Global Urban Vision – January 2010
(Compiled and Published by J.N. Manokaran (
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I India
1. Pilgrimage centres turning into sex hotspots: Study: A nationwide study by NGO Gram Niyojan Kendra commissioned by the ministry for women and child development — that studied 68 places of tourist interest — found that after major cities and places for sightseeing, pilgrim centres were a growing hub for sex tourism. Incidentally, the report said that domestic tourists were “overwhelmingly involved” in sex with commercial sex workers while foreign tourists were “engaged” in paedophilia and sex with minors through short-term marriages. The study, however, clarified that foreign tourists visiting India for sex were restricted to a few places rather than the entire country. A study by Bangalore-based NGO Equations earlier this year has said that increasing number of cases of child abuse were being reported from pilgrim sites like Tirupati, Guruvayoor and Puri. The study — ‘Protecting Children from Sexual Exploitation in Tourism: The Indian Context’ — looked into exploitation of male children, but pointed out that the same was true for women as well. Both reports have also pointed to the lack of legislation at the state level or detrimental measures to control sex offenders from revisiting sites. Troubled by reports of such blatant violations, the Union tourism ministry is now working on a code of conduct for ethical tourism. (Himanshi Dhawan, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Pilgrimage-centres-turning-into-sex-hotspots-Study/articleshow/5265434.cms accessed on 25 November 2009)
2. World’s largest plasma screen in Chennai: A 103-inch plasma screen informing the arrival and departure of trains was installed at the Chennai Central Station. The screen, claimed to be the world’s largest (8 ft x 4.5 ft), is the first of its kind in the Indian Railways. A public-private partnership venture between the railways and Armour Display Systems, the screen is commissioned at the main concourse hall between platforms 5 and 6 and is visible to passengers the moment they enter the station.
(http://expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=World’s+largest+plasma+screen+in+Chennai&artid=kx5eDMmvJDI=&SectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&MainSectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&SEO=&SectionName=rSY|6QYp3kQ= accessed on 28 November 2009)
3. Spurt in cyber crime keeps city’s cops busy: When Sri Lankan national Umesh, alias Jatti, conned several people in Canada into parting with their credit card details and swindled several lakhs, he exposed the vulnerability of Internet user to phishing scams and fake sites. Umesh, who was arrested two months back, had been running a fake credit card manufacturing unit in Valasaravakkam and had bought credit card and bank information from the international Internet black market, which sells such data for as little as Rs 20 for a card. He’s just one of the few scamsters who fell into the police net though. The cyber crime wing of the city police has been seeing a steady increase over the years in the number of such complaints. Till November 2009, the cyber crime wing received 920 complaints compared to a mere 35 in 2003. In 2005, the cyber crime wing had got 173 complaints, of which they registered 28 cases. Subsequently, this number doubled to 350 in 2006, of which 17 cases were booked. In 2007, the number of complaints further doubled to 702 and the cyber crime branch booked 22 cases. In 2008, the crime branch got 852 complaints and registered 31 cases. This year, while the complaints have shot up to 920 so far, 42 cases have been registered so far. It’s the highest since the wing was formed. Police are dealing with hacking of e-mail ids, online cheating, software theft, and posting of obscene pictures, apart from other computer and mobile phone related crimes. With white collar crimes on the rise, the cyber crime wing clearly finds itself snowed under a pile of investigations. (A. Selvaraj, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Spurt-in-cyber-crime-keeps-citys-cops-busy/articleshow/5290077.cms accessed on 2 December 2009)
4. 3286 Indian websites hacked in 5 months: As many as 3,286 websites were attacked in India between January and June 2009, most of them of various government organisations. According to the CERT-In (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team) of the Department of Information Technology. National Informatics Centre, the IT mainstay of the Indian Government, was attacked by GhostNet, allegedly by a China based cyber spy ring. In 2008 alone cyber attackers defaced over 4,000 Indian portals out of which 100 were Indian government Sites. The attacks have come under the scanner in view of the Virtual Criminology report published by McAfee. As an initial step the government has set up a National Security Council to prevent cyber attacks. It is the private sectors, experts say, that are more at risk of an attack. Private sectors in India too need to build a strong defence mechanism as today a majority of their infrastructure is connected to the Internet. http://expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=3,286+Indian+websites+hacked+in+5+months&artid=bl2qKkNpz3Q=&SectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&MainSectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&SEO=&SectionName=rSY|6QYp3kQ= accessed on 3 December 2009)
