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[1] Thrown out of hospital, two Dalit women die 2 Nov 2007, 0057 hrs IST, TNN http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Thrown_out_of_hospital_two_Dalit_women_die/articleshow/2510286.cms KANPUR: If it was expected that atrocities against Dalits would become a thing of the past after their icon Mayawati came to power with a BSP majority in UP, it was misplaced because in a shocking incident, two Dalit women died after being thrown out of a government hospital here on Thursday. What will send the state government particularly into a tizzy is that the gruesome assault took place not in some remote district but right in the heart of UP, and that too for the inability of the two women to bribe government health officials with a paltry Rs 1,000 each barely two hours after they gave birth to two babies. While the incident speaks volumes about corruption in the health department, it also underlines the continuing humiliation of Dalits. Devorati (25), who gave birth to a boy around 5 pm, was the first to die. Her husband Dilip had admitted her to the hospital after bribing an official with Rs 500. As per government norms, admission to hospitals is free and women coming for delivery should get Rs 1,400 as an allowance. But on the contrary, Dilip was asked to pay an additional Rs 1,000. "Soon after childbirth, the medical staff demanded Rs 1,000. When I said I had no money, they threw out my wife despite the fact that she was bleeding and had not regained consciousness," said Dilip. Back in the village, Devorati's condition deteriorated rapidly and died. Within hours, Kamla, wife of Ramprakash of Ambarpur village, too was thrown out of the hospital just after she gave birth to a girl child when her family members refused to pay a bribe of Rs 500 and instead demanded Rs 1,400 under the Janani-Suraksha Yojna meant for pregnant women under BPL category. Enraged by their deaths, villagers laid a siege on the hospital and thrashed the staff. Kanpur Dehat DM O P N Singh told TOI, "ADM (City) Anurag Patel has been asked to conduct an inquiry. I have received complaints about doctors' not coming to the hospital and demanding bribe." ------- [2] From: rkurian@bgl.vsnl.net.in Date: Fri Nov 2, 2007 Subject: Iran: Prepared for the worst.. Published on openDemocracy (http://www.opendemocracy.net) Iran: prepared for the worst By Omid Memarian Created 2007-10-30 18:37 The resignation of Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's national-security council and top nuclear negotiator, on 20 October [1] has provoked been much discussion about what it might reveal of Tehran's complex intra-regime politics. What has been less remarked is that this was the second key personnel change among Iran's governing elite in the past two months. This sequence of events, reflecting the key arguments [2] and calculations of Iran's top leaders, signifies the emergence of a revised political strategy designed to cope with with the heightened threat of United States military action. The moderate conservative Larijani [3]was replaced by deputy foreign minister for European and American affairs Saeed Jalili [4](who may have a lower profile in the west than Larijani, but has the advantage of being a close advisor of both President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei's closest advisors). The move was a surprise - it took place only days before the meeting between Iranian and international representatives over Iran's nuclear programme on 23 October [5] in Rome (which Larijani still attended in his national-security council capacity). What gives it added significance is that it follows the replacement with effect from 1 September of General Rahim Safavi [6] as commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards by General Mohammad Ali Jafari, [7] who has a poor reputation among Iranian civil-society activists for his role in suppressing social movements in the late 1990s. This reshuffle at the top involves more than "routine" political rivalries [8]: it signifies the Islamic Republic's preparation for the worst-case scenario of a US military strike. The calculation is that the appointment of obedient middle-level officials such as Jalili and Jafari is likely to solidify the collective leadership Iran needs during a tense period where the possibility of armed escalation is very real. What lies behind this calculation, and is the removal of Larijani and Safavi more likely to invite or avert war? Tehran's chess-game The conservatives inside Iran's regime [9] share a conviction: that the United States wishes to confront Iran regardless of their response to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA [10]) over the country's nuclear plans, and indeed that any flexibility on Tehran's part will only encourage US aggression. In their mind, if the US neo-conservatives have already decided to pursue the military option against Iran, nothing will stop them. Thus - so the thinking goes within the Islamic Republic's inner councils - by matching Washington's high-profile military manoeuvres and belligerent rhetoric, Iran's hardliners seek to remind the George W Bush administration that any form of war would carry a heavy military cost to the US (and a political one for the Republican Party, particularly in light of the upcoming 2008 elections). The argument in Tehran, then - counterintuitive though it may seem - is that a "moderate", more amenable negotiating line (which Larijani and Safavi could be portrayed as espousing) is more likely to lead to war; whereas a tougher stance [11] towards the Americans - who are already facing severe challenges in Iraq, Afghanistan, and potentially Pakistan - is more likely to encourage them to negotiate. An elite division The difference between this outlook and the more realistic view of Iran's military and political capabilities presented by Larijani and Safavi intensified in recent months. The growing tension between Ahmadinejad and Larijani over Iran's nuclear strategy became especially acute, not least when the president intervened at delicate stages with overheated rhetoric to signal that that he was "the man in charge". Three such moments are worthy of note. First, the discussions between Ali Larijani and the European Union in Berlin [12] in September 2006 were accompanied by leaked suggestions that the Iranian negotiators had agreed to suspend uranium-enrichment activities for a limited time. Immediately thereafter, Ahmadinejad denounced [13] the west in a speech in Karaj even for asking Iran to suspend its nuclear work. Larijani's denial that any conversations of this kind (which would indicate possible Iranian flexibility) had taken place, effectively reduced him from the status of a seasoned diplomat in charge of one of the most important political issues in the Iranian Republic's history to that of a "messenger" between the president and the EU. Second, the political division between the two erupted during the security conference held in Munich [14] on 9-11 February 2007, also attended by the US defence