crisis, and financial disintegration, requires more than prosecution of isolated acts of wrongdoing, or mere "bigness." Read on, to find out what every citizen needs to know to do the right thing.

The Global Woman.
Michael Hick ~ Speaker, Author, International Business Builder
Thursday, 17th May 2007

How women will win in the international market -

Swiss born Linette Corbin was excited to be flying to Mumbai, India where her new job as Assistant Manager of Conventions and Banquets of the famous Taj Mahal Hotel was to start in five days time. Her years in the United States had polished her education and in her briefcase was a copy of her Masters of Hospitality Management degree from Conrad Hilton College at the University of Houston. She knew, however, that she was in for a massive culture shock and centuries of stereotype mindsets.

To say that her new colleagues were shocked when the blonde, fashionably dressed woman walked into the male dominated management offices at the Taj that morning would be an understatement. Amazement was followed by snide comments, followed by jokes, followed by outright resistance. Linette knew and expected all this; but she also knew how to handle it. She was a global woman, she knew how to counteract this negative nonsense, she would show them the magic of the 3 A’s rule.

Ability, Attitude and Adjustment.

1. Ability

There is a myth that western-based companies are reluctant to send women overseas. They are concerned that women will be poorly received in male dominated cultures and that they will have difficulty negotiating with male preponderance management in those cultures. This is as much a male dominant misreading, as it is a myth in the overseas cultures. The real truth is that in international business conditions and environments, a woman will be judged on her ability – probably more so than a man.

In fact, the biggest problem corporate women face in overseas work is not with men overseas, but rather with their own colleagues. Women returning from abroad report that the biggest barriers come from within the corporation, rather than from situations encountered during foreign assignments.

Once men are convinced of the capabilities of their female colleagues, they will offer the right support and cooperation that is so important to international projects. It is sheer ability, however, that will defeat these culture-based objections as well as establish their credibility with the foreign participants. Experience has shown that if women establish their competence, experience and authority, they will be taken seriously and treated with professional respect by foreign executives.

It is well known by overseas business people that American women play an ever increasingly important role in business. It is up to the American female manager to ‘sell’ her authority and her ability to the people she must deal with. Understanding the local culture, the perceived role of local women, and their place in society is all part of the cross-culture competence she has to learn. When this is thoroughly understood, it should not be hard to see what women must do to separate themselves from either the stereotype or the local perception.

2. Attitude

One of the principal keys to cross-culture competence is disallowing the behavior, practices and principals of a foreign culture to upset us and get to our emotions.

Recognizing that all cultures are different, the manager has to have a ‘give and take’ attitude when it comes to women’s rights in other cultures.

British political activist and advocate for women’s rights Lillian Osborne had risen through the bulletproof glass ceilings of the London banking world. She had written articles on feminist subjects and had at one time run for Parliament. One day she was asked to attend a meeting at the bank to meet a client from the oil rich Muslim state of Qatar. At the meeting she came out with criticism about women’s rights in the Islamic world. It immediately froze the conversation. The client was gracious and understanding, but the damage was done. No deal was made.

We may disagree about practices, and our perceptions of a culture may be tainted, but we are there for business and not to change an ancient culture. One has to learn not to take these things personally.


3. Adjustment

The fine line we sometimes have to walk when working with other cultures may present challenges to the global woman, particularly when the time comes for after business hours entertainment.

The cultural condition of personal space, for example, is sometimes a problem for Western women.

Westerners are comfortable standing at arm’s length from each other; Orientals position themselves even further apart, particularly with people they don’t know. Latin and Arab cultures like to stand close enough to make good eye contact, sometimes almost at ‘breath’ distance. Latins are ‘touching/feeling’ and love to hug perfect strangers. While Arab cultures like to be close, they will avert their eyes and avoid handshakes with women.

Social time is an essential part of doing overseas business and sometimes long drinking sessions are part of the program and the business culture. Maintain your poise. Use sound judgment and stick to your time or quantity limit – they are watching you.

The Japanese will expect you to remain serene, low-key and modest, the Latins and Russians will be concerned if you do not join in their boisterous behavior. This is not a time for “When in Rome, do as the Romans”, it is more of “When in Rome, be accommodating, but remember who you are.” The visiting female manager from the United States is still much of a novelty for most overseas executives, and upon their judgment will influence their opinion of American women for years to come.

Different rules

The global woman plays by a different set of rules. While not difficult, they are different from the ones played by men. She has an invaluable role in the building of international business, and because of her visibility, she can turn these apparent obstacles into substantial advantages and look forward to a highly successful career in the world of international management.

Linette Corbin recognized that, in India, she was dealing with a male dominated culture situation. She was traveling into his territory, so she had to make the rules of interaction. She decided how she would function and operate. Her rules were different from the normal rules applying in male-to-male engagement. Linette knew that business is human-to-human interaction the world over, therefore she had to make some different rules about human interaction.



Define your authority and your objectives before any appointment meeting.
If men from your company are going to the appointment, understand their role, brief them on yours and clarify the different roles in the meeting. Be sure that your own people will not ‘let you down’ in the meeting and will, in fact, support you and your definition.
Have the first meeting on neutral ground. Select a suitable venue and arrange it. Going to his office will mean that you have to follow his rules and protocol, speak his language and immediately be subservient.
During the meeting, demonstrate that you are his equal. Do this by showing your self-worth and your professionalism. Refer to the testimonials and referrals you have sent him, your business experience, travels, and knowledge of his country and culture. Do not refer to your children, family, friends, vacations, homes or husband unless he asks you.
Some cultures may find it embarrassing to ask why a woman is dealing with them. Say, “You may be wondering why a woman has been sent over here to deal with this issue. It is because I am the expert in……..”
Control the turf and set the limits. Be sure that the foreign businessman understands that you are an ‘asset’ of the company sent out to help the negotiations. Remind him that your job is to achieve the objectives of the business between them in an efficient, professional manner and that you carry company authority within certain limits and perimeters and nothing more.
Articulate the benefits he will obtain by dealing with you and going along with your plans. Make it quite clear what you personally bring to the table. Show him how he will gain in a manner that is appropriate to his culture. Overcome any objections he might have in dealing with a woman before he has an opportunity to do so
Feminine Power

The global woman accentuates the difference between herself and the culture she is visiting. The global woman builds in five tactical strategies that become second nature. These are:


Separation from the cultural stereotypes of women.
Definition of herself through personal image (appropriate business attire and accessories).
The definition of a strictly business relationship with clear limits.
The use of business conversation and behavior.
An understanding of the local culture and some of the language.Linette Corbin soon established her reputation and her personality. She became a leader in the Convention and Meeting industry in SE Asia and was able to develop substantial new international business for the Taj Group. Her hiring was a brave perhaps risky, chance for her employers – but it paid off handsomely.
As globalization gallops across the world, women have some of the great opportunities: the capacity for relationship development, empathy and easy humility; a natural inclination as teacher, nurturer and care giver all add up to some of the greatest qualities of cross-culture competence. The 21st century is theirs to manage if they so desire.

This article is reprinted with permission of the author who trains executives in global cross culture management skills and can be reached at global@michaelhick.com
http://www.4hoteliers.com/4hots_fshw.php?mwi=318



The Dravidian movement

By Gail Omvedt

``SO MANY movements have failed. In Tamil Nadu there was a movement in the name of anti-Brahmanism under the leadership of Periyar. It attracted Dalits, but after 30 years of power, the Dalits understand that they are as badly-off - or worse-off - as they were under the Brahmans. Under Dravidian rule, they have been attacked and killed, their due share in government service is not given, they are not allowed to rise.''

So says Dr. Krishnasami, leader of the militant movement of the Dalit community known as ``Devendra Kula Vellalas'' of southern Tamil Nadu and founder of a new political party, Puthiya Tamilakam. This sense of disillusionment with the Dravidian parties is pervasive among not only the Dalits but also many militant non-Brahmans as well. The anti-caste movements of the past, in Dr. Krishnasami's words, have failed to achieve their main goals. Mr. Thirumavalavan of the Liberation Panthers speaks of discrimination and atrocities against those who fight against the evil and adds: ``Castes keep their identity just as before, they don't intermarry, there are no longer any self-respect marriages.''

Like Dr. Krishnasami, he does not reject the goals of the movement, arguing ``the Dalit struggle has to be for the liberation of a nationality,'' and Hindutva should be opposed through Tamil nationalism. He feels that the existing Dravidian parties have betrayed the Dalits.

In Maharashtra also, militant non-Brahmans feel that ``Phule has failed.'' Militant Dalits discuss the reasons for the stagnation of their movement. There is widespread malaise. The spirit of the movement still exists, there are still activists committed to the cause but the public and political life of society, whether at a local level, where so many villages still maintain separate wells and separate drinking cups for the Dalits, or at the State or all-India level has not been transformed in the areas where the non-Brahman movements were the strongest.

In Tamil Nadu, the heights of corruption have been reached with a party calling itself ``Dravidian,'' while the major Dravidian parties are forming an alliance with the BJP. In Maharashtra, for all its progressive traditions, one of the most ferocious forms of Hindutva has been a ruling power for so many years. Police firing at Ramabai Nagar in Mumbai and the caste conflicts in southern Tamil Nadu show the persistence of the casteist attitude among even poor OBCs. It is not that there have been no gains but they have been so incomplete. In spite of the formal openness and some social mobility, caste continues to be highly correlated to both occupation and political power.

In spite of a powerful cultural challenge, the ``Vedic Sanskritic'' culture remains hegemonic in the very centres which mounted a challenge to it. There is a widespread assertion by the hitherto downtrodden and excluded communities throughout the country but the annihilation of caste remains a distant dream.