5. Cops step up vigil at Marina: In order to curb the escalating number of drowning incidents reported in the Marina, the Chennai city police has stepped up patrol around the beach to warn members of public about the dangers of drowning. The team will be on duty from 1pm to 8pm. “Almost 58 persons have drowned this year and shockingly 39 persons lost their lives in the Marina. So we have decided to deploy additional police personnel to prevent drowning incidents in future,” said a senior official. Last year there were 54 drowning incidents and the rise in number this year has become a cause of concern for the city police. With effect from 2 December evening, 22 policemen, two sub-inspectors and seven mount policemen have been positioned in and around Marina. The dangers of drowning were explained to all the people who visited the beach. Placards and boards warning the public about dangerous areas in the beach were also placed everywhere to create awareness. Lifeguards were on duty at equal intervals of the beach to step up in time of need.( http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chennai/cops-step-vigil-marina-557 accessed on 3 December 2009)
6. City gets national award for being disabled friendly: The Chennai Corporation received the National Award for empowerment of persons with disabilities, 2009 from the President of India on 3 December at Delhi. Among the measures the Chennai Corporation has taken was conducting a special grievance redressal programme for the disabled at Ripon Building as well as providing ramps in corporation buildings and setting up a special school for children with muscular dystrophy. Chennai is more sensitive to the issue of disability than other metros in India. (The Times of India 4 December 2009, p.2)
7. Dalit man shot dead for sitting on chair: Harendra Kumar Manjhi, in his late 20s, was shot dead in Salempur village in Saran district, some 80 km from here, by upper caste men for sitting on a chair and violating the social status code at a wedding late on 2 December 2009 night, police said. According to family members of the victim, Manjhi was sitting on a chair and watching the musical programme, when a group of upper caste men asked his name. "When he told them that he was a Dalit, that angered them so much that he was shot dead for daring to sit on a chair," a relative of Manjhi said. Deputy Superintendent of Police Chandrasekhar Singh confirmed that he too had heard this from the villagers. Singh said a case under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has been lodged against some people. Manjhi died on the spot and after that the marriage ceremony was cut short and villagers fled from the site. The next day morning when news of this incident spread in the village, hundreds of Dalit men and women protested and demanded action against the culprits. Singh said police have begun investigation into the case but so far no arrest has been made. Manjhi belonged to the Musahar caste, poorest-of-the-poor Dalit caste that was given the status of Maha Dalit by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
(http://expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Dalit+man+shot+dead+for+sitting+on+chair&artid=RTXR|nYiRzA=&SectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&MainSectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&SectionName=pWehHe7IsSU=&SEO= accessed on 4 December 2009)
8. Disparity in income: The average annual income of a working woman in India is $1185. This is less than one-third of what a man earns ($3698) in India, according to World Economic Forum survey. (Business Today 13 December 2009, p.14)
9. In 3 yrs, English rises to No. 2 medium: While the Marathi manoos and various others fight over the supremacy of languages, English has quietly marched on and become the second largest medium in India’s primary schools, after Hindi. In 2006, English as a medium of instruction was fourth – behind Hindi, Bengali and Marathi in that order -- but by 2007 it had climbed to second place and grew even further in 2008, beginning to eat into the Hindi numbers too. Regional language medium schools have witnessed steady erosion in their share over the years, and in some cases even in the absolute numbers, as parents seem to have decided that English is the passport to a bright future for their children. Data collected by the National University for Education Planning and Administration (NUEPA) as a part of DISE, the monitoring system developed for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme, shows that the number of those opting for English medium from class I-VIII has grown by 