· May, 2007

Stories about India from May, 2007

India: Development and West Bengal

  31 May 2007

Singur underlines why development is crucial in West Bengal. “Today, regional and sub-regional cooperation is the axis around which the wheel of economic growth is turning. The nay-sayers to new investments in West Bengal and Bangladesh should glance eastwards to see how this wheel has turned in the direction of...

India: Muslims and Political Parties

  31 May 2007

Indian Muslims on the civic elections in Malegaon, which was rocked by bomb blasts last year. “So, does it helps if you are concentrated in a region, play communal politics and still be acceptable to the mainstream? Or can you be a party of only the majority group and still...

India: Finding Gandhi in Mexico

  30 May 2007

Organized Nomad on finding Gandhi in Mexico. “Two women, total strangers, in two different parts of Mexico, seemingly free associate India with Gandhi. Seems even more a pity then that while Gandhi's name will forever be worshipped, his message will soon be lost as his country charts a tumultous course...

India: In Dharamshala

  29 May 2007

Feringhee on Tibetan refugees and Indians in Dharamshala. “The Tibetans are here as refugees with very few rights; however, their presence and that of the Dalai Lama brings in the vast numbers of tourists, around which the local economy is completely based. The Tibetans draw a great deal of international...

India: Builders and the Law

  29 May 2007

Mitesh points to a blogger who has a horrifying experience with builders and a disinterested judicial system. “What can common law-abiding people like us, who work hard for several hours a day and pay all taxes honestly, do when we get duped like this? Local politicians, corporators and police most...

India: Vasai

  28 May 2007

Trivial Matters has a wonderful photo post on Vasai, one of the suburbs on Mumbai. A place that has obviously seen better days. “By the year 1534 the King of Portugal held the seven islands plus Bassein, which was a chunk of mainland territory north of Bombay also known as...

India: Muslims and the Media

  25 May 2007

After an attack on a mosque in Hyderabad, is the media missing the bigger picture? iFaqeer comments “Of course, he is taking it from the perspective of a “Security” hawk within the Indian establishment and not looking, as I am trying to do, beyond the tension between Muslims and other...

India: Jesus and his missing years

  25 May 2007

varnam on the speculation surrounding Jesus's missing years. “The Jesus in India theory comes from author Holger Kersten who wrote a book about the same. Though without proof the idea comes from the observation that the teachings of Jesus are similar to Buddha who lived in India, 500 years before...

India: Child Labour and Trafficking

  25 May 2007

The Weight of Silence on child labour and trafficking. “The conditions these children are forced into essentially amount to nothing more than slavery, two hundred years after legislation was passed which made the practice illegal. And this is slavery at its ugliest, most evil core, slavery of the most vulnerable...

Sri Lanka: S. Bose(1975 – 2007), Poet, Editor & Writer

  25 May 2007

The following poem was written by S. Bose, a writer-poet (Tamil) from Vavuniya, Sri Lanka and was translated by a friend of mine for Global Voices Online readers. Chandrabose Sudhakar or S.Bose was shot dead by armed men in his own home on April 16th, 2007. The killers who spoke...

India: Street Vending and the Media

  24 May 2007

Sacred Media Cow on how the media covers the issue of street vendors. “The local English print media has often targeted hawkers invoking a liberal-democratic discourse of citizenship: the rights of the ‘common man’ or the ‘pedestrian’ to public space, the ‘common man’ being a politically innocent, classless, neutral entity...

India: Television in the 80s

  24 May 2007

DesiDabba remembers television serials aired in the 1980s and early 90s, and wonders if they would have their appeal if they were to air today. “This brings us to the very question I started with. Swamy was based on a well written literature. What if the same serial would have...

India: Supermarkets, Chain stores and Corner Stores

  24 May 2007

The Qualitative Research Blog on the differences between supermarkets and traditional stores in the UK and India. “It’s interesting to see how retail establishments from these two worlds are converging – borrowing elements that work and shunning away those that don’t. The small – medium size ‘supermarket’ ensconced in residential...

China: Comparative Studies

  24 May 2007

Quifeng from bullog writes about the arrogant nature of comparative studies in China [zh]. For example in observing India, researchers like to explain the superior of Chinese developmental path over India.

India: Sexism and the Internet

  23 May 2007

Noah's Ark Broken on sexism on the internet. “All of this leads me to wonder when this is going to catch up with us here in India. So far, women bloggers have been relatively safe because the blogosphere is dominated by a handful of left leaning liberals, many of whom...

India: Dera Sacha Sauda and I

  23 May 2007

I, Me, Myself on the political angle to the Dera Sacha Sauda controversy, and a personal recollection. “Then, one day, while he was at the Dera premises, he was poisoned and his corpse delivered home in a tractor-trolley on the next. The father, the devout follower that he was, refused...

India: Women Vs Liquor

  23 May 2007

My Himachal on women protesting against liquor stores. “During past one month more than fifty Mahila Mandals of the district have registered their strong protests with the Sub Divisional Magistrates of their areas and Deputy Commissioner of the district against the liquor meanness which was now approaching their rural homes.”

India: We are talking Bollywood

  22 May 2007

If you can't beat them, join them appears to be the motto of Eros, which distributes Bollywood films outside India. Eros has decided to partner with YouTube and has created a Bollywood Channel. Eros will share its content and in the process make some money. Krishworld writes: This is the...

India: At the Delhi airport

  22 May 2007

Dateline Bombay on struggling through the queues and rush at the Delhi airport. “There is just one long line to enter the immigration area. And it takes a long time. Guess why ? Not because the immigration guys are dragging their feet. Not quite. Because for every four guys from...