In Tamil Nadu, this failure contrasts with the apparent strength of the Dravidian parties. In Maharashtra, by the 1930s, the non- Brahman movement as a whole was absorbed into the Congress, with only Ambedkar leading an independent Dalit movement which saw itself as carrying on the heritage of Phule but was limited organisationally to the Dalits (and, among them, to the Mahars). In Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, Periyar's movement took on full force in the 1930s and 1940s, gathered people of all castes around it, made the commitment to women's liberation more of a mass force than Phule could, organised powerful mass campaigns against religious superstition and rather than vanishing into the ``mainstream,'' went on to found its own parties.

Why did the ideals fail in spite of an apparently powerful movement? Some will say the non-Brahman and Dravidian movements could not succeed because they were, in the end, ``bourgeois democratic.'' Some will point to the lack of a full economic and political vision - the movements focussed on ``identity'' issues but had no economic programme different from the Nehru Congress. Some will say the whole idea of a ``non-Brahman movement'' is an illusion since non-Brahmans are the immediate oppressors of the Dalits, their greatest enemy.

None of these explanations is sufficient. Let us begin with three assertions: that a strong movement would have achieved and developed its own political-economic vision, that traditional Marxism is insufficient because it has never confronted caste, never understood that ``Brahmanism'' (or the Brahmanic Social Order, as some put it) was a fundamental social structure and not simply an ideological effervescence, and that the Dalit and other non-Brahman unity is difficult but necessary and possible because the non-Brahmans also are oppressed by caste. On this basis some comparisons of the contributions and inadequacies of the non- Brahman movements in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, where they were historically the strongest, might help make a critical examination.

In many ways, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra had complementary strengths and weaknesses. Phule, in the 19th century, could give a founding thrust and powerful vision to a new movement but the conditions of the time prevented mass mobilisation. Ambedkar was, in the end, limited to being a ``Dalit leader'' - he could not galvanise the whole movement. This situation was remedied, in a sense, in Tamil Nadu with the emergence of Periyar, who had an all-encompassing vision for and commitment to the Dalits and women as well as a mass base among the majority non-Brahman castes. Yet, the strength of the Tamil movement was also its weakness. As no leader like Ambedkar emerged, the Dalit part of the overall movement remained weak; it seems there was no mass awakening or autonomous organising in the Dalit communities in the pre-independence period comparable to what happened in Maharashtra.

During the 1930s and 1940s, under Ambedkar's leadership, the Dalits in Maharashtra organised themselves. Their fight - and the militant activist youth growing up then were conscious of this - was against Brahmanism and the caste system but it was often the lower class non-Brahmans they confronted directly and physically. All the years, Ambedkar called upon the Maharashtrian non-Brahman leadership to unite in a strong alliance against ``capitalism and Brahmanism,'' His weekly Janata was giving details of atrocities carried out in fact by non-Brahman castes. In the ``Hindu-Mahar riots'' in Nagpur in the 1940s, the Dalits defended themselves with sticks, stones and daggers against the OBC ``Hindus'' provoked by nationalist propaganda to see the Ambedkarites as traitors. The Dalits not only defended themselves, they drove Gandhi himself off a stage in 1941 when some self-designated ``Harijans'' tried to organise his rally. In other words, the kind of battle for dignity being waged today against Thevars in southern Tamil Nadu was fought by the Mahars in the 1930s and 1940s in Maharashtra - but under a banner proclaiming that the main fight was for the transformation of all of India.

In this sense, it may be said the main problem is not whether the Dalit-other non-Brahman unity is possible; rather, that the Dalits in Tamil Nadu as in most other parts of India (including the non-Mahar Dalits in Maharasthra) are still fighting to achieve its preconditions, their own organisation and a recognition from other communities of their dignity.

The question still remains: once autonomy, self-respect and some empowerment are achieved for the most downtrodden, how will the movement go forward to seek a wider unity and the annihilation of caste? Here it is necessary to consider and reconsider the answer given by Periyar and the Tamil non-Brahman movement generally: that the way forward is through a kind of national liberation, a recognition of a positive alternative community which was taken to be a ``Dravidian'' identity or a ``Tamil'' national identity.

THE NON-BRAHMAN movements of western and southern India during the colonial period were the most powerful expressions of a pan- Indian upsurge that sought to confront and destroy the millennial-old caste hierarchy. Brahmanism had been given shape as the ideology of the ruling class in the middle of the first millennium BC, with an exclusive intelligentsia claiming cultural purity and sacredness. This ideology and the caste hierarchy it was linked to gained hegemony over its greatest rival, Buddhism, about a thousand years later. It succeeded in maintaining its dominance under vastly changed material conditions even during the colonial period and the 50 years of Independence, with the Congress representing the ``moderate'' and the Jan Sangh (now BJP) the ``extremist'' form of the Brahmanic ideology.
One aspect of its success was the ability of the elite to define the ``Indian'' identity in its own terms, claiming that the core of Indian culture lay in Sanskrit, the Vedic tradition and the Vedanta. Since the 19th century this has been projected as ``Hinduism.'' This was the ``Great Tradition,'' the national tradition. All other challenging cultural traditions, whether based on the masses of the Bahujans and the Dalits, or among the Adivasis or in linguistic-national identities, were relegated to regional or local ``Little Traditions.'' Devatas like Murugan or Vithoba were proclaimed as forms of Vishnu or Shiva; Adivasi religions today are similarly appropriated. The choice placed before the masses was and is ``Sanskritisation'' versus ``westernisation;'' no force has existed projecting a ``Dalit'' or ``Bahujan'' or ``Dravidian'' all-India identity.

The non-Brahman movements all sought, in their own way, to challenge the claim that Brahmanism provided a national culture. Phule, for example, fiercely criticising the elite claims to form an ``Indian National Congress'', wrote, ``According to the mischievous selfish religion of the Aryas, the cunning Aryabhat Brahmans take the ignorant shudras and Mahars as low; the ignorant Shudras take the ignorant Mahars as low and the ignorant Mahars take the ignorant Mangs as low. Since they all stopped inter-marriage and eating together, various customs of thinking and behaving, eating and drinking, rituals exist and they don't mix with each other. How can the empty unity of such an agglomeration lead to a `Nation' as an integrated people?''

The basic issue posed by Phule was that a nation could not even come into being without overcoming the major force separating and handicapping its citizens, caste; what was held up by the Brahmanised elite as the core of the national culture, in fact, destroyed national unity. Phule also realised that an alternative Indian culture had to be created as a mass culture. His efforts included projecting an alternative universalistic religion, creating alternative progressive marriage rituals and eulogising an original, equalitarian peasant community of ``non-Aryans,'' symbolised by the `rakshasa' king Bali. Yet his voice remained a regional one, limited to Marathi, its influence hardly spreading beyond Pune district in his own time, while the Indian National Congress of the Brahmanic elite established its organisation throughout India. ``Non-Aryan'' as an identity was too negative and vague to capture the imagination of the people, even in Maharashtra. Phule failed. The non-Brahman movement could not move beyond gaining a share of power for some of the non-Brahman elite.

Ambedkar, in turn, wrote in English and sought to build an all- India movement, focussing its fight on what he called in 1938 ``Brahmanism and capitalism.'' He tried to establish an alliance with non-Brahmans in Maharashtra; outside, he tried to unite with leaders such as Periyar and Swami Sahajanand of Bihar for a progressive, broad non-Congress alliance. His choice of Buddhism was linked to an analysis of millennial-old historical conflicts described in terms of ``revolution and counter-revolution in ancient India. ``Buddhism was seen as a choice not only for the Mahars but for the cultural regeneration of all of India, as indicated in changing the new name of his weekly Prabudda Bharat. His Republican Party, in turn, was projected as a party of all oppressed masses. Neither could transcend the social limits of the Mahar community of Maharashtra and a section of north Indian Chamars. Ambedkar also failed.

And the Dravidan movement? Periyar brilliantly made ``self- respect'' a mass movement, building up a powerful force involving activists drawn from all castes and from both men and women. And, in projecting a ``Dravidian'' identity and rooting it in what was perceived of as the culture of the Tamil people, he succeeded in giving a powerful political thrust to this mass-based social alternative.

Yet the Dravidian movement also failed in establishing itself as an alternative to the ``Vedic Aryan-Brahmanic'' force it despised. Not only did it lose its radical social thrust, which would have included the liberation of women and full human rights to the Dalits; it remained confined to Tamil Nadu. In focussing on Tamil national identity, the concept of a ``Dravidian'' civilisational identity was lost. Even the people of the other southern States were not ready to accept their identity as Dravidians, let alone the vast majority of people in Maharasthra, Orissa, Gujarat or elsewhere. In spite of the fact that the Dravidian (or ``Tamil'')-speaking Indus civilisation was based in northwest India, in spite of evidence everywhere of the ``non- Aryan'' (usually Dravidian, sometimes Austro-Asiatic or other) origin of popular religious cults and cultural practices throughout India and in spite of the fact that languages like Marathi are said by linguists to have a `Dravidian substratum,'' the majority of Indians will think of themselves as having primarily a Vedic-the Aryan heritage.

The consequences for the popular Indian culture are stark. African-Americans had a ``black is beautiful'' movement; but television and the cinema throughout India testify to the fact that for Indians still ``light is right.'' Dark-skinned girls feel they are not beautiful, and every religious serial on Doordarshan continues to show the ``gods'' as light-skinned and ``rakshasas'' as dark, without protest. It is not surprising that a large section of the Indian masses fail to recognise Mrs. Sonia Gandhi as ``foreign''; she looks like what they have been taught as the ideal of beauty.

