With 90% abandonment rate, females babies are dying throughout Rajasthan, India just because they are female. They die because they are left outside in to be exposed to the elements and wild animals. Some babies are rescued but two alternatives exist – death due being so ill or placement in adoption centers. What is at the heart of the female… Read more »
Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India – The complete 32-volume set of Encyclopedia Britannica lay strewn over the book counter at Dhananjay Pandey’s stall at the Vijayawada Book Festival. Pandey, owner of the Pratik Book Centre in Mumbai, notes that the printing of this enormous collection was suspended in 2010. One can get a digital version these days. As customers browse through his collection,… Read more »
India’s top court has banned the use of religion and caste in political activities in the run-up to state polls, where such affiliations often determine the fate of campaigns. Most political parties select candidates in various districts based on caste and religious considerations. Monday’s Supreme Court ruling warned politicians who disqualify election candidates based on these two factors.
India’s human rights watchdog said more than a dozen tribal women were raped by police in restive Chhattisgarh state with the victims’ lawyer slamming authorities over delays in arresting the accused. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said on Sunday at least 16 women were “victims of rape, sexual and physical assault” after it concluded an investigation into reports that… Read more »
Rajasthan, India – In the early morning hours outside a hospital in the city of Bharatpur in Rajasthan, a newborn baby girl – still with her umbilical cord attached – was found abandoned and in critical health. Underweight and wet after hours of intermittent rainfall throughout the night, the baby’s condition deteriorated. The infant was rushed by hospital staff to… Read more »
With political tension deteriorating ising between Pakistan and Afghan, Afghan refugees are caught in the middle. It is frustrating for the refugees who have been living, working, marrying, and raising families in Pakistan. These refugees left Afghan to escape the fighting and now Pakistan is telling them they must return. Returning is not easy because refugees for the most part have… Read more »
New Delhi, India – Syed Wasif Haider says he was arrested by plainclothes policemen on July 31, 2001, from Kanpur, an industrial city in northern Uttar Pradesh state. He was told he faced a dozen charges ranging from sedition, that is waging war against the nation, to rioting and murder, and was accused of being a member of Hizbul Mujahideen, which… Read more »
Kabul, Afghanistan – Caught in the middle of political tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan are some two million Afghan refugees – registered and unregistered – who now face the option of either returning voluntarily or being deported from Pakistan. And it couldn’t happen at a worse time. Winter in Afghanistan can be bitterly cold. The country is also experiencing a spike in… Read more »
Children of Afghan families returning from Pakistan, who do not go to school and have no access to education, are increasingly at risk of early marriage and child labour, according to a new survey. The survey released by Save the Children on Wednesday reveals an alarming crisis in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, where the polling took place among returnees from… Read more »
The hardline leader of Kazakhstan apologised on Monday for winning its presidential election with 97.7 per cent of the vote as international monitors condemned the poll as unfair. “I’m sorry that for super-democratic states these figures are unacceptable, but there was nothing I could do,” said Nursultan Nazarbayev, 74, after a victory rally in the capital, Astana. “If I had… Read more »