150% between 2003 and 2008, while the number of students opting for Hindi grew by just 32%. The count for 2008 is more robust than in previous years, says NUEPA. Of the total number of students surveyed by DISE, about 18.8 crore, data on the medium of instruction was available for over 92%. "The quality of data and its collection has vastly improved. However, the data pertains only to recognized schools. In most states, there are thousands of unrecognized schools, most of which are English-medium schools. Hence, the number of those studying in English-medium schools could actually be even higher," says Prof Arun Mehta of NUEPA. The states with the highest number of students in English-medium schools have remained unchanged from 2004 till 2008 -- Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. In the two top states, almost a fifth of all enrolled students are studying in English-medium schools. The top three are followed by Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka and Kerala in that order. Madhya Pradesh is the lone Hindi-speaking state in the list of the top 10 states in terms of enrolment in English medium. The highest jump in the number of English-medium students between 2004 and 2008 was in Maharashtra, about 11 lakh, followed by Andhra Pradesh (9.7 lakh), Tamil Nadu (9.6 lakh), Delhi (5.5 lakh) and Jammu and Kashmir about 5 lakh. Earlier, in 2006, most of the growth in English was in the southern states, barring Punjab and Gujarat, which also showed a jump in numbers. However, by 2008, many of the northern states too have joined the rush for English schooling. For instance, Haryana has recorded the highest growth, with the number of children in English-medium schools going up more than seven times between 2004 and 2008, from over 20,000 to 1.6 lakh. Similarly, in Rajasthan, students opting for English schooling increased more than three times, from over 60,000 in 2004 to nearly 2.2 lakh by 2008. The growth between 2007 and 2008 alone was 130%. Again, in Madhya Pradesh, the number of students opting for English schooling almost trebled from 1.6 lakh to 4.8 lakh. In Delhi, well over a third (37%) of all enrolled children are in English-medium schools while the proportion of those in Hindi medium has fallen from 76% to 61% between 2004 and 2008. As before, Punjab and Gujarat show substantial growth in English schooling with the number doubling in Punjab and going up more than three times in Gujarat. (Rema Nagarajan, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/In-3-yrs-English-rises-to-No-2-medium/articleshow/5302294.cms accessed on 5 December 2009)
10. No temple entry for dalits in Gujarat: Untouchability still exists in various forms in Gujarat. In a first-of-its-kind study on a large scale, representing 98,000 Dalits across 1,655 villages in Gujarat. it comes out that 97 % respondents feel they have ‘no entry’ at certain places in their own villages, including a temple or where a religious ceremony is taking place. The bar for Dalits is felt at not only temples but also ‘satsangs’ and ‘kathas’. At these religious events, not being able to sit on a cot/chair with other upper castes, has been clearly established as a sign of untouchability. The study has been carried out by Ahmedabad-based Navsarjan Trust with three US-based organisations — the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, Dartmouth College at the University of Michigan and Robert F. Kennedy Centre for Social Justice and Human Rights, Washington, DC. “This is the first study on such a large sample size and we covered 99 forms of untouchability that are still practised in villages. There are 12,500 villages in Gujarat where Dalits live. We have covered 1,655 of these villages and around 11 per cent of the total Dalit population,’’ says Manjula Pradeep, director of Navsarjan Trust. During the study, the researchers did not find a single village where no form of untouchability is practiced. (Vijaysinh Parmar, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/No-temple-entry-for-dalits-in-Gujarat/articleshow/5308970.cms accessed on 7 December 2009)
11. Chennai among 16 most polluted cities: For a seaside city, Chennai is unreasonably ‘polluted’. One would expect that the long stretch of the Marina beach would usher in ample fresh air to cleanse the usual pollutants in the city, but that is not the case. The Union ministry of environment has included Chennai city, home to over seven million people, in the list of 16 most polluted cities in the country. The government cut down on the number of vehicles registered each day, from the present 800 new vehicles. Schools and offices start and end at the same time and this common timing is the major reason for traffic congestion. Timings could be altered to make travelling within the city easier. The air quality in Adyar was good because of the numerous society grounds, the lush green cover and its proximity to the sea. There is an urgent need to repair the roads in the city. Good quality roads with proper traffic signals should be invested in, to avoid traffic congestion. Children and elderly people are the most vulnerable. Sore throat, watering of eyes and nose, and severe headache are the initial effects of air pollution. Prolonged exposure to polluted air will result in chronic asthma and other respiratory diseases. All new auto-rickshaws would run only on LPG. (http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chennai/chennai-among-16-most-polluted-cities-306 accessed on 10 December 2009)