At least part of the fault for this dismal situation should lie with the acceptance of racist themes even by the opponents of the ``Aryan'' racism. In turning the Aryan theory of race upside down and taking non-Aryans as superior, Phule did not confront its racial limitations. When Periyar attacked ``Aryan Brahmans'' as the enemy, it was as if all Brahmans were pure descendents of Aryans, as if no non-Brahman had any Aryan blood, leave aside the question of accepting the ``Aryan'' caste culture. He identified these with the north, expressing the conflict as one of ``north'' versus ``south.''

Ambedkar was much more farsighted on these issues, rejecting the ``Aryan-non-Aryan theory'' as a historical explanation and asserting that caste was vastly different from race. He carefully characterised the enemy not as ``Brahmans'' but as ``Brahmanism,'' which he harshly attacked but defined not in terms of a specific group and simply as ``the negation of the values of liberty, equality and fraternity.'' But Ambedkar is not heeded by many of his followers on this issue today. By falling victim to racist/chauvinist attitudes towards ``north Indians'' as a group and ``Brahmans'' as a whole, the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu condemned itself to remaining a sectoral force, powerful in its homeland but warped even there and severely handicapped in contributing to an all-India liberatory movement.
What fallout from Indian nuclear deal?
By Paul Reynolds
World affairs correspondent, BBC News website

Under deal, US accepts Indian status as nuclear weapons state
The nuclear deal between the United States and India raises major questions about the spread of nuclear weapons as well as illustrating India's new importance as a strategic American partner.

The deal was finally agreed by the US Senate on Wednesday, having previously been given approval by the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Under it, India is now able to receive supplies and technology for its growing nuclear power industry, ending a boycott imposed by nuclear supplier states (through the Nuclear Suppliers' Group) because it has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. India can keep and develop its nuclear weapons programme, but has to open up certain of its nuclear power plants to IAEA inspection.

IAEA view
For some, like the IAEA, it is the best of a bad situation, in that it at least gets India under a more substantial inspection regime than it is currently is subject to and raises the prospect of more to come. The IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said: "I believe the agreement is good for India, is good for the world, is good for non-proliferation, is good for our collective effort to move towards a world free from nuclear weapons."
However, critics argue that it has driven a wedge into the NPT because it in effect accepts that India has nuclear weapons while not being a signatory to the treaty and ends sanctions against it.

A 'disaster'
"It is a disaster for the non-proliferation regime," said Mark Fitzpatrick, nuclear expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
"The perception will be that it solidifies a double standard in favour of India. Pakistan, Iran and North Korea will use its as an excuse to carry on with their activities. Others, like Egypt for example, might in the future use this as an example for them as well.

"It will create a fear in Pakistan that India will outpace it. At the moment, they both have about 60 to 70 nuclear weapons, and are capable of making five to 10 more each year.

"This agreement will enable India to import uranium for its civilian nuclear energy plants and free up its own uranium for weapons, possibly increasing its capability by five to 10 times. India is excluding some of its nuclear plants from inspection which indicates that it wants to keep its options open.
"The Bush administration sold this as a non-proliferation benefit but oversold it and to make it so, both India and the US have to make a reality of the dormant proposed treaty to stop the production of fissile material.

"Iran meanwhile has made unexpectedly rapid progress in the enrichment of uranium. It is producing 2.5 kilos of low enriched uranium a day and could have enough to be able to produce sufficient highly enriched material for a nuclear weapon by next March, if it chose to do so." Iran says it will not do so.
Strong support
However there is strong support for the deal from the US and Indian governments. The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is paying a visit to India to mark the passage of the agreement. It seals the new relationship between the US and India, which was marked by coolness during the Cold War.

Philip H Gordon, Senior Fellow for US Foreign Policy at Brookings Institution in Washington, also argues in favour of the agreement and wrote: "Opponents of the deal insist that its approval would send the wrong message to other countries that are currently threatening the nuclear non-proliferation regime, such as Iran. In fact, the deal does not signal international indifference to proliferation.

"The pact shows that the international community is prepared to distinguish between countries that abide by, and are increasing co-operation with, the nuclear non-proliferation regime - like India - and those that defy it.
"In an ideal world, rejection of the nuclear deal would preserve the sanctity of the nuclear non-proliferation regime and make the world a safer place. In the world we live in, however, it would do little to prevent non-proliferation and significantly harm India, the United States, and their ability to do good things together."

Among the "good things" to be done "together" is expected to be the sale to India of US technology for nuclear power generation. Russia and France are also in line to sell India their nuclear power wares.

India certainly needs more generation capacity and a by-product of the agreement could be that global warming might be reduced if India becomes less reliant on coal for producing its electricity.
Paul.Reynolds-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7650209.stm
Commodities crumble weekly loss worst in 50 years

October 4, 2008 - 9:27AM

Gasoline, silver and corn drove commodities to their biggest weekly
decline in more than five decades on concern that a $US700 billion
($900 billion) financial rescue plan won't prevent a US recession,
dragging down global demand.??Futures measured by the Reuters/
Jefferies CRB Index of 19 raw materials tumbled 10% this week, the
most since at least 1956. President George W. Bush signed a financial-
company rescue bill into law today in a bid to stave off a US
recession as manufacturing weakened and the Labor Department said
employers cut the most jobs in five years in September.

Crude oil fell.??``Panic, risk aversion and liquidation of contracts
are characterizing the oil market as well as many other markets at the
moment,'' said Thina Saltvedt, a Nordea Bank AB analyst in Oslo.
``Prices are not only being set by fundamentals, but fears of how
crises in the financial sector may spread to other parts of the
economy.''??Crude oil slid 12% this week, the most since December
2004. The contract for November delivery slipped 9 cents, or 0.1%, to
settle at $US93.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after
touching $US91.30 earlier, the lowest in two weeks. The price fell
later in the day.

The UBS Bloomberg Constant Maturity Commodity Index of 26 raw
materials fell 10%, the most ever, amid skepticism that the financial
rescue plan won't do enough to stimulate economic growth and demand
for commodities.??UBS AG, the European bank hardest hit by the credit
crisis, said today it scaled down its commodities business and cut
jobs, retaining only the precious-metals operations, the commodity
indexing unit, and exchange-traded commodity derivatives trade.
`Demand destruction'??``If global equity markets continue to trend
lower, they should remain the overwhelming force and most commodities
are likely to suffer as demand destruction and economic contraction
become paramount,'' Michael McGlone, a director in commodity indexing
at Standard & Poor's in New York, said today in a report.

Copper rose in New York, capping five straight declining sessions,
while it still fell 13% for the week, the worst slide since at least
1988. Futures for December delivery climbed 6.25 cents, or 2.4%, to
$US2.69 a pound on the Comex division of the Mercantile Exchange.
``There are three commodities I watch for weakness: steel, iron ore
and copper and all continue to weaken,'' said Daniel Brebner,
executive director of commodity research at UBS AG in London. ``The
news flow is likely to continue to push those commodities in the same
direction over the near term.''

Employers eliminated 159,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department
said, 51% more than the median 105,000 forecast by economists in a
Bloomberg News survey. The jobless rate held at a five-year high of
6.1%, matching forecasts.

Commodities `under pressure'

A ``very weak'' non-farm payrolls number could see commodities
``remain under pressure,'' Walter de Wet, a Standard Bank Group Ltd.
analyst in Johannesburg, said in an e-mailed comment late yesterday.

Commodities also fell as the euro slumped 5.8% against the dollar, the
biggest one-week drop since the 15- nation currency was created in
1999, on signs that Europe's economy is slowing. Manufacturing
contracted in the U.K. at the fastest pace in 16 years last month,
while European retail sales fell an annual 1.8% rate in August and
France slipped into a recession in the third quarter, the first in 15
years.

Under the rescue law signed by President Bush today, companies can
sell illiquid assets to the government. The plan was designed to
unclog credit markets rocked by record home foreclosures and to
contain the spreading financial crisis.

Gasoline futures for November delivery fell 2.67 cents, or 1.2%, to
settle at $US2.2283 a gallon in New York, capping a 16% plunge for the
week, the most since at least 2005.

Silver futures for December delivery rose 20 cents, or 1.8%, to
$US11.32 an ounce in New York, rebounding from a 13% drop yesterday.
The metal still fell 16% for the week, the most since March.

Corn futures for December delivery were unchanged at $US4.54 on the
Chicago Board of Trade. Most-active futures fell 16% for the week, the
most since June 1986.

Bloomberg News

Chomsky: "The Majority of the World Supports Iran"
By Subrata Ghoshroy
October 3, 2008
http://www.alternet .org/audits/ 101290/chomsky% 3A_%
22the_majority_ of_the_world_ supports_ iran%22/

In an exclusive and wide-ranging interview, Chomsky discusses the
global politics of Iran's and India's attempts to become nuclear
powers.

On Wednesday night, in a vote of 86 to 13, the U.S. Senate passed a
historic nuclear deal with that will allow the United States to trade
with India in nuclear equipment and technology, and to supply India
with nuclear fuel for its power reactors. The deal is considered
hugely consequential by its supporters and opponents alike -- and a
significant victory for the Bush administration.

Last month, Subrata Ghoshroy, a researcher in the Science, Technology
and Global Security Working Group at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, met with Noam Chomsky in his office at MIT, where he is
the institute professor of linguistics. "Before we started our
discussion," Ghoshroy writes, "Professor Chomsky asked me to give him
a little background information. I told him that I was researching
missile defense, space weapons and the U.S.-India nuclear deal."
Ghoshroy is a longtime critic of the U.S. missile defense program and
a former analyst at the Government Accountability Office who in 2006
blew the whistle on the failure -- and attempted cover-up -- of a key
component of the program: a $26 billion weapon system that was
the "centerpiece" of the Bush administration' s antimissile plan.

