TELANGANA'S FREEDOM FIGHTERS WON - TURMOIL STILL CONTINUES

The opening day of a two-day strike by the supporters of a new state has brought violence to parts of India's southern Andhra Pradesh state.
Over 100 buses were burnt, and shops and businesses attacked overnight.
The strike was called after the federal government said the demand for a Telangana state would be considered after consultation with all parties.
Earlier the government had announced that it would allow the creation of Telangana irrespective of opposition.
An estimated 35 million people will live in the new state.

The latest uproar and strike call followed federal Home Minister P. Chidambaram's statement on Wednesday evening that all political parties should be consulted before deciding on a new state.

Mr Chidambaran explained the government's change in stance by saying that the situation in Andhra Pradesh had "altered" since he had made an announcement earlier this month on the formation of a Telangana state.
"However, after the statement, the situation in Andhra Pradesh has altered. A large number of political parties are divided on the issue," Mr Chidambaram added.
"There is need to hold wide-ranging consultations with all political parties and groups in the state," he added.
Politicians from Telangana reacted sharply to Mr Chidambaram's statement, saying that the government had put the demand in "cold storage".
Investors fear the protests will hurt Hyderabad, an IT hub of southern India and home to firms like Microsoft, Google and Dell.
Telangana region is spread over 10 northern districts of Andhra Pradesh.
Campaigners say Telangana's economic development has been neglected in favour of the richer and more powerful Andhra region - and that a new state is the only solution.
The last three new states in India were formed in 2000: Chhattisgarh was created out of eastern Madhya Pradesh; Uttarakhand was created out of the hilly areas of northern Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand was carved from Bihar's southern districts.
India currently has 28 states.

WIFE AND DAUGHTERS TO PAY THE LOAN IN BUNDELKHAND

From Pankaj Jaiswal, Hindustan Times
Email Author
Jhansi/Chitrakoot, October 05, 2009
First Published: 00:00 IST(5/10/2009)
Last Updated: 01:35 IST(5/10/2009)

There are no bad debts in Bundelkhand.
If a man cannot repay a loan in cash, a wife or daughter will often do just as well.
As authorities in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh seemingly look the other way, women in drought-prone, impoverished Bundelkhand, a cluster of 13 forgotten districts that lies along the borders of the two states are paying the price for bad loans with their liberty.
“Make me happy and the debt will be waived, he would say to me,” says Anita (name changed), her teeth gritted in rage.
She was 17 when a powerful moneylender in Sipri Bazaar, Jhansi, first came to her parents’ home and declared that he would take in kind what they had been unable to repay in cash.
Anita’s illiterate father had taken a loan of Rs 5,000, but signed a deed that said the sum was Rs 50,000.
A labourer with no assets, he had no hope of repaying the loan. He had to let his daughter be led away by the moneylender.
For the next six months, the moneylender allegedly returned repeatedly, taking Anita away and sending her home a few hours later.
Finally, in April 2007, Anita walked from his house to the local police station and filed a case of rape and aggravated assault.
“He got bail in a few hours,” she says, the rage returning to her face.
The practice of women being used as collateral shot into the news early last month, when another man from Jhansi who had allegedly lost his wife to a moneylender began a fight to get her back.
The moneylender had allegedly passed Kalicharan’s wife Kusma Devi on to an acquaintance, Deshraj, in a nearby village.
When he was questioned, Deshraj showed district officials a Rs 10 stamp paper that said he and the woman were married.
The case caught the attention of the National Commission for Women (NCW), which sent in a team to investigate. The UP Congress unit also set up a team to look into the matter.
Though Yasmeen Abrar, the head of the four-member NCW team, declined to comment in detail before she submitted her report to the Union government, she told reporters: “It is a matter of investigation how this woman came to live with another man. We think this is not an isolated case. We intend to dig deeper into this issue in the region.”
Abrar said she also planned to look into what action the administration was taking in the matter.
“This is neo-feudalism,” says Bhagwat Prasad, director of a local non-profit that fought against this practice in the local tribal community in the early 1990s.
“The wealthy have all the power and women are considered an extension of a man’s property and assets.”
There is no record of how many women are suffering in this way, Prasad adds.
“With suicides, there is a dead body, so everyone has to sit up. Here, the women are faceless and voiceless, invisible victims of an invisible crime.”
As far as the administration is concerned, however, there is no neo-feudalism.
“There is no such thing going on,” said Uttar Pradesh Principal Secretary (Women and Child Welfare) Amal Verma. “If you know of any cases, why don’t you send them to us and we’ll investigate.”
Meanwhile, about 115 kilometers from Anita’s one-room mud hut, victims turned culprits as an enraged couple in Barora village hit back at another powerful moneylender in 2006.
When Mahesh Chandra offered to waive a Rs 2,500 loan and throw in an additional Rs 500 in exchange for Bhagwati Devi (30), her husband Chandrabhan (34) lunged at the man with just the towel he held in his hands.
The police report says the couple ended up strangling Mahesh Chandra, and were arrested for murder. Bhagwati, a mother of four, spent the next two years in jail. Chandrabhan is still in prison.
Now, Bhagwati supports her family by selling trinkets and cosmetics to village girls. “I’m lucky if I can afford a few bananas for the children every day,” she says.
“And I don’t know how long I can afford to keep them all in school.”

