Tag: India

  • Even those who once held him in high esteem

    More terrible news from the subcontinent:

    The police suspect the involvement of Hindu extremists in the murder of Dr Malleshappa M Kalburgi, a prominent Kannada scholar and former Vice-Chancellor of Kannada University in Hampi.

    Kalburgi was shot on his head by one of the two unidentified men on Sunday morning at his residence in Dharwad’s Kalyan Nagar locality. He was later taken to a district hospital where he was pronounced dead.

    Even as the police suspect Hindutva extremists for Kalburgi’s murder, Bajrang Dal co-convener Bhuvith Shetty allegedly took to Twitter to say that that Indian critic and rationalist KS Bhagawan will be their next target for making fun of Hinduism.

    Making fun of a religion is a reason for murder then?

    “Then it was UR Anantamoorty and now it is MM Kalburgi. Mock Hinduism and die a dogs death. And dear K. S Bhagwan you are next,” Sheety tweeted at 10:41 am on 30 August. Shetty’s Twitter handle was, however, deleted shortly after.

    …

    Ananthamurthy, another Kannada writer, who died of cardiac arrest and renal failure in August last year in Bangalore (now Bengaluru), too had problems with Sangh Parivar outfits for his staunch criticism of their ideology and activities for over five decades.

    Kalburgi was a renowed scholar and recipient of the National Sahitya Akademi award. However, he was condemned by Hindu extremists for his remarks against idol worshipping and questioning superstition.

    And now he’s dead from a bullet through the brain.

    Kalburgi once again incurred the wrath of some people for speaking against idol worship and the superstitions related to it.

    In June 2014, while addressing a seminar on Anti-superstition Bill at Bangalore, Dr Kalburgi referred to the late litterateur UR Ananthamurthy and said “there was nothing wrong in urinating on idols”, according to a Dajiworld report.

    Kalburgi had reportedly quoted an excerpt from Ananthamurthy’s book ‘Bettale Puje Yake Kadadu’ – ‘Why Not Nude Worship’.

    His statement triggered immense criticism from Hindus who demanded his arrest. A case was also filed against Kalburgi and Ananthamurthy for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of the community.

    That’s an actual thing in India and Bangladesh and Pakistan – that idea that “hurting the religious sentiments of the community” is a criminal act.

    Massive protests were held at the time by supporters of Bajrang Dal, Sri Rama Sene, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and other Hindutva activists in Karnataka.

    Following his comments at the seminar, Kalburgi was criticised by even those who once held him in high esteem.

    Of course he was.

  • Only then will she eat the leftovers

    The New York Times reports on a new study that finds Indian women are far more undernourished and underweight than women even in poorer countries.

    You know what this results in? Undernourished babies, lots of whom die in or out of the uterus.

    That’s the thing about hating women – it has some knock-on effects that even non-women don’t want. It’s hard to get the amount of hatred that should be directed at women exactly right.

    The poor [bad] health of children in India, even after decades of robust economic growth, is one of the world’s most perplexing public health issues.

    A child raised in India is far more likely to be malnourished than one from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe or Somalia, the world’s poorest countries. Poor [bad] sanitation and a growing tide of drug-resistant infections also affect nutrition.

    [Aside: it’s bad enough using “poor” as a pointless euphemism for “bad” even when it’s not confusing, but in an article that’s directly about poverty and an array of bad things, then it’s inexcusable. Poor countries have bad outcomes. Poor countries have bad sanitation and bad health in children. Let’s be clear about these things.]

    But an important factor is the relatively poor [bad] health of young Indian women. More than 90 percent of adolescent Indian girlsare anemic, a crucial measure of poor [bad] nutrition. And while researchers have long known that Indian mothers tend to be less healthy than their African counterparts, a new study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences demonstrates that the disparity is far worse than previously believed.

    By analyzing census data, Diane Coffey of Princeton University found that 42 percent of Indian mothers are underweight. The figure for sub-Saharan Africa is 16.5 percent.

    And why is this? More hatred.

    The reasons for Indian mothers’ relatively poor health are many, including a culture that discriminates against them. Sex differences in education, employment outside the home, and infant mortality are all greater in India than in Africa.

    “In India, young newly married women are at the bottom of household hierarchies,” Ms. Coffey said. “So at the same time that Indian women become pregnant, they are often expected to keep quiet, work hard and eat little.”

    They’re supposed to be like a car that gets exceptionally good gas mileage.

    It also has to do with bad sanitation and sewage disposal.

    Dr. Shella Duggal, Juhi’s doctor at the mobile clinic, said that almost every pregnant woman she treats in her visits to Delhi’s slums is severely anemic. Parasites, spread by poor [BAD] sanitation and dirty water, are a crucial reason, she said.

    “So the first thing we do is deworm them and give them iron supplements,” Dr. Duggal said. “And then I tell them to eat.”

    It is a prescription many of her patients find difficult to carry out, she said.

    “These mothers are the last persons in their families to have food,” Dr. Duggal said. “First, she feeds the husband and then the kids, and only then will she eat the leftovers.”

    It’s a bad arrangement.

  • Since the rapists started harassing her

    And then there’s the rape victim in India who killed herself yesterday. She was being harassed by the rapists. That’s right. First they rape her, then they make her life hell afterwards because.