12. 40 students beg to help educate poor students: Begging might be a disgrace, but not for these 40 college students of Chennai who have been taking alms at the Koyambedu vegetable market for over a week now to support the higher education of poor children like them. A II-year M.Sc student of Pachayappa’s College, Deivanidhi, who unloads vegetables for hours in Koyambedu market daily to support his education and family in Ariyalur district, is one among the students begging for others. Together, the 40 students, including 15 students who are on the verge of discontinuing their higher education due to funds crunch, have generated about Rs 15,000 on 10 December alone, thanks to generous traders and passers-by near Koyambedu market. They need more money to support the education of 108 of a total of 480 students backed by Velicham, a group that identifies students of poor economic background and finds patrons who dir-ectly pay for the students’ education. Students pursuing BE and Humanities and higher education aspirants hailing from humble backgrounds took up begging only after they failed to get enough patronage. Most poor students face difficulties in paying the hostel and tuition fees, Sherin of Velich-am said adding that the very few available patrons stop funding the students even if they fail in one subject, un-mindful that Tamil medium students initially face difficulties in writing exams in English. (http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chennai/40-students-beg-help-educate-poor-students-529 accessed on 11 December 2009)
13. Giant spiral UFO over Norway baffles experts: The appearance of a huge spiral of light over Norway yesterday morning has left experts stunned and bewildered as to its origins. Thousands of awe-struck Norwegians bombarded the Meteorological Institute with questions about the incredible light, which could be seen in the pre-dawn sky for hundreds of miles. Experts believe the space spectacle, which has been dubbed 'Star-Gate', is an entirely new astral phenomenon, though the world's top scientists and the military have admitted they are baffled. Theories about the light being a misfired Russian missile, meteor fireball, never-before-seen type of northern light, 'black hole' and even alien activity were all proposed. Witnesses across Norway, who first glimpsed the space show at 8.45am, all described seeing a spinning 'Catherine wheel-style' spiral of white light, centred around a bright moon-like star. A blue "streaming tail" appeared to anchor the spiral to earth, before the light "exploded" into a rotating ring of white fire. The spiral spectacle, which lasted for two minutes, was seen by vast swathes of the Scandinavian country's almost five million population, with sightings as far north as Finnmark to Trondelag in the south. Norway's most celebrated astronomer, Knut Jorgen Roed Odegaard, said he had never seen anything like the spiral before. Chief Scientist Erik Tandberg, at the Norwegian Space Centre, said that he too was "totally amazed" by the spiral. He agreed with many other experts that a missile from Russia could have caused the spiral pattern, something the Russian military have strongly denied. Meanwhile, Nick Pope, former UFO analyst for the Ministry of Defence, added that the Norwegian sighting was a "real mystery". (http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20091210/959/tod-giant-spiral-ufo-over-norway-baffles.html accessed on 11 December 2009)
14. City cops plan to arm women with pepper spray: Women walking on the streets of Chennai often face harassment or get their jewellery snatched, but can do little about it except shout back at the offender. Now they have another option - pepper spray, which they can pick up from the Thoraipakkam police station on the IT corridor. Assistant commissioner of police (ACP) KN Murali on Friday unveiled a new initiative, aimed at providing working women who keep late hours with a sense of security. Murali did a demo for an audience gathered inside the commissioner's office in Egmore. IT professionals staying hostels and women staying alone can get a deterrent. If this spray comes in contact with anyone's eyes, their vision will be blinded for at least three hours. If it comes in contact with any body part, it will create itching and swelling. (A. Selvaraj, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/City-cops-plan-to-arm-women-with-pepper-spray/articleshow/5328793.cms accessed on 12 December 2009)