secretary, Robert Gates. There, Ali Larijani stated [15] that Iran is ready for further discussions on the nuclear issue; again, Ahmadinejad - attending a commemoration of the Iranian revolution at the time - instantly responded [16], calling those who would abandon Iran's nuclear ambitions as "the most abhorrent". Third, Larijani's attempt at negotiations with the EU's foreign-policy chief Javier Solana in September 2007 [17] were undermined by Ahmadinejad during the latter's trip to New York to speak at the United Nations general assembly (and Columbia University [18]); the president insisted that Iran's nuclear dossier is a closed case and negotiations with the west would be pointless. Ahmadinejad has always felt threatened by Larijani, who was one of the seven candidates [19] given permission to run in the presidential elections of 2005. Larijani was the candidate most favoured by the conservatives, including the supreme leader. In the event, the success [19] of Ahmadinejad's populist campaign overturned expectations, and in the aftermath Ayatollah Khamenei decided to assign Larijani to the secretariat of Iran's national-security council. This is only one of the factors explaining why Larijani has always felt a sense of accountability to Khamenei rather than Ahmadinejad. There are also family reasons (Larijani is the son of a grand ayatollah, and is married to the daughter of Ayatollah Morteza Motahari [20], a very influential cleric who was assassinated at the beginning of the revolution in 1979) and class-elite ones (he has held numerous high-ranking positions, including commander in the Revolutionary Guard, minister of culture and head of national television). On the precipice This background notwithstanding, it seems that the supreme leader decided to support Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's tactics against Larijani and take a hard line over the nuclear issue. This interpretation is supported by a remark of Hamid Reza Taraghi [21], a ranking conservative and a member of the Hezb-e Motalefeye Eslami (Islamic Coalition Party), who asserted that "if the supreme leader did not agree, Larijani would never have been asked to resign". Seyyed Mohammad Ali Abtahi [22], who served as deputy to ex-president Mohammad Khatami, has said that the west's perception of Larijani's resignation contains perils for Iran. Abtahi comments: "Larijani had to prepare himself for negotiations while the president announced the case was closed, and of course it is futile to negotiate about a closed case. (His resignation), which will be viewed as Iran's lack of accountability to international demands, is important and dangerous news for Iran." Omid Memarian is a peace fellow at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. He has won several awards, including Human Rights Watch's highest honour in 2005, the Human Rights Defender Award. ------------------------------------- [3] From: kashif-ul-huda <kaaashif@gmail.com Date: Fri Nov 2, 2007 Subject: Sudanese student contests JNU elections to restore democracy back home Sudanese student contests JNU elections to restore democracy back home By Prashant K. Nanda, IANS New Delhi : Khalid Abdallah, a 29-year-old Sudanese student of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), is contesting the prestigious student union election this year to learn politics in India and restore democracy in his north African nation. "Like Pakistan, my country is suffering from dictatorship. People in Sudan need efficient people to restore democracy and my contest in JNU elections is a step in that direction," Abdallah told IANS. "I have been in India for the last 12 years pursuing various academic qualifications. From Pune University to Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala to JNU, I have seen the democratic views of people in India and this is worth emulating," he said. Abdallah, who is doing M. Phil in international relations, is contesting for the post of a counsellor under the banner of the All India Students Association (AISA). "The post for which I am contesting is not high profile but this is certainly a positive step in the direction of learning the democratic electoral process. After I return to my country, I can use my experience," he said adding that for the last 18 years "people in Sudan have not been enjoying real democracy". Abdallah said he has a "long way to go" but the JNU election will help him understand Indian politics closely. "I am understanding Indian politics and the success of democracy in spite of its huge geography, multi-religious and multi-lingual society. My observations of the last 12 years will help me when I am back in Sudan," said Abdallah, who was earlier the president of the Foreign Students' Association of the varsity. Last year, Tyler William Walker from the US was elected to the post of vice president of the JNU student union, making him the first foreign student to occupy that post. Walker is doing his M. Phil in Hindi from JNU and was elected last year from the AISA - the same banner under which Abdallah is contesting. He is one of eight American students in JNU. When asked why he is fighting under the AISA banner and not under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) or the Congress backed National Students Union of India (NSUI), Abdallah said AISA is "more democratic". "AISA is the only student organisation in JNU which is concerned more about international issues. Whether it's the failure of democracy in Sudan, Palestine refugees, Iraq war - many such issues are discussed by our organisation. "Last year, Walker fought from this banner and now I am doing it. It certainly speaks for the democratic thinking and liberal attitude of our group of students," he said as the students went off to cast their votes. http://www.twocircles.net/2007nov02/sudanese_student_contests_jnu_elections_rest\ ore_democracy_back_home. html ------- [4] Tehelka, Journalists Lead Indians To Redeem Their Values By Mirza A. Beg http://www.countercurrents.org/beg021107.htm Tahelka, the intrepid news magazine did what the Indian government should have done in the past five years. The nation owes a debt of gratitude to the editor of Tahelka, Tarun Tejpal and reporter Ashish Khetan who took enormous risk to procure evidence on video tapes about the planning of the genocide perpetrated by the fascistic Gujarat state government in February – March 2002. The tapes also record admissions of suppression of evidence and bribery by the public prosecutors to protect the guilty Silicosis: A Death Trap For Agate Workers In Gujarat By PUCL Gujarat http://www.countercurrents.org/pucl021107.htm Workers working in the agate industries are dying of silicosis in regular interval for last 40 years in Khambhat. Families are wiped out totally. But there is no respite from the death trap of economically impoverished people of this area -------- |
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November04, 2007 - [India Thinkers Net]Musharaff,re-Nandigram,Hindu temple destroyed etc >> |
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