Tidbits
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Thousands of indigenous people were left homeless as their shanty houses were burnt to ashes on February 19th and 20th. In the attacks, committed by members of the majority Bengali speaking population in the presence of law enforcers, two people including a woman were killed and more than 50 injured, while 357 houses were set ablaze across 11 villages.
How poor is the Indian economy for the poor? That's not all the landless, that's not counting every person but every family, and that's not counting people who own some land and are still dirt poor. And that's in the state that is used as a model for decent development by some economics departments.
A small anecdote that speaks to the greater reality: the extremely poor are still here.
According to PTI, the Delhi police are now moving towards filing charges against the two British dudes who were detained under 'terrorism' suspicions. The article states that the concern is that they were recording conversations between the pilot and air traffic control and this is, apparently, a violation of the Indian Telegraph Act.
I don't know Bangladeshi political history well enough to evaluate the arguments, but as a primer on Bangladesh, it's well written, readable, and worth taking a glance at. The news hook is that the Bangladeshi Supreme Court recently upheld a 5-year-old decision banning the use of religion in politics.
Additionally, I've been meaning to put a plug in for the source, Newsline, which is among the best publications I've seen out of Pakistan - if not South Asia - in a while. Take a browse around.
Non-alignment continues in semi-peripheral form? If someone knows more about India's external relations, I'd be grateful for some input.
Two British nationals were detained by security agencies at a five-star hotel near the Indira Gandhi International airport here after they were believed to be indulging in “suspicious” activities, the police said on Tuesday. The detention was made on Monday after officials of the Raddison Hotel in southwest Delhi’s Mahipalpur became suspicious about the activities of Stephen Hampston (46) and Steve Martin (55), who had checked in four days ago. “We detained them because of their suspicious activities,” Delhi Police Commissioner Y.S.
Rare medicinal plants on the verge of extinction and protected under the Wildlife Act continue to be exported with impunity...
The blueprint for the joint security operations in the naxal-affected States will be chalked out soon by senior officials of the West Bengal government in consultation with officials of Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa.
I see a lot of headlines about this. Where are the headlines about joint collaboration on economic regional planning or social regional planning? Is it the media not writing about it or is it simply not happening to the extent that it should?
“ 'We’ve got a government in a box, ready to roll in,' said Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top American commander here." #WHATSINTHEBOX
From sepoy's twitter feed :)
Tensions mounted over the arrest of Sri Lanka’s former Army Chief Sarath Fonseka with violent clashes erupting in the capital as his wife approached the country’s highest court for his release, citing that she feared for his safety.
Awesomeness!
I hope he's right about it passing the censors. Either way, a great leap forward and, satisfyingly, a great reaction to obnoxiousness in other films ( I haven't seen Dostana but it's mentioned in the article).
Don't know enough history to say anything particularly profound or revealing, but the death of Basu brings to mind the fractured state of electoralish politics in West Bengal. It has three political forces that make the news - the CPI(M), the Trinamool Congress, and 'the Maoists.' Next year's election for the state legislature will be an interesting one, and, from what I am told, a lot of people will suffer in the meantime.
Links via Fire Fly. She has posted about police inaction, official denial of racism, and the conditions international students are facing here.
I've been travelling in South Asia for the past week or so and have recently been discussing women's rights and situations with a female relative. She was quite pessimistic about anything changing any time soon. But she agreed that things have changed generation to generation and will continue to do so.
As such, I found this story about several girls (women?) taking it upon themselves to beat the %hit out of someone committing sexual assault on the plane quite good. It's an Indigo Air flight from Bombay to Jaipur, if you're curious.