Ghoshroy and Chomsky discussed the then-pending nuclear deal, which
would sanction trade hitherto prohibited by U.S. and international
laws because of India's refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty and the nuclear tests it conducted in 1998. Ghoshroy has
written several articles criticizing the U.S.-India deal as a triumph
of the business lobby -- an assessment Chomsky agreed with. He said
that Condoleezza Rice is actually on record admitting what is truly
behind this deal, which he characterized as a "non-proliferation
disaster."

Ghoshroy's subsequent conversation with Chomsky touched on a number
of interweaving topics, including: India and the importance of the
non-aligned movement; the myths of free trade and the so-
called "success" of neoliberalism; Washington's historic opposition
to promote new world economic and information orders; Latin America's
growing independence; the West's hypocrisy over Iran's nuclear
program -- and MIT's ironic role in it during the shah's regime; and,
finally, U.S. elections and the prospects for change.

The result is a two-part interview, the second of which will run on
AlterNet tomorrow. Part One begins with India, the Non-Aligned
Movement, and why a "majority of the world supports Iran." (The Non-
Aligned Movement, which consists of some 115 or more representatives
of "developing countries," originated at the Asia-Africa Conference
in Bandung, Indonesia, in 1955, which was convened mainly by newly
independent former colonies from Africa and Asia to develop joint
policies in international relations. Jawaharlal Nehru, then India's
prime minister, led the conference. There, "Third World" leaders
shared their similar problems of resisting the pressures of the major
powers, maintaining their independence and opposing colonialism and
neo-colonialism, especially Western domination. India continued its
vigorous participation and leadership role in NAM until the end of
the Cold War. For further reading, visit the NAM Web site.)

***

Subrata Ghoshroy: (Comparing India) with the situation in Latin
America, there is a lot more explicit stance (in Latin America)
against imperialism and toward independence.

Noam Chomsky: It exists (in India), but I think that India should be
in the lead, as it was in the l950s when it was in the lead in the
non-aligned movement.

SG: This is the tension in the Indian situation. The Indian
government, the Congress Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party, they
think NAM is anachronistic and a relic of the Cold War.

NC: I think that they are quite wrong. I think that it is a sign of
the future. The positions of the Non-Aligned Movement, and the South
Commission before it, and alongside of it, are pretty sound. A good
indication of how sound they are is they are almost entirely
suppressed in the West, which tells you a lot.

Take the question of Iranian enrichment. The U.S, of course, takes a
militant position against it, which is kind of ironic because the
same officials who are now having tantrums about it are the ones who
supported the same programs under the shah. MIT is right at the
center of that; I can remember in the l970s there was an internal
crisis at MIT when the institute authorities pretty much sold the
nuclear engineering department to the shah in a secret agreement. The
agreement was that the Nuclear Engineering Department would bring in
Iranian nuclear engineers, and in return, the shah would provide some
unspecified -- but presumably large -- amount of money to MIT.

When (this was) leaked, there was a lot of student protest and a
student referendum -- something like 80 percent of students were
opposed to it. There was so much turmoil, the faculty had to have a
large meeting. Usually faculty meetings are pretty boring things;
nobody wants to go. But this one, pretty much everybody came to it.
There was a big discussion. It was quite interesting. There were a
handful of people, of whom I was one, who opposed the agreement with
the shah. But it passed overwhelmingly. It was quite striking that
the faculty vote was the exact opposite of the student vote, which
tells you something quite interesting, because the faculty are the
students of yesterday, but the shift in institutional commitment had
a major impact on their judgments -- a wrong impact, in my opinion.
Anyway, it went through. Probably the people running the Iranian
program today were trained at MIT. The strongest supporters of this
U.S.-Iranian nuclear program were Henry Kissinger, Cheney and
Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz.

SG: This was right around Nixon?

NC: This was in the mid-'70s. Kissinger now says, "How can Iran be
pursuing a peaceful program when they have so much oil -- they don't
need nuclear energy." In 1975 he was saying the opposite. He was
saying, "Of course Iran has to develop nuclear energy. It cannot rely
upon its oil resources." Kissinger was asked by the Washington Post
why he had completely changed his judgment on this issue. He was
quite frank and honest. He said something like, "They were an ally
then, so they needed nuclear energy. Now they are an enemy, so they
don't need nuclear energy." OK, I appreciate honesty. It is ironic to
see this developing right now.

When you read the media on this, say the New York Times, the coverage
is uniform. "Iran is defying the world." "Iran is defying the
international community."

The fact of the matter is that the majority of the world supports
Iran. The non-aligned movement supports Iran. The majority of the
world is part of the non-aligned movement. But they are not part of
the world, from the U.S. point of view. It is a striking illustration
of the strength and depth of the imperial mentality. If the majority
of the world opposes Washington, they are not part of the world.
Strikingly, the American population is not part of the world. A large
majority of Americans -- something like 75 percent -- agree that Iran
has the right to develop nuclear energy, if it is not for nuclear
weapons. But they are not part of the world either. The world
consists of Washington and whoever goes along with it. Everything
else is not the world. Not the majority of Americans. Not the
majority of countries of the world.

All of this illustrates many things, among them the importance of the
non-aligned movement. Just as the South Commission was important, the
same is true of NAM. But the commission's important positions were
never quoted or mentioned; they were treated as insignificant. They
are not insignificant.

The same is true of NAM. India should be in the lead of ensuring that
the voice of what is euphemistically called "developing countries"
should be heard, should be influential and should be powerful. Not
just what comes out of Washington and London!

(In India), on one hand, there has been significant growth and
development in the past 20 years or so. On the other hand, the
internal problems are simply overwhelming. If you look at the human
development index, for example, when the neoliberal reforms, so-
called, began, India was 125th or so. Now it is 128th, the last time
I looked. Meaning that the fundamental internal problems of India
which are so overwhelming, when you just even walk the streets, have
clearly not been addressed. If you go to places like Hyderabad or
Bangalore, you see wonderful laboratories, high-tech industries,
software and a few miles away a sharp increase in peasant suicides
coming from the same source. The same social and economic policies
are driving both processes.

In places like West Bengal, there has been serious internal strife
over land rights and industrial development, and I don't think that
the Left has worked out a way to come to terms with that
constructively. On issues like the U.S.-India nuclear pact, from what
I read of the Left's positions, I have found them quite
disappointing. They seem to be opposing the pact on nationalist
grounds, that India might be surrendering some element of
sovereignty. But the real problem is quite different; it is a major
step toward undermining the Non-Proliferation Treaty -- as India's
refusal to join it and its secret bomb was in the first place. You
know that India does have a tradition about disarmament and non-
alignment and so on going back to Nehru, of pressing for nuclear
disarmament, non-alignment and so on, and the U.S.-India pact is
directly counter to that honorable tradition. And I would have
expected the Left to be emphasizing this.

SG: And what you are saying is that this is where the Left should be
much more vocal and active?

NC: To an extent, they are. It is very hard to break through Western
propaganda. This was dramatically true in the l970s, in the early
period of decolonization, when there were calls for a new
international economic order, a new information order -- a
restructuring of the world to give the voiceless some voice. The
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was an
important institution at the time. UNESCO was pressing for an
international information order in which the Third World would have a
voice. There was bitter opposition to that here. It was really brutal
here; UNESCO was practically destroyed.

SG: And the U.S. left UNESCO for a while?

NC: First it practically destroyed UNESCO, and then it left it for a
long time. Media and commentators were full of outright lies about
how UNESCO was trying to destroy freedom of the press, and so on and
so forth. What they were trying to do, very clearly, was to break the
Western monopoly and to allow independent voices to appear. That is
intolerable to Western intellectual communities. We have to have an
absolute monopoly; otherwise it violates freedom.

There is quite a good book on this running through the details. It is
called Hope and Folly, and it could never be reviewed, because of the
devastating story that it tells about the efforts of the media and
the intellectual community and so on to destroy UNESCO out of fear
that it might open the international communications system to Third
World voices. Take a look at the book -- it is very devastating, and
what happened is incredible.

The same thing happened with the new international economic order.
Instead of a new international economic order of the kind that UNCTAD
was pressing for, which made a lot of sense, what happened was the
opposite. That's when the West -- with U.S. and Britain in the lead --
rammed through neoliberal programs, which have been pretty much of a
disaster. International economists often say it has been a great
success, pointing to average growth rates and the rise out of poverty
during the past 30 years. That is a scam. The rising growth rates and
rise out of poverty are primarily from China. But China was not
following neoliberal rules. They were pursuing a policy of export
orientation with a state-directed economy. State-directed export
orientation is not the Washington consensus. Muddling the two things
together is real dishonesty.

SG: I see. Because of sheer numbers in China? A billion Chinese are
growing …

NC: If you have a billion Chinese who are growing, the average growth
rate increases. So you have an increase in average growth rate mainly
through the efforts of countries that are not following the rules.
The same is true of India. One of the reasons that India escaped the
Asian financial crisis was that it maintained financial controls.

SG: Right, which would not be the case anymore.

NC: Not anymore. But in that period (it was the case). It escaped the
disaster that took place. Take South Korea: It has had spectacular
growth. It is heralded as a success of neoliberal principles. That is
not even a bad joke. In South Korea, the controls over capital were
so strict that a capital export could bring the death penalty. What
does that have to do with neoliberalism? It was a state-directed
economy, more or less on the Japanese model. Incidentally, just to
make the irony even more extreme, one of the leading state-based
economies in the world is the United States. Surely, everyone at MIT
knows that. What pays their salaries? MIT is part of the funnel by
which the taxpayer pays the costs and takes the risks of high-tech
development, and the profits are ultimately privatized.