15. India has 500 million mobile phone numbers: Overall, telephone connections in India (fixed line and wireless) will be closing in on 550 million. This translates into a teledensity (phone connections per 100 population) of roughly 45%, an urban teledensity closer to 97% and a rural teledensity of about 18%. India had crossed 488.40 million wireless connections at the end of October 2009 and will be breaching the half-billion wireless connections mark by December. Yet, the actual number of subscribers might be less than half a billion, since a few hold multiple SIM cards and not all of them are in use at the same time. In sharp contrast, wireline connectivity is down to 37.25 million phones, exhibiting a clear consumer preference for wireless, including mobile phones, as a preferred technology for voice and data communications. India’s broadband penetration, however, is abysmally low at 7.5 million — a consequence, say telecom experts, of policy failure, partly due to the declining use of wireline phones. India has 13 to 14 operators providing wireless connectivity — mostly mobile — in its 22 service areas. Of these, 8-9 companies are operational and another 5-6 are obligated to launch service to meet rollout obligations. Many of the new entrants who had bagged spectrum in January 2008 have been unable to get off the ground nearly two years after receiving licences.
(Shalini Singh, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-has-500-million-mobile-phone-numbers/articleshow/5334908.cms accessed on 14 December 2009)
16. Desire for car leads boy to steal money from home: Gone are the days when children used to pocket coins from their father’s wallets to buy candies. With changing times and aspirations, as well as peer pressure, the amounts stealthily pocketed are getting larger and, of course, candies are no longer what children want. Recently, a rich businessman’s son, a plus-one student, stole Rs 8 lakh from his home in Anna Nagar and purchased a car in the name of his father’s driver. The businessman, who kept large amounts of money at home, found Rs 8 lakh missing from the locker. There was no sign of a burglary, but he preferred a police complaint. Investigations revealed that the driver had purchased a new car, and he was taken into custody. When police grilled him, he revealed the truth — his employer’s son had stolen the money to purchase the car, which was registered in the driver’s name. The shocked businessman then requested the police to drop the case. They seemed to have kept a lot of cash at home. The boy took the money to purchase a Swift Dzire car. He used the vehicle to go partying with his friends and for long drives. He would park the car by the roadside to prevent his parents from noticing it. The boy said many of his classmates drove posh cars and that they all had girlfriends. It was to attract female attention that he stole the money to purchase the car. (K. Parveen Kumar, Times of India 17 December 2009, p.1)
17. Where’s The Teacher? India needs nearly a million teachers at the elementary level and half-a-million at the secondary level. And private school chains are ready to pay upto Rs. 30000 a month to fresh primary school teachers. Less than 10 per cent of the current teachers because they had no other choice and the teachers training set up cannot process that numbers required. According to Government estimates, India faces a shortage of 800000 teachers in primary and upper primary schools. Over the next ten years secondary schools will have to recruit 500000 teachers. This has left schools with a pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) of 32.4 at the elementary level. 5.7 million teachers handle 185 million students. IITs and IIMs are also facing a faculty shortage because the country is not producing enough PhDs. In most countries, the number of Ph.D. degrees – awarded annually range from 5 to 9 percent of engineering degrees awarded. In India, only around 1000 students go for Ph.D. every year. This is just 0.33 percent. (Manu Kaushik, Business Today 27 December 2009, p. 120-121)
18. Rangnath Commission recommends 10% quota for Muslims: The report of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities, headed by former Chief Justice of India Rangnath Mishra, was tabled by Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid in the Lok Sabha on 18 December 2009. Among a host of recommendations, the Commission recommends delinking of Scheduled Caste status from religion and abrogation of the 1950 Scheduled Caste Order which "still excludes Muslims, Christians, Jains and Parsis from the SC net." The Order originally restricted the SC status to Hindus only but was later opened it to Buddhists and Sikhs. With regard to quota, the Commission says that 10% should be reserved for Muslims and five% for other minorities in central and state government jobs in all cadre and grades. It added that in case of non-availability of Muslims to fill the 10% earmarked seats, these may be made available to other minorities but in "no case" shall any seat within the recommended 15% shall be given to anybody from the majority community. Member Secretary of the Commission Asha Das