    The police also got in on the act, making her report to the police station late at night and tell them all about the rape.

    …as no arrests were made, the accused not only harassed the victim and her family, but also started issuing open threats. Hounded, the girl shifted to her aunt’s house in nearby Samana town on November 29. “Since the rapists started harassing her at Samana too, she consumed some poisonous substance around 5pm on Wednesday, and died at Government Rajindra Hospital in Patiala late at night,” the victim’s mother Surjit Kaur told HT.

    Avicenna wrote an angry letter to India on this subject a couple of days ago.

    I am ashamed to be an Indian man.

    Do you fucking know why women are so fucking angry about the rape of a 23 year old? Why now every new rape case that comes to light in India (like the rape of Momoko, a Manipuri actress) will set off riots like the ones in Delhi?

    Can you grasp why women are pissed? Why shouldn’t they be? They have fuck all to be happy about. Sexual harassment is so much the norm that they tell foreigners in guidebooks like the Lonely Planet or Rough Guide to watch out for sexual harassment. They tell them to try and travel in groups and to stick together and to try and bring a male companion with them to at least deter sexual harassment and rape attempts. Fuck all kinds of duck! Do you have any idea about how insulting it is to be regarded as “Molesters and Rapists” internationally? Fuck! My girlfriend is in Spain on holiday where a bunch of Indian men suddenly appeared to randomly hit on her while she took photographs. Do you have any fucking idea how creepy, misogynistic and just outright stupid that sounds?

    Short answer? Probably not. Some people seem to be really bad at forming any idea how creepy, misogynistic and just outright stupid certain things sound.

    We cannot keep being called a culture that is just endemically unsafe to women. It has to stop. Do you know how heart breaking it is to be told by your girlfriend that you are not like other Indians because I think the harassment isn’t attractive? That our dating strategy is akin to Stockholm syndrome…

    The rage of these women is entirely justified. If you wish to show your support then please does so. Make some noise; let people in India who are in power know that they cannot keep hiding this horrific side to India. It’s our silence that has caused this to come to a point. All we can do is make noise and show the people who are fighting for justice and to stop rape in India that we support what they are doing. It doesn’t matter what gender you are, make your voices be heard. People in India need to know that we actually give a flying fuck and that we show solidarity against the people who make excuses and try and stop this change.

    The rapes have to stop.

    Merry Fucking Christmas and a Happy Fucking New Year.

    Yours in disgust

    Avicenna Last

    Thank you Avicenna.

     

  • The news from India

    Avicenna is on his way out to the protest, to provide medical coverage. He was already getting ready to go when the victim’s death was reported; now he expects riots. Be careful, Avi.

    Meanwhile, experts were giving their views in the hours before the victim lost the fight.

    “Had the girl simply surrendered (and not resisted) when surrounded by six men, she would not have lost her intestine. Why was she out with her boyfriend at 10 pm?” These comments made by an agricultural scientist at a seminar organised by the police provoked an outrage in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday, and demands for punitive action against her.

    Dr Anita Shukla, a scientist at the Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, had been invited to the seminar on “Women’s Empowerment” in her capacity as the president of Lion’s Club on Wednesday. Women, Shukla said in her speech, had misused the facilities and rights given to them.

    Hmmyeah. She should have surrendered, and she shouldn’t have been out at 10 pm. She was doing everything wrong, wasn’t she. She shouldn’t have had a hole between her legs. She shouldn’t have left the house. She shouldn’t have grown up. She shouldn’t have been born. One mistake after another, she made.

    Thanks, Dr Shukla. You’re a big help.

  • Charlatans preying on the vulnerable

    Oh hey, a good idea.

    Chanting to cure snakebites, claiming to be a reincarnated spouse to obtain sex, and charging for miracles could soon be banned by an Indian state seeking to stop charlatans preying on the vulnerable.

    Many superstitions are widely held in India but a campaign group  is lobbying hard for a new law in the western state of Maharashtra  to outlaw several exploitative activities, with penalties of fines or up to seven years in jail.

    But………not so fast, pardner.

    But the push to pass the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication  of Human Sacrifice and Other Inhuman, Evil Practices and Black  Magic Bill has not received unanimous support.

    Some Hindu nationalists fear the legislation seeks to move  beyond the excesses named in its title and might be used to curb cherished religious freedoms.

    One right-wing association, the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, called  it “a draconian law targeting faith”, denounced its proponents as  “atheists” and called for supporters to lobby assembly members to  oppose it and demand amendments.

    Because only atheists have any problem with claiming to be a reincarnated spouse to obtain sex or charging money for “miracles”; decent normal respectable people think that’s a fine way to carry on.

    Some critics, however, say the draft law does not go far enough and has been watered down since it was first mooted way back in 1995 due to protests from pro-Hindu groups.

    “In my opinion the bill that has ultimately come into Maharashtra suggests nothing new. It doesn’t give anything  additional,” said Sanal Edamaruku, president of the Indian Rationalist Association.

    Concerns about the draft law’s impact on legitimate religious practices from Hindu nationalist groups such as the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have delayed its  passing.

    A semi-good idea, endlessly delayed, that might become law, some day, perhaps.