SG: Absolutely.

NC: That's where you get computers and Internet and the biotech. The
entire high-tech economy almost derives from the dynamic state sector.

From: Travis
Date: Thu, Oct 2, 2008
Subject: Al Qaeda and the Tale of Two Battlespaces




http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20081001_al_qaeda_and_tale_two_battlespaces

Al Qaeda and the Tale of Two Battlespaces
October 1, 2008 | 1943 GMT



By Fred Burton and Scott Stewart
Over the last year or so, a lot of debate has arisen over the physical strength of al Qaeda. Some experts and government officials believe that the al Qaeda organization is now stronger than at any time since the 9/11 attacks, while others believe the core organization has lost much of its leadership and operational capability over the past seven years. The wide disparity between these two assessments may appear somewhat confusing, but a significant amount of the difference between the two can be found in the fundamental way in which al Qaeda is defined as an entity.
Many analysts supportive of the view that al Qaeda has strengthened tend to lump the entire jihadist world into one monolithic, hierarchical organization. Others, like Stratfor, who claim al Qaeda's abilities have been degraded over the years, define the group as a small vanguard organization and only one piece of the larger jihadist pie. From Stratfor's point of view, al Qaeda has evolved into three different — and distinct — entities. These different faces of al Qaeda include:
The core vanguard group: Often referred to by Stratfor as the al Qaeda core, al Qaeda prime or the al Qaeda apex leadership, this group is composed of Osama bin Laden and his close trusted associates. These are highly skilled, professional practitioners of propaganda, militant training and terrorism operations. This is the group behind the 9/11 attacks.
Al Qaeda franchises: These include such groups as al Qaeda in Iraq and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Although professing allegiance to bin Laden, they are independent militant groups that remain separate from the core and, as we saw in the 2005 letter from al Qaeda core leader Ayman al-Zawahiri to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, there can be a great deal of tension and disagreement between them and the al Qaeda core. These regional franchises vary in size, level of professionalism and operational capability.
The broader grassroots jihadist movement: This group includes individuals and small cells inspired by al Qaeda but who, in most cases, have no contact with the core leadership.
Stratfor's Current Assessment of al Qaeda
We believe, as we did last summer, that the core al Qaeda group has weakened and no longer poses the strategic threat to the U.S. homeland that it did prior to 9/11. However, this does not mean it is incapable of re-emerging under less pressured circumstances.
On the franchise level, some groups — such as AQIM, the Yemen franchises and the franchises in Pakistan and Afghanistan — have gained momentum over the past few years. Others — such as those in Iraq, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, the Sinai Peninsula and Morocco — have lost steam. In our estimation, this ebb and flow has resulted in a constant threat on the franchise level, though the severity has migrated geographically as groups wax and wane in specific regions. The franchises have done little to expand their operations outside of their regions of interest and to conduct attacks against the "far enemy" — that is, attacks in the United States or Europe.
At the grassroots level, homegrown jihadists have posed a fairly consistent, though lower-level, threat. In the past, we have said that these jihadists think globally, but act locally. While there are far more grassroots jihadists than there are militants in the al Qaeda franchises and vastly more than in the small al Qaeda core, the grassroots jihadists tend to be highly motivated, but poorly equipped to conduct sophisticated terror attacks.
Beyond the Physical Battlefield
We believe that any realistic analysis of al Qaeda's strength must assess more than a basic head count of militants willing and able to conduct attacks. As we have noted previously, there are two battlespaces in the war against jihadism: the physical and the ideological. Although the campaign against al Qaeda has caused the core group to become essentially marginalized in the physical battlespace, the core has undertaken great effort to remain engaged in the ideological battlespace.
In many ways, the ideological battlespace is more important than the physical battlespace in the war against jihadism, and in the jihadists' war against the rest of the world. It is far easier to kill people than it is to kill ideologies. We have recently seen this in the resurgence of Bolivarian Revolution ideology in South America, despite the fact that Simon Bolivar, Karl Marx and Ernesto "Che" Guevara are long dead and buried. Ideology is the decisive factor that allows jihadists to recruit new fighters and gather funding for militant and propaganda operations. As long as the jihadists can recruit new militants, they can compensate for the losses they suffer on the physical battlefield. When they lose that ability, their struggle dies on the vine. Because of this, al Qaeda fears fatwas more than weapons. Weapons can kill people — but fatwas can kill the ideology that motivates people to fight and finance.
We are not the only ones who believe the ideological battlespace is critical. A video released earlier this month by al Qaeda mouthpiece As-Sahab entitled "The Word is the Word of Swords," one of al Qaeda's leading religious authorities, Abu Yahya al-Libi emphasized this point from within the network.
In the video, al-Libi said the jihadist battle "is not waged solely at the military and economic level, but is waged first and foremost at the level of doctrine." He also said that his followers are in a war against an enemy that "targets all strongholds of Islam and invades the minds and ideas in the same way it invades lands and dares to destroy beliefs and meddle with the sacred things in the same way it dares to spill blood."
Interestingly, although the video recording is dedicated to detailing the preparations for the attack on the Danish Embassy in Islamabad, the bulk of the 64-minute video addresses the ideological war against al Qaeda and how "true Islam" has been undermined by leaders such as King Abdullah and the Saudi religious establishment.
In an ironic twist, the progress of the combatants is easier to assess in the ideological rather than physical battlespace — largely because most militants plotting terror attacks attempt to stay invisible until they launch their operations, while the ideological battle is for the most part conducted in plain sight.
One such visible indication on the ideological battlefield was a book written by al Qaeda's number two man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, which was released in March. The book — known as "The Exoneration" — is a long response to a book written by Sayyed Imam al-Sharif. Also known as Dr. Fadl, al-Sharif is an imprisoned Egyptian radical and a founder (with al-Zawahiri) of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
Published in 2007, al-Sharif's book, "Rationalizing Jihadist Action in Egypt and the World," provides theological arguments that counter many of the core jihadist teachings. Included among those teachings is the concept of takfir, or the practice of declaring a Muslim to be an unbeliever in order to justify an attack against him. Al-Sharif also spoke out against killing non-Muslims in Muslim countries and attacking members of other Muslim sects.
Al-Sharif was a significant player in the development of the jihadist theology that shaped the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) and eventually, through al-Zawahiri and other EIJ members who became influential members of al Qaeda, al-Sharif's concepts became instrumental in shaping the ideology of jihadism as promulgated by al Qaeda. One of his books, "The Essentials of Making Ready for Jihad," was reportedly required reading for all new jihadist recruits at al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The renunciation of jihadist ideology by such a pivotal figure was a significant threat — one serious enough to spur al-Zawahiri's refutation.
The Saudi ulema or Muslim scholars and former jihadist ideologues are not the only people assailing the ideology of jihadism. Of course, Western figures, such as Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders have been highly critical of jihadism. But these outsiders have little ability to sway Muslim opinion on the street — a critical objective in fighting the ideological battle. In recent years, however, we have seen more Muslim figures speak out against jihadism, which they believe is a perversion of Islam. However, criticism is not without danger. Figures such as Egyptian political analyst Diaa Rashwan have been threatened with death because of their criticism of al Qaeda and jihadist ideology.
In addition to the previously discussed video, As-Sahab has released two other lengthy videos this month. The first, to commemorate the 9/11 anniversary, was called "The Harvest of Seven Years of Crusades." The second, called "True Imam," was released Sept. 29. Essentially, it was a tirade against the government of Pakistan and a tribute to Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who was killed in the July 2007 storming of the Red Mosque in Islamabad by the Pakistani military.
Overlap
Sometimes, things that emerge in the ideological battlespace can provide indications of important developments in the physical battlespace.
For example, one of the As-Sahab videos featured clips of Mustafa abu al-Yazid (aka Sheikh Said al-Masri). An Egyptian al Qaeda military commander, al-Yazid had reportedly been killed in an Aug. 8 operation in Bajaur. But since al-Yazid makes reference in the video to the Aug. 18 resignation of former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, he obviously was not killed 10 days earlier.
Two others noticeably absent from these three videos were Osama bin Laden and Adam Gadahn. Bin Laden, who has not been heard from since a May 18 audio message, is once again rumored to be dead. Gadahn may also be dead, according to rumors that he was killed in a January airstrike in Pakistan's North Waziristan agency in which senior al Qaeda military commander Abu Laith al-Libi was killed. Gadahn, who has appeared in several al Qaeda video messages since emerging on the scene in 2004, has been conspicuously absent from the organization's propaganda since the January strike.
Typically, al Qaeda has been fairly forthcoming in "declaring the martyrdom" of fallen commanders like al-Libi. The death of a central figure such as bin Laden, however, could be seen as severely detrimental to the jihadist world's morale. Therefore, the group could be motivated to conceal his death. If bin Laden is still alive, however, we anticipate a message from him by the U.S. presidential elections Nov. 4, given his appearance before the 2004 presidential elections.
It would be somewhat out of character, however, for al Qaeda to avoid publicizing the death of a lesser figure such as Gadahn. With all the rumors circulating about jihadists seeking to use European-looking operatives in attacks against the West, one wonders if the silence regarding the American-born jihadist's fate is designed to keep U.S. authorities in suspense — or if it is a real indication that Gadahn is alive and has left his post in the ideological battlespace in order to go operational on the physical battlefield.
Of course, the fate of these individuals, even a central figure such as bin Laden, is not nearly as important as the fate of the ideology. And we will continue to focus on the ideological battlefield for significant developments there.
One place that needs to be watched carefully is Pakistan, where events like the Red Mosque operation and the assassination of Benazir Bhutto have potentially sown the seeds for a ripe ideological harvest for both sides. It will be important to watch and see if the Marriott bombing will, as some claimed, prove to be a watershed event that marks a change in public opinion capable of rallying popular support against the jihadist ideology in Pakistan.
Singur represents wider debates of democracy, development
23 Sep, 2008, 0307 hrs IST,Shiv Vishvanathan,
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Comments__Analysis/Singur_represents_wider_debates_of_democracy_development/articleshow/3515547.cms
Democracy can sometimes become the dialogue of the deaf, where we have a plurality of viewpoints but little conversation or negotiation between thes
e worldviews.
The Singur plant has produced its quota of violence and hysteria but as this phase wraps up, what one feels is a sense of the unsaid. Today we realise that democracy has to be a shareholder and a stakeholder game. I believe it is the slippage between the two that reveals one of the deep problems of Singur as a democratic drama.
Let us treat Singur as a fable of modernisation. Singur is not a history-less struggle. Behind it stands the experiences of Balliapal, Narmada, Singranli. These struggles over industrialisation and modernisation have had a history which is not often found in text books of development.
In fact voice, memory and world view become crucial parts of any Singur-like fable. It needs the literary power and the sociological imagination of a Mahasweta Devi to understand why Singur happened. All too often industrialisation which comes in the guise of a ACC plant or a Birla factory has meant the rape of the countryside. The tribals and peasants who own the land find their way of life marginalised.
The standard terms ‘compensation’ and ‘participation’ don’t do adequate justice to the situation. Compensation as money or as an alternative piece of land does not provide a measure for a way of life. When you lose control of land, you lose control of a way of life.
The decisions that are crucial may be made miles away with little possibility of appeal. Participation is a strange word because what participation invites you to do is to engage in a new and different world. The frames are already different.
Time and again in the history of struggles around displacements created by dams and factories, the defeated and marginalised have been forgotten. It is almost as if any appeal to rights or alternative development falls on deaf ears.
Singur as a struggle claims as members many of the leaders and NGOs who have participated in such struggles. Many sound screechy and fundamentalist but modernisation and progress are also terms which carry their own bag of intolerance. Politics carried out in these names often hide their genocidal quotient.
Now consider the other side of the story. There is India’s most respected firm, the Tatas, led by a dynamic chairman, Mr Ratan Tata. For those who grew up in Jamshedpur, it was the ideal welfare society, India’s Sweden in microcosm.
If you talk to the employees and their children, Jamshedpur comes close to being a living utopia. But if one asked tribals in the Dalma Hills and around the Tata mines at Jarasguda, the sense of exploitation was explicit. Yet Tatas for many was the ideal employer: efficient, considerate, innovative and caring.
During the Singur debate, Ratan Tata made some outstanding arguments. He claimed that the Tata investment in Singur was not a “hypocritical investment.” He added that Tatas were suspending activities because their employees were being intimidated. Safety was always a Tata priority.




