· March, 2014

Stories about South Asia from March, 2014

Global Voices Author Raza Rumi Attacked By Unknown Gunmen In Lahore

  28 March 2014

Notable Pakistani, columnist, TV anchor and blogger (also a Global Voices author) Raza Rumi was attacked by unidentified gunmen near Raja market on Ferozpur road in Lahore, Pakistan. At 8:55PM tonight he tweeted: Was fired at near Raja Market. My driver is wounded. I was dreading this day — Raza...

Corruption in Nepal: Is It Becoming Socially Acceptable?

  26 March 2014

People are angry and tired, and media houses often publish news about the connection between political leaders and goons but no one takes to the streets to protest corruption – an anomaly for a country where people have Nepal Bandhs, country-wide strikes for every distress. Siromani Dhungana posts an analysis...

The Perils Of The Dams Coming Up for Mumbai Region

  24 March 2014

South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) blog reports that as many as 12 dams are either being planned or are under construction to satisfy the increasing water demand of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) in India. The Tribals and other affected groups have long been strongly opposing...

Contraception Woes For Sri Lankan Women

  23 March 2014

Journalist, photographer and blogger Meg at Life in Lanka blog reports that in remote Sri Lankan villages some women do not have a say in what type of contraception they use. Their husbands were not keen on using condoms and preferred that their wives used contraception instead; so the inexpensive,...

Is India's New Rape Law Helping Women?

  20 March 2014

We got a law that upped the punishment for rape, as well as broadened the definition to rape in a grand promise to more and more people – when the fundamental problem was that people who were raped as per the old definitions and punishments weren’t getting justice already in...

11th Century Kannada Literature Available On Wikisource

  18 March 2014

Vachana Sahitya is a form of rhythmic writing in Kannada language that evolved in the 11th Century C.E. and flourished in the 12th century. Subhashish Panigrahi reports (co-authored by Pavithra Hanchagaiah and Omshivaprakash HI) in Wikimedia blog that Two Wikimedians along with a Kannada linguist have converted 21000 verses of...

Barefoot Lawyers Empowering Rural Bangladeshi Women

  13 March 2014

In Bangladesh, around 6,000 “barefoot lawyers” have been trained by the country's biggest NGO under its human rights and legal services (HRLS) program, reports Scott Macmillan at BRAC blog. These women act as one-woman mobile legal services clinics for the poor, especially women in rural areas where the traditional justice...

The Underground Football Scene In Bangladesh

  13 March 2014

Football was once popular in Bangladesh and then cricket took over in the late nineteen nineties. However the appeal has not died. Padya Paramita digs into the Bangladeshi underground football scene: At the moment, the underground scene is very competitive, (as well as popular) and attracts large crowds with each...

VIDEO: T20 Cricket World Cup Theme Song Flash Mobs

  10 March 2014

Bangladesh is hosting the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup and the fever is catching on among cricket-loving Bangladeshis. The official song of the 2014 tournament, “Char Chokka Hoi Hoi”, has become popular, and many universities across the country have started arranging their own flash mobs set to the theme song and uploading...

[Video] Can We Also Celebrate Daughters in India?

  8 March 2014

Video Volunteers Community Correspondent Gayatri documents in a video one obscure ritual of India, the ‘Saptami Beti’, where women celebrate having a son. She comments: It is important to talk about this. I want to show this video in all the areas where ‘Saptami’ is celebrated. People give it so...

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Rezwan
Rezwan is the South Asia editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.