[Thinking About] Satyamev Jayate
The pilot for episode of Aamir Khan‘s much awaited Satyamev Jayate aired on Star Plus this weekend. The subject AK chose to address in this crucial episode was that of female foeticide and India’s rapidly declining sex ratio. The response to the episode across networks – online and offline – has been tremendous. The show [...]
[Chowk] The Girl Who Lived
This short story by M Singh was published on Chowk two years ago, Prerna is a girl with three sisters and a young brother. As her parents are preparing her for marriage, she finds out there were meant to be three more sisters between herself and her brother – a fact she reveals to her [...]
UNICEF report 2012: Child marriage, early motherhood and domestic violence plague India
Kounteya Sinha, TNN NEW DELHI: Modern India continues to be plagued by social and health ills like child marriage, early motherhood and domestic violence. Latest data in the “State of the World’s Children report 2012″ released by Unicef on Wednesday shows that almost 22% women in India, who are now aged between 20 and 24 years gave [...]
India Ink: From Bollywood Starlet To Florida Women’s Rights Champion
By Sarah Khan Today she runs a non-profit organization in Florida that rescues women from domestic violence, but in another life, Somy Ali was just a girl with a Bollywood crush — and a girl on a mission. And so, in 1992, at the startlingly young age of 15, she moved from Miami to Mumbai [...]
Rights Advocate Neeti Kushwaha: Be a human!
For our Indian audience, here is an inspirational poem from our Lucknow-based rights advocate Neeti Kushwaha about the struggles of being a woman in a repressive society. And for the non-Hindi speakers, here’s an English translation: Will these handcuffs ever break? Will there ever be a change in the way that society functions? Or will women [...]
The Detriments of the Dowry Tradition
Winter is the season for weddings in India. The time for shehnai, hot bhajjias and jalebis, taking out the fine silk and donning the best jewelry and catching up with friends and family during these social occasions. It is also the season when the bride’s father wears his ‘pagri’ (turban) and prepares to give away [...]
Times of India: India deadliest place in world for girl child
By Rukmini Shrinivasan NEW DELHI: It’s official – India is the most dangerous place in the world to be a baby girl. Newly released data shows that an Indian girl child aged 1-5 years is 75% more likely to die than an Indian boy, making this the worst gender differential in child mortality for any country in the world.Infant (0-1 [...]
Dude of the Day: His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa
Who deserves to be called “Dude of the Day” more than a man who wants to reincarnate as a woman? Gyalwang Drukpa, spiritual head of the 1,000-year-old Drukpa lineage of Buddhism, is that man. His Holiness is always in the vanguard where women’s rights are concerned. He fights for gender equality and even wishes to [...]
Feeling the “Power Cuts” in Delhi
Who am I? It’s a question I find myself asking more and more these days. Am I British? An “Overseas Citizen of India (OCI)?” A “trailing spouse?” Perhaps I should explain: I was born and brought up in England, the daughter of Punjabi parents who emigrated to the UK in the 1960s. I moved to [...]
The Ticker 1.23.12
Here’s a weekly digest of important news stories from around the world: Guatemalans climb volcano in protest against violence 1.22.12, BBC Woman’s Rights Around The World: What Have We Achieved? 1.18.12, The Huffington Post Domestic violence gets a voice 1.19.12, Times of India High Hopes 2012 Will Be a Good Year for Women 1.10.12, The New [...]