Women in India
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The status of women in India has been subject to many great changes over the past few millennia. From a largely unknown status in ancient times through the low points of the medieval period, to the promotion of equal rights by many reformers, the history of women in India has been eventful.

Contents
[hide]
1 History
1.1 Ancient India
1.2 Medieval period
1.3 Historical practices
1.4 British rule
2 Independent India
2.1 Timeline
3 Culture
4 Education and economic development
4.1 Education
4.2 Workforce participation
4.3 Land and property rights
5 Crimes against women
5.1 Sexual Harassment
5.2 Dowry
5.3 Female infanticides and sex selective abortions
5.4 Domestic violence
5.5 Trafficking
6 Other concerns
6.1 Health
6.2 Family planning
7 Notable Indian women
7.1 Arts and entertainment
7.2 Sports
7.3 Politics
7.4 Literature
7.5 Other fields
8 See also
9 References
10 Bibliography
11 External links



[edit] History

[edit] Ancient India
Some scholars believe that in ancient India, the women enjoyed equal status with men in all fields of life.[1] However, some others hold contrasting views.[1] Works by ancient Indian grammarians such as Patanjali and Katyayana suggest that women were educated in the early Vedic period.[2][3] Rigvedic verses suggest that the women married at a mature age and were probably free to select their husband.[4] Scriptures such as Rig Veda and Upanishads mention several women sages and seers, notably Gargi and Maitreyi.[5]

Some kingdoms in the ancient India had traditions such as nagarvadhu ("bride of the city"). Women competed to win the coveted title of the nagarvadhu. Amrapali is the most famous example of a nagarvadhu.

According to studies, women enjoyed equal status and rights during the early Vedic period.[6] However, later (approximately 500 B.C.), the status of women began to decline with the Smritis (esp. Manusmriti) and with the Islamic invasion of Babur and the Mughal empire and later Christianity curtailing women's freedom and rights.[7]

Although reformatory movements such as Jainism allowed women to be admitted to the religious order, by and large, the women in India faced confinement and restrictions.[6] The practice of child marriages is believed to have started from around sixth century.[8]


[edit] Medieval period


Krishna at Goddesss Radharani's feet
The Indian woman's position in the society further deteriorated during the medieval period.[7][1] Sati, child marriages and ban on widow remarriages became part of social life in India. The Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent brought the purdah practice in the Indian society. Among the Rajputs of Rajasthan, the Jauhar was practised. In some parts of India, the Devadasis or the temple women were sexually exploited. Polygamy was widely practised esp. among Hindu Kshatriya rulers.[8] In many Muslim families, women were secluded to Zenana.

In spite of these conditions, some women execeled in the fields of politics, literature, education and religion.[7] Razia Sultana became the only woman monarch to have ever ruled Delhi. The Gond queen Durgavati ruled for fifteen years, before she lost her life in a battle with Mughal emperor Akbar's general Asaf Khan in 1564. Chand Bibi defended Ahmednagar against the mighty Mughal forces of Akbar in 1590s. Jehangir's wife Nur Jehan effectively wielded imperial power and was recognized as the real force behind the Mughal throne. Shivaji's mother, Jijabai was deputed as queen regent, because of her ability as a warrior and administrator. In South India, many women administered villages, towns, divisions and heralded social and religious institutions.[8]

The Bhakti cults tried to restore women's status and questioned some of the forms of oppression.[6] Mirabai, a female saint-poet, was one of the most important Bhakti movement figures. Some other female saint-poets from this period include Akkamadevi, Rami Janabai and Lal Ded.

Bhakti sects within Hinduism such as the Mahanubhav, Varkari and many others were principle movements within the Hindu fold to openly advocate social justice and equality between men and women.

Jahanara Begum and Princess Zebunnissa were well-known poetesses and they also influenced the ruling administration.

Shortly after the Bhakti movement, Guru Nanak, the first Guru of Sikhs also preached the message of equality between men and women. He advocated that women be allowed to lead religious assemblies; to perform and lead congregational hymn singing called Kirtan or Bhajan; become members of religious management committees; to lead armies on the battlefield; have equality in marriage, and equality in Amrit (Baptism). Other Sikh Gurus also preached against the discrimination against women.

See also: Women in Sikhism

[edit] Historical practices
Traditions such as sati, jauhar, child marriage, and devadasi have been banned and are largely defunct. However, some cases of these practices are still found in remote parts of India. The purdah is still practised by many Indian women.

Sati
Sati is an old, largely defunct custom, in which the widow was immolated alive on her husband's funeral pyre. Although the act was supposed to be a voluntary on the widow's part, it is believed to have been sometimes forced on the widow. It was abolished by the British in 1829. There have been around forty reported cases of sati since independence.[9] In 1987, the Roop Kanwar case of Rajasthan led to The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act.[10]
Jauhar
Jauhar refers to the practice of the voluntary immolation of all the wives and daughters of defeated warriors, in order to avoid capture and consequent molestation by the enemy. The practice was followed by the wives of defeated Rajput rulers, who are known to place a high premium on honour.
Child marriages
Earlier, child marriages were highly prevalent in India. The young girls would live with their parents till they reached puberty. In the past, the child widows were condemned to a life of great agony, shaving heads, living in isolation, and shunned by the society.[11] Although child marriage was outlawed in 1860, it is still a common practice in some underdeveloped areas of the country.[12]
Purdah
Purdah is the practice of requiring women to cover their bodies so as to cover their skin and conceal their form. It imposes restrictions on the mobility of women, it curtails their right to interact freely and it is a symbol of the subordination of women. It does not reflect the religious teachings of either Hinduism or Islam, contrary to common belief, although misconception has occurred due to the ignorance and prejudices of religious leaders of both faiths.
Devadasis
Devadasi is a religious practice in some parts of southern India, in which women are "married" to a deity or temple. The ritual was well established by the 10th century A.D.[13] In the later period, the illegitimate sexual exploitation of the devadasis became a norm in some parts of India.

[edit] British rule
European scholars observed in the 19th century Hindu women are "naturally chaste" and "more virtuous" than other women.[14] During the British Raj, many reformers such as Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Jyotirao Phule etc. fought for the upliftment of women. Raja Rammohun Roy's efforts led to the abolition of the Sati practice in 1829. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's crusade for the improvement in condition of widows led to the Widow Remarriage Act of 1856. Many women reformers such as Pandita Ramabai also helped the cause of women upliftment.

Rani Lakshmi Bai, the Queen of Jhansi, led the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the British. She is now widely considered as a nationalist hero. Begum Hazrat Mahal, the co-ruler of Awadh, was another ruler who led the revolt of 1857. She refused the deals with the British and later retreated to Nepal. The Begums of Bhopal were also few of the notable female rulers during this period. They did not observe purdah and were trained in martial arts.

Chandramukhi Basu, Kadambini Ganguly and Anandi Gopal Joshi were few of the earliest Indian women to obtain educational degrees.