MALNOURISHED KID SHOULD REMAIN MALNOURISHED KIDS BY GOVERNEMENTAL DECISSION

The UN says it has withdrawn a high energy food for children in India after the government said it had been distributed without permission.

A senior official from the UN's children agency, Unicef, told the BBC that malnourished children would now be given a locally available product.

He said this would be instead of the imported ready-to-use therapeutic food.

Unicef had been distributing the food, made of peanut paste, to malnourished children in two Indian states.

It said food provided locally in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh was not sufficient for children in a critical condition.

Malnourished children

Unicef says the Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) is a high energy relief treatment given to thousands of severely malnourished children around the world.



The government says improvements have been made to food distribution
It says children with acute malnutrition require life-saving treatment, which is sanctioned by the World Health Organisation.

India is home to the greatest number of malnourished children in the world and it is estimated that more than half of them are in the two states.

Unicef was asked by the two state governments to distribute the high-energy peanut paste to affected children in two provinces. It imported about $2m worth of the food for distribution.

"The government of India was not aware of this, it felt that it was not adequately tested. So they have asked us to take it out of India, which we have now done," Daniel Toole, Unicef's regional director for South Asia told the BBC.

The agency has now re-exported the therapeutic food to Afghanistan and Madagascar, where it has been used for a long time.

Indian officials say that imported peanut paste is expensive and that they are not convinced about its effectiveness. They want the product to be approved by the Indian health ministry first.

'Easier'

"Nothing should come behind our back. Nothing should be done in the name of emergency when we have not declared an emergency," Shreeranjan, the joint secretary of the Ministry of Women and Child Development told the Reuters news agency.

Indian officials have told Unicef to use locally available alternatives like therapeutic milk. But there are differences between the two products.

"What we have seen in parts of Sri Lanka, Pakistan and in Africa is that... peanut paste for children is a little bit slower but it is much more steady and easier. And mothers can take it home even after they start the treatment."

In addition, the food does not require refrigeration or added water.

Health campaigners have criticised the Indian government's decision saying it is an over-reaction. They say despite various nationwide measures to end malnutrition, the country is still facing the problem.

The country's booming economic growth, they say, is not trickling down to millions of poor.

INDOCRINATION, SMOOTH ADAPTATION OR BRAINWASH

Obviously the original family education is not sufficient anymore to make Hindi wifes behave like Hindi wives : A special school in Madhya Pradesh actually trains women to become ideal, obedient and submissive wives and daughters-in-law. Though it has many takers, it has drawn the ire of social activists and women's organisations.
Founded already in 1987, the Manju Sanskar Kendra in Bhopal teaches young women the art of being good wives by serving their husbands and in-laws, and thereby preventing splits in the family.
"The primary aim of the Kendra is to prevent Indian families from breaking up under the pressures it faces nowadays," says Bhau Ayaldas Hemnani, the founder and director of the rather unique school.
It offers a three-month course that stresses on the importance of "Indian culture" and the woman adjusting to her new family after marriage. While students spend the first month learning Sikh and Hindu scriptures, the second month has lessons in naturopathy and the third is entirely dedicated to domestic life.
"We teach women how to serve their husbands and win laurels and how to behave with in-laws. We also tell them to be tolerant while adjusting to their new home," Hemnani told IANS.

Chandna Arora of the All India Women's Council, says: "Thousands of women are doused with kerosene and set on fire by their greedy husbands and their families. Most of these dowry-related deaths are passed off as kitchen accidents. How will they resist dowry or other domestic abuse?"

Contrary to one's expectations, the centre is very popular with over 4,500 having graduated from it so far.

Says Sudha, another student: "The school not only teaches us to be polite and obedient towards our in-laws and the husband but also teaches us cooking, sewing and daily prayers without any fees.

"It tells us that these are the basic essentials an Indian girl must learn before marriage, regardless of whether she is a working woman or chooses to be a housewife."

Hemnani believes the education imparted by his school will go a long way in preserving the Indian joint family system - now being fast replaced by nuclear families, especially in metros.
"The joint family will remain intact if you imbibe Indian 'sanskars' (values) from our great religious books," he stresses.
The students not only listen to lectures instilled with religious and marital wisdom but are also taught devotional songs and practice household chores.
Shelly, however, maintains that girls should instead be taught to resist greed and violence on the part of in-laws. "Official figures show that the number of women killed by their in-laws over dowry is rising by the day, despite it being illegal," she points out.
An ideal Indian wife, according to Hemani, should have four virtues - obedience, a healthy lifestyle, be loved by her husband and attached to the household.
"A new bride is generally expected to win the hearts of all by her work and submission and we prepare her for that," asserts the director.
And it sure seems to have brainwashed many young minds. Said Bandana Raizada: "I'm confident that after this course, I shall not commit any mistake in my in-laws' house."

No comment, I just like to remind that India has one of the lowest divorce rates worldwide, therefore also has the highest suicide rate for women worldwide. But we should not forget that only one generation ago, some catholic educational institutes had the same goal as mentioned above.

The text out of Hindian Times