has, however, given a note of dissent on the the Commission's recommendation for conferment of SC status on Dalit converts to Christianity and Islam saying there was "no justification" for it. Besides, she has said that as Dalit converts to Christianity/Islam do not qualify for inclusion as SCs, they should continue to form part of OBCs and avail facilities and reservations given to the OBCs until a comprehensive list of Socially and Educationally Backward (SEB) is prepared. The Commission has, however, rejected the contentions made by Das in the dissent note and said "(we) firmly stand by every word of the recommendations, we have made under this term of reference." The Commission also suggested an alternative route for reservation to minorities if there is "insurmountable difficulty" in implementing the recommendation for 15 reservation. In this regard it said since minorities constitute 8.4 percent of the total OBC population according to the Mandal Commission report so in the 27 percent OBC quota, an 8.4 percent sub quota should be earmarked for minorities. The internal break-up should be 6 percent for the Muslims, commensurate with their 73 percent share in the total minority population at the national level and 2.4 percent for other minorities. Besides it has recommended that the reservation now extended to the Scheduled Tribes, which is a religion neutral class, should be carefully examined to assess the extent of minority presence in it and take remedial measures. The Commission noted that the minorities especially the Muslims are very much under-represented and sometimes wholly unrepresented in government jobs. The report of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities headed by former Chief Justice of India Rangnath Mishra, is considered a step ahead of Sachchar Committee report that went into the backwardness of minorities mainly Muslims. The Commission, was notified in October 2004 and began functioning in 2005. Two years later, it submitted its report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in May 2007. There were consistent demands from other parties except BJP for tabling the report in Parliament and implement its recommendations. A number of MPs from different parties had also demanded that the government should come out with Action Taken Report (ATR) on it. However, Khurshid had made it clear that ATR was not mandatory as the particular Commission was not constituted under the Commission of Enquiry Act. The Terms of Condition (ToR) for the Commission were for identifying socially, economically and backward classes among religious and linguistic minorities and suggesting measures of welfare for minorities including reservation. (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Rangnath-Commission-recommends-10-quota-for-Muslims/articleshow/5352455.cms accessed on 18 December 2009)
19. Four lakh ration cards in city are bogus says civil supplies dept: Roughly 20 percent of ration cards in the city of Chennai is bogus – i.e. 400000. The bogus cards are in circulation mainly because of the corrupt staff of ration shops, who issue cards in the name of dead people or people who have moved out of the city. The subsidized things are sold in the market. The Civil Supplies Department is planning to put the doubtful cards in website and later all information in website. The form for new application also could be downloaded , filled and submitted. (B Aravind Kumar, The Times of India 19 December 2009, p.5)
20. On religious discrimination, India next only to Iraq: US thinktank A study carried out by Washington-based Pew Research Centre, the highly respected US thinktank, said India is next only to Iraq when it comes to social hostility and religious discrimination perpetrated by individuals and groups. The study titled `Global Restrictions on Religion' took into account the situation in as many as 198 countries, North Korea being the only notable exception, to derive the conclusion. India was just below Iraq and well above countries like Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan when it came to social hostility in the country. Pakistan is at the third place right below India. The study, which claims to cover 99.5% of the world population, deals with restrictions imposed on religion not just by social groups and individuals but also by the government. Even in the case of government induced restrictions, India fares badly with its position in the top 40 countries out of the 198 mentioned. Even though the report says that "the highest overall levels of restrictions are found in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran, where both the government and society at large impose numerous limits on religious beliefs and practices'' India is ranked well above them in the social hostility index. While India has fared badly on both, China has done remarkably well when it comes to social hostility even though it has done badly in the government imposed restrictions section. "Vietnam and China, for instance, have high government restrictions on religion