In 1917, the first women's delegation met the Secretary of State to demand women's political rights, supported by the Indian National Congress. The All India Women's Education Conference was held in Pune in 1927.[6] In 1929, the Child Marriage Restraint Act was passed, stipulating fourteen as the minimum age of marriage for a girl through the efforts of Mahomed Ali Jinnah.[15][6] Though Mahatma Gandhi himself married at the age of thirteen, he later urged people to boycott child marriages and called upon the young men to marry the child widows[11]

Women played an important part in India's independence struggle. Some of the famous freedom fighters include Bhikaji Cama, Dr. Annie Besant, Pritilata Waddedar, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Anjali Ammal, Aruna Asaf Ali, Sucheta Kriplani and Kasturba Gandhi. Other notable names include Muthulakshmi Reddy, Durgabai Deshmukh etc. The Rani of Jhansi Regiment of Subhash Chandra Bose's Indian National Army consisted entirely of women including Captain Lakshmi Sahgal. Sarojini Naidu, a poet and a freedom fighter, was the first Indian woman to become the President of the Indian National Congress and the first woman to become the governor of a state in India.


[edit] Independent India
Women in India now participate in all activities such as education, politics, media, art and culture, service sectors, science and technology, etc.[7]

The Constitution of India guarantees to all Indian women equality (Article 14), no discrimination by the State (Article 15(1)), equality of opportunity (Article 16), equal pay for equal work (Article 39(d)). In addition, it allows special provisions to be made by the State in favour of women and children (Article 15(3)), renounces practices derogatory to the dignity of women (Article 51(A) (e)), and also allows for provisions to be made by the State for securing just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief. (Article 42).[16]

The feminist activism in India picked up momentum during later 1970s. One of the first national level issues that brought the women's groups together was the Mathura rape case. The acquittal of policemen accused of raping a young girl Mathura in a police station, led to a wide-scale protests in 1979–1980. The protests were widely covered in the national media, and forced the Government to amend the Evidence Act, the Criminal Procedure Code and the Indian Penal Code and introduce the category of custodial rape.[16] Female activists united over issues such as female infanticide, gender bias, women health, and female literacy.

Since alcoholism is often associated with violence against women in India,[17] many women groups launched anti-liquor campaigns in Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and other states.[16] Many Indian Muslim women have questioned the fundamental leaders' interpretation of women's rights under the Shariat law and have criticized the triple talaq system.[6]

In 1990s, grants from foreign donor agencies enabled the formation of new women-oriented NGOs. Self-help groups and NGOs such as Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) have played a major role in women's rights in India. Many women have emerged as leaders of local movements. For example, Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan.

The Government of India declared 2001 as the Year of Women's Empowerment (Swashakti).[6] The National Policy For The Empowerment Of Women came was passed in 2001.[18]

In 2006, the case of a Muslim rape victim called Imrana was highlighted in the media. Imrana was raped by her father-in-law. The pronouncement of some Muslim clerics that Imrana should marry her father-in-law led to wide-spread protests and finally Imrana's father-in-law was given a prison term of 10 years, The verdict was welcomed by many women's groups and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board.[19]


[edit] Timeline
The steady change in their position can be highlighted by looking at what has been achieved by women in the country:

1905: Suzanne RD Tata becomes the first Indian woman to drive a car.[20]
1916: The first women's university, SNDT Women's University, was founded on June 2, 1916 by the social reformer Dhondo Keshav Karve with just five students.
1927: The All India Women's Conference was founded.
1994: Harita Kaur Deol becomes the first Indian woman to perform a solo flight.
1951: Prem Mathur becomes the first Indian women commercial pilot of the Deccan Airways
1959: Anna Chandy becomes the first Indian woman Judge of High Court[21]
1966: Captain Durga Banerjee becomes the first Indian woman pilot of the state airline, Indian Airlines.
1966: Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay wins Ramon Magsaysay award for community leadership.
1966: Indira Gandhi becomes the first woman Prime Minister of India
1970: Kamaljit Sandhu becomes the first Indian woman to win a Gold in the Asian Games
1972: Kiran Bedi becomes the first female recruit to join the Indian Police Service.[22]
1989: Justice M. Fathima Beevi becomes the first woman judge of the Supreme Court of India.[23]
November 1997: Kalpana Chawla becomes the first Indian woman to go into Space.[24]
September 21, 1992: Priya Jhingan becomes the first lady cadet to join the Indian Army (later commissioned on March 6, 1993)[25]
2004: Punita Arora becomes the first woman in the Indian Army to don the highest rank of Lt General.
2005: Manndhir Rajput, a 34-year-old woman from Ludhiana, Punjab becomes the first Indian woman to become an engine driver of trains with the New South Wales Rail Corporation, Australia.[26]
2007: Pratibha Patil becomes the first woman President of India.

[edit] Culture
Sari (a single piece of a long cloth wound around the body) and salwar kameez are worn by women all over India. Bindi is part of the women's make-up. Traditionally, the red bindi (or sindhur) was worn only by the married Hindu women, but now it has become a part of women's fashion.[27]

Rangoli (or Kolam) is a traditional art very popular among Indian women. Popular women's magazines include Femina, Grihshobha , vanita, Woman's Era etc.


[edit] Education and economic development
According to 1992-93 figures, only 9.2% of the households in India were female-headed. However, approximately 35% of the households below the poverty line were found to be female-headed.[28]


[edit] Education
Though it is gradually rising, the female literacy rate in India is lower than the male literacy rate. Compared to boys, far fewer girls are enrolled in the schools, and many of them drop out.[16] According to the National Sample Survey Data of 1997, only the states of Kerala and Mizoram have approached universal female literacy rates. According to majority of the scholars, the major factor behind the improved social and economic status of women in Kerala is literacy.[16]

Under Non-Formal Education programme, about 40% of the centers in states and 10% of the centers in UTs are exclusively reserved for females.[citation needed] As of 2000, about 0.3 million NFE centers were catering to about 7.42 million children, out of which about 0.12 million were exclusively for girls.[citation needed] Currently, in engineering, medical and other colleges, 30% of the seats have been reserved for females.[citation needed] In urban India, girls are nearly at par with the boys in terms of education. However, in rural India girls continue to be less educated than the boys.

According to a 1998 report by U.S. Department of Commerce, the chief barrier to female education in India are inadequate school facilities (such as sanitary facilities), shortage of female teachers and gender bias in curriculum (majority of the female characters being depicted as weak and helpless)[29]


[edit] Workforce participation
Contrary to the common perception, a large percent of women in India work.[30] The National data collection agencies accept the fact that there is a serious under-estimation of women's contribution as workers.[16] However, there are far fewer women in the paid workforce than there are men. In urban India Women have impressive number in the workforce. As an example at software industry 30% of the workforce is female. They are at par with their male counter parts in terms of wages, position at the work place.

In rural India, agriculture and allied industrial sectors employ as much as 89.5% of the total female labour.[28] In overall farm production, women's average contribution is estimated at 55% to 66% of the total labour. According to a 1991 World Bank report, women accounted for 93% of total employment in dairy production in India. Women constitute 51% of the total employed in forest-based small-scale enterprises.[28]

One of the most famous female business success stories is the Shri Mahila Griha Udyog, the makers of the Lijjat papad. In 2006, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, who started Biocon - one of India's first biotech companies, was rated India's richest woman. Lalita Gupte and Kalpana Morparia (both were the only businesswomen in India who made our list of the Forbes World's Most Powerful Women), run India's second-largest bank, ICICI Bank.[31]


[edit] Land and property rights
In most Indian families, women do not own any property in their own names, and do not get a share of parental property.[16] Due to weak enforcement of laws protecting them, women continue to have little access to land and property.[32] In fact, some of the laws discriminate against women, when it comes to land and property rights.

The Hindu personal laws of mid-1956s (applied to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains) gave women rights to inheritance. However, the sons had an independent share in the ancestral property, while the daughters' shares were based on the share received by their father. Hence, a father could effectively disinherit a daughter by renouncing his share of the ancestral property, but the son will continue to have a share in his own right. Additionally, married daughters, even those facing marital harassment, had no residential rights in the ancestral home. After amendment of Hindu laws in 2005, now women in have been provided the same status as that of men[citation needed].

In 1986, the Supreme Court of India ruled that Shah Bano, an old divorced Muslim woman was eligible for maintenance money. However, the decision was vociferously opposed by fundamentalist Muslim leaders, who alleged that the court was interfering in their personal law. The Union Government subsequently passed the Muslim Women's (Protection of Rights Upon Divorce) Act.[33]

Similarly, the Christian women have struggled over years for equal rights of divorce and succession. In 1994, all the churches, jointly with women's organisations, drew up a draft law called the Christian Marriage and Matrimonial Causes Bill. However, the government has still not amended the relevant laws.[6]


[edit] Crimes against women
Police records show high incidence of crimes against women in India. The National Crime Records Bureau reported in 1998 that the growth rate of crimes against women would be higher than the population growth rate by 2010.[16] Earlier, many cases were not registered with the police due to the social stigma attached to rape and molestation cases. Official statistics show that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of reported crimes against women.[16]


[edit] Sexual Harassment
Half of the total number of crimes against women reported in 1990 related to molestation and harassment at the workplace.[16] Eve teasing is a euphemism used for sexual harassment or molestation of women by men. Many activists blame the rising incidents of sexual harassment against women on the influence of "Western culture". In 1987, The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act was passed[34] to prohibit indecent representation of women through advertisements or in publications, writings, paintings, figures or in any other manner.

In 1997, in a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court of India took a strong stand against sexual harassment of women in the workplace. The Court also laid down detailed guidelines for prevention and redressal of grievances. The National Commission for Women subsequently elaborated these guidelines into a Code of Conduct for employers.[16]


[edit] Dowry
Main articles: Dowry and Dowry law in India

In 1961, the Government of India passed the Dowry Prohibition Act,[35] making the dowry demands in wedding arrangements illegal. However, many cases of dowry-related domestic violence, suicides and murders have been reported. In the 1980s, numerous such cases were reported.[30]

In 1985, the Dowry Prohibition (maintenance of lists of presents to the bride and bridegroom) rules were framed.[36] According to these rules, a signed list of presents given at the time of the marriage to the bride and the bridegroom should be maintained. The list should contain a brief description of each present, its approximate value, the name of whoever has given the present and his/her relationship to the person. However, such rules are hardly enforced.

A 1997 report[37] claimed that at least 5,000 women die each year because of dowry deaths, and at least a dozen die each day in 'kitchen fires' thought to be intentional. The term for this is "bride burning" and is criticized within India itself. Amongst the urban educated, such dowry abuse has reduced dramatically.


[edit] Female infanticides and sex selective abortions
Main article: Sex-selective abortion and infanticide
India has a highly masculine sex ratio, the chief reason being that many women die before reaching adulthood.[16] Tribal societies in India have a less masculine sex ratio than all other caste groups. This, in spite of the fact that tribal communities have far lower levels of income, literacy and health facilities.[16] It is therefore suggested by many experts, that the highly masculine sex ratio in India can be attributed to female infanticides and sex-selective abortions.

All medical tests that can be used to determine the sex of the child have been banned in India, due to incidents of these tests being used to get rid of unwanted female children before birth. Female infanticide (killing of girl infants) is still prevalent in some rural areas.[16] The abuse of the dowry tradition has been one of the main reasons for sex-selective abortions and female infanticides in India.


[edit] Domestic violence
The incidents of domestive violence are higher among the lower Socio-Economic Classes (SECs). There are various instances of an inebriated husband beating up the wife often leading to severe injuries. Domestic violence is also seen in the form of physical abuse. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 came into force on October 26, 2006.


[edit] Trafficking
The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act was passed in 1956.[38] However many cases of trafficking of young girls and women have been reported. These women are either forced into prostitution, domestic work or child labor.


[edit] Other concerns

[edit] Health
The average female life expectancy today in India is low compared to many countries, but it has shown gradual improvement over the years. In many families, especially rural ones, the girls and women face nutritional discrimination within the family, and are anaemic and malnourished.[16]

The maternal mortality in India is the second highest in the world.[6] Only 42% of births in the country are supervised by health professionals. Most women deliver with help from women in the family who often lack the skills and resources to save the mother's life if it is in danger.[16] According to UNDP Human Development Report (1997), the proportion of pregnant women (age 15-49 aged) with anemia was found to be as high as 88%.[28]


[edit] Family planning
The average Indian woman has little control over her own fertility and reproductive health.[16] Women, particularly women in rural areas, do not have access to safe and self-controlled methods of contraception. The public health system emphasises permanent methods like sterilisation, or long-term methods like IUDs that do not need follow-up. Sterilization accounts for more than 75% of total contraception, with female sterilisation accounting for almost 95% of all sterilisations[16]


[edit] Notable Indian women
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (January 2007)


[edit] Arts and entertainment
Singers and vocalists such as M.S. Subbulakshmi, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle are widely revered in India. Many actresses such as Aishwarya Rai are highly popular. Anjolie Ela Menon is a famous painter.


[edit] Sports
Although the general sports scenario in India is not very good, some Indian women have made notable achievements in the field. Some of the famous female sportspersons in Indian include P. T. Usha (athletics), Kunjarani Devi (weightlifting), Diana Edulji (cricket), Koneru Hampi (chess) and Sania Mirza (tennis). Karnam Malleswari (weightlifter), is the only Indian woman to have won an Olympic medal (Bronze medal in 2000).


[edit] Politics
Through the Panchayat Raj institutions, over a million women have actively entered political life in India.[32] As per the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts, all local elected bodies reserve one-third of their seats for women. Although the percentages of women in various levels of political activity has risen considerably, women are still under-represented in governance and decisionmaking positions.[16]

In 2005, the Women's Reservation Bill was passed, providing 33% reservation for women in Parliament and State Assembly. Some of the notable women leaders in India include Sushma Swaraj, Vasundhara Raje Scindia, Sheila Dikshit, Jayalalitha, Uma Bharati, Mayawati, Mamata Banerjee and Sonia Gandhi. On July 25, 2007 the country's ever first woman president Pratibha Patil was sworn in.


[edit] Literature
Sarojini Naidu, Chandabai, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, Mahadevi Varma, Salma Siddiqui, Shivani, Anita Desai, Arundhati Roy, Shashi Deshpande, Shobha De, Kiran Desai, etc. are some of the notable female Indian authors.


[edit] Other fields
Tarla Dalal is a popular cookery author, who has written more than 30 books. Several of her books have been translated into various languages, and the total sales of her books exceeds 1 million copies.[39] Shahnaz Husain is one of the most popular Indian beauticians and entrepreneur.


[edit] See also
Feminism in India
Women's rights
Women in Sikhism
Women in Hinduism
Sexism in India
List of Indian women artists
List of Indian film actresses
Indian women in dance






[edit] References
^ a b c Mishra, R. C. (2006). Towards Gender Equality. Authorspress. ISBN 81-7273-306-2.
^ Varttika by Katyayana, 125, 2477
^ Comments to Ashtadhyayi 3.3.21 and 4.1.14 by Patanjali
^ R. C. Majumdar and A. D. Pusalker (editors): The history and culture of the Indian people. Volume I, The Vedic age. Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan 1951, p.394
^ "Vedic Women: Loving, Learned, Lucky!". Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
^ a b c d e f g h i "InfoChange women: Background & Perspective". Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
^ a b c d "Women in History". National Resource Center for Women. Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
^ a b c Jyotsana Kamat (2006-11-05). "Status of Women in Medieval Karnataka". Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
^ Vimla Dang (1998-06-19). "Feudal mindset still dogs women's struggle". The Tribune. Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
^ "The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987". Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
^ a b Jyotsna Kamat (2006-12-19). "Gandhi and Status of Women". Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
^ BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Child marriages targeted in India
^ K. L. Kamat (2006-12-19). "The Yellamma Cult". Retrieved on 2006-12-25.
^ Dubois, Jean Antoine and Beauchamp, Henry King, Hindu manners, customs, and ceremonies, Clarendon press, 1897
^ Ambassador of Hindu Muslim Unity, Ian Bryant Wells
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Kalyani Menon-Sen, A. K. Shiva Kumar (2001). "Women in India: How Free? How Equal?". United Nations. Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
^ Victoria A. Velkoff and Arjun Adlakha (October 1998). "Women of the World: Women's Health in India". U.S. Department of Commerce. Retrieved on 2006-12-25.
^ "National Policy For The Empowerment Of Women (2001)". Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
^ "OneWorld South Asia News: Imrana". Retrieved on 2006-12-25.
^ "Mumbai Police History". Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
^ "High Court of Kerala: Former Chief Justices / Judges". Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
^ "Kiran Bedi Of India Appointed Civilian Police Adviser". Retrieved on 2006-12-25.
^ http://highcourtofkerala.nic.in/judge.htm
^ http://www.funlok.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1498
^ "Army'S First Lady Cadet Looks Back". Retrieved on 2007-03-30.
^ The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Education Tribune
^ Kamat's Potpourri: The Significance of the holy dot (Bindi)
^ a b c d "Asia's women in agriculture, environment and rural production: India". Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
^ Victoria A. Velkoff (October 1998). "Women of the World: Women's Education in India". U.S. Department of Commerce. Retrieved on 2006-12-25.
^ a b "Women of India: Frequently Asked Questions" (2006-12-19). Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
^ India's Most Powerful Businesswomen. Forbes.com.
^ a b Carol S. Coonrod (June 1998). "Chronic Hunger and the Status of Women in India". Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
^ "The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act" (May 1986). Retrieved on 2008-02-14.
^ "The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1987". Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
^ "The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961". Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
^ "The Dowry Prohibition (maintenance of lists of presents to the bride and bridegroom) rules, 1985". Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
^ Kitchen fires Kill Indian Brides with Inadequate Dowry, July 23, 1997, New Delhi, UPI
^ "The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956". Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
^ "Tarla Dalal - Profile". Retrieved on 2006-12-24.



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SawNet: Books by and for South Asian Women
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South Asia Women's History
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BBC NEWS | South Asia | Pakistan women authors honoured
10 Feb 2005 ... A special ceremony is held in north India to release a unique new book containing short stories by Pakistani women writers.
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Bibliography of Indian women writers of the Modern Era 1800- 1995
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विविधा | विश्व साहित्य | संस्मरण | सृजन | स्वास्थ्य | साहित्य कोष | समाचार | ...
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Women autobiographies reveal secrets, spread light- Culture ...
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Pili Aandhi - A Hindi Book by - prabha khetan - पीली आँधी ...
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Title: Pili Aandhi, Author: prabha khetan, Hindi Title: पीली आँधी, Hindi Author: प्रभा खेतान, Language: Hindi, Length: 299 Pages.
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Amazon.co.uk: Apane apane cehare: Prabha Khetan: Books.
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prabha khetan ji ko naman evan shrriddhanjali!!
prabha khetan ji ko naman evan shrriddhanjali!! Udan Tashtari http://www.blogger .com/profile/06057252073193171933 noreply@blogger.com.
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Hindi Book - Author:prabha khetan - Hindi author:प्रभा खेतान की पुस्तकें.
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Hindi Fiction
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आधा आकाश
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