but are in the moderate or low range when it comes to social hostilities. Nigeria and Bangladesh follow the opposite pattern: high in social hostilities but moderate in terms of government actions,'' it says. The report clubs India with Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and Bangladesh as countries where large segments of the population want to protect the special place of one particular religion. This is how it explains the high social hostility index for these countries. "Many of the restrictions imposed in these countries are driven by groups pressing for the enshrinement of their interpretation of the majority faith, including through Shariah law in Muslim societies and Hindutva movement in India which seeks to define India as a Hindu nation,'' says the report. In preparing this study, states the report, the Pew Forum devised a battery of measures, phrased as questions, to gauge the levels of government and social restrictions on religion in each country. "To answer these questions, Pew Forum researchers combed through 16 widely cited, publicly available sources of information, including reports by the US State Department, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, the Council of the European Union, the United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Human Rights Watch, the International Crisis Group, the Hudson Institute and Amnesty International,'' it states.( Sachin Parashar.\ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/On-religious-discrimination-India-next-only-to-Iraq-US-thinktank-/articleshow/5363193.cms accessed on 22 December 2009)
21. ACs eat up 40% of city's total power consumption: The air-conditioners that keep you cool at office and home are scorching the meters. The city's recent power load flow pattern, which gives an indication of which gadgets consume more power, indicates that air-conditioners alone guzzle nearly 1,000 MW of the 2,700 MW of power that the city consumes every day. The finding has rattled Mumbai's power administrators. "We are stunned. We have always known that ACs are power guzzlers but this gives us an accurate idea of the amount of power they actually consume," MERC chairman V P Raja said. And this isn't only about the individual consumer paying his individual bill—eventually, every Mumbaikar has to shoulder the burden. Reason: the massive consumption increases the peak-hour daytime load significantly which forces the government to buy power at exorbitant prices from outside, leading to a steep rise in power bills. However, MERC has a solution: it has suggested that big power consumers (like offices) use on water-based coolants, where water is chilled during the night and then used to bring down temperatures during the day with the help of an efficient circulation system. More than 6 lakh out of Mumbai's 37 lakh residential and commercial consumers have air-conditioners at home; over 1,200 larger establishments use centralised air-conditioners. The first sub-group consumes around 400 MW of power daily and the larger commercial establishments account for 600 MW of power. The city has to buy 400 to 500 MW of power from outside during the day at an average cost of Rs 12 per unit. The new office cooling system has already been implemented by establishments like the National Stock Exchange in the Bandra-Kurla Complex and Diamond Factory in Goregaon. MERC has also advised utilities like BEST, TPC and R-Infra to work with their consumers to reduce peak-time electricity use, and promote star-labelled products (which consume less power), especially ceiling fans, air-conditioners and refrigerators.MERC also wants utilities to create power-consumption audit cells to provide "diagnostic support" to new residential and commercial buildings so that they know how to reduce consumption. (Chittaranjan Tembhekar, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/ACs-eat-up-40-of-citys-total-power-consumption/articleshow/5368121.cms accessed on 23 December 2009)
22. Study says most kids face abuse: A majority — 52 per cent — of children have faced sexual abuse during their formative years with Delhi, Assam and Bihar reporting the maximum number of such cases, a government study has found. While 21.9 per cent of child respondents reported facing severe forms of sexual abuse, 50.76 per cent experienced other milder versions, the study carried out by the ministry of women and child development said. Of the total number, 5.69 per cent said they had been sexually assaulted. Children in Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi reported the highest incidence of sexual assault. The maximum number of these children were working on the street or were in institutional care, the report said. It further said that 50 per cent of the abusers are persons known to the child or in a position of trust and responsibility and majority of the children did not report the matter to anyone. The study was done by the ministry in 2007 and covered 13 states with a sample size of 12,447 children, 2,324 young adults and 2,449 stakeholders.
(http://www.deccanchronicle.com/national/study-says-most-kids-face-abuse-844 accessed on 23 December 2009)
23. Eating out: In 2003 the average Indian ate out only 2.3 times a month but five years later the average Indian was eating out a minimum of six times a month. The rising number of working women and single people is an easy demographic explanation for the finer diner. But in big and small metros, eating out is sadly, also becoming the only entertainment, emptying pockets as it fills cultural and social vacuums. (Tehelka 28 December 2009, p. 59.)
II Diaspora
1. UK tightens visa rules for Indian IT professionals: Britain has tightened immigration rules from January 2010 for Indian IT professionals seeking to move to the UK under inter-company transfers. From next year, workers in this category will need to have 12 months experience instead of six months as at present with their employer before they can be transferred to the UK, official sources said. The immigration category will be closed as a route to permanent settlement in the UK. This means that IT professionals who come to the UK under inter-company transfer will not be allowed to settle here permanently even after the mandatory stay of five years. Immigration officials also denied reports that the Tier 2 (Intra company transfer) category of the points-based system was providing a loophole for Indian IT companies to bring foreign workers into the UK. Under an intra-company transfer, an employer can fill vacancies in its UK operations by bringing across some of its existing foreign-based staff. It has been claimed that this enables jobs in the IT and other sectors to be taken by migrants who are paid less than resident workers. The Home Office, however, said that this was not true. "Workers coming to the UK in the Tier 2 (Intra company transfer) category must be paid the going rate", it said.
(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/indians-abroad/UK-tightens-visa-rules-for-Indian-IT-professionals/articleshow/5319024.cms accessed on 9 December 2009)
2. Indian family ends life over financial woes in Dubai: Three members of an Indian family in Dubai – a mother and two children – committed suicide but the father who tried to hang himself survived with injuries, police said. The 38-year-old Indian woman, her 22-year-old son from an earlier marriage and her 20-year-old sister hanged themselves on Wednesday in their residence in Karama, a predominantly Indian locality, in an apparent suicide pact. Financial problems were behind the tragedy, according to a note left by the family. The locality next to the popular Lulu centre, owned by an Indian expatriate businessman, was abuzz with personnel from fire forces and police who received a call about the tragedy. The woman's husband who runs a business has been rushed to the hospital and is also being questioned by the police.
(http://ibnlive.in.com/news/indian-family-ends-life-over-financial-woes-in-dubai/107283-2.html?from=tn accessed on 17 December 2009)
III Global
1. US schools ring in new teaching tool: As the mobile phone technology becomes cheaper and more ingrained in students’ lives, schools are shedding their mentaility of seeing cell phones as nuisance. Severnty one percent of teens, regardless of race, income or other demographic factors had cell phone by early 2008. Phones are so common that seizing them has become a big hassle. In some schools where cell phones are allowed; notes are copied with cell camera; text messages serve as homework reminder, vacabulory learning…etc. (Times of India 29 November 2009, p.14)
2. Dailies still on shining path: People think that world belongs to the Internet, mobile communication, Twitter and Facebook: But the majority held that the newspaper is far from dead, and that with a little bit of adjustment, it will continue to be the main platform of disseminating information in which the 24X7 media too will contribute its bit. The future of the print medium and the falling newspaper advertisement revenue were two of the main concerns addressed at the 62nd World Newspaper Congress and 16th World Editors’ Forum that was formally inaugurated by President Pratibha Patil in Hyderabad India happens to be the biggest newspaper market in the world with sales of 107 million everyday. In other words, 20 per cent of all the newspapers sold daily in the world are sold in India. India, China and Japan account for more than 60 per cent of the world’s newspaper sales. Apparently, newspaper circulation increased in 100 of the 182 nations for which there is reliable data.
(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Dailies-still-on-shining-path/articleshow/5289783.cms accessed on 3 December 2009)
IV WORD FROM THE EDITOR
We wish all our readers: BLESSED & PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR
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