Human Rights in India

The file contains details of a peace actor, Irome Sharmila who has been fasting unto-death demanding the removal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 (AFSPA) from the state of Manipur, North-east India.

The file contains a press release of AHRC on the declaration of awards to two actors of peace who were fighting for human rights in different parts of India.

Joseph Raj is with Trust for Education & Social Transformation, an NGO, and has been working for some years now in Virudhunagar district of Tamilnadu known for its merchants and called the “Business City”.

Shivaji Kayanikar went home and mulled over the question, “How many among you would volunteer for service to your community and though to the nation?” And his answer was that there was no point in serving people for a specified period of time according to one’s convenience. It was either a life-time’s work or none at all.

Having two freedom fighters for his parents, there is no wonder if Dileep Kamat chose the service field.

The file contains the different activities of HRFDL-Tamilnadu and HRFDL-Karnataka on various Human Right issues.

This file analyses the cases of violence and sexual harassement towards fisher women as against their right to work.

The « Partnership for Sexual Health » (PSH) Projects in Kerala managed by different Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) held a series of workshops discussing on exit strategies at the final phase of its activities.

The file is a report appeared in a daily narrating a major challenge in contemporary India with regard to sexual minorities. It raises serious questions about our moralistic attitudes and insensitive administrative actions. {[A Translation of the Report in Anandabazar Patrika, Friday, July 28, 2007] Translation By Anindya Hajra}

The narration of an incident of murder of a Dalit Panchayat President, which poses major challenge to democracy and peace.

The file contains the details of a historical struggle. The fisher women of Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala, under the banner of Theeradesa Mahila Vedi to recapture the fish markets, earlier controlled and managed by them but of late seized by rich contractors and middlemen.

Amitava Kumar’s Bombay, London, New York is a meditation on the self, the home and the world as experienced in books. While the theme of Diaspora runs memorably through his work, Kumar uses it to explore what home means in poignant, complex ways. « What I am always going back to is the moment when I was going away, » he writes in Bombay, London, New York. « The movement I am most conscious of now is the movement of memory, shuttling between places. One place is home, the other the world. »

Ian McDonald’s River of Gods repositions cyberpunk by envisioning it in a Developing world. What would such a world look and feel like ? This is what McDonald sets out to show us in this novel about a compellingly realised future India

Pankaj Mishra’s « An End to Suffering » is the best literary non-fiction Indian book in a decade and one of the most beautiful books ever published in Buddhist literature. A reader can embrace it for its beautiful, shimmering prose, for the exact, honest autobiographical details that serve the narrative perfectly, its gripping, contemporary and moving narrative of the Buddha’s life, the complex and lucid way it criss-crosses and unravels history, philosophy, scholarship and the alluring, intimate breath of its travel narrative through ancient and present-day Buddhist India.

The case story below is from a real Project experience. The writer has had the first hand experience and was the one who has envisioned, initiated this project and was part of the processes.

Kerala’s anti-ADB campaign received a shot in the arm as activists from outside the state under the banner of Peoples Forum Against ADB (PFAADB) came out in support a few days back in Thiruvanathapuram. Speaking about the disastrous experience with Asian Development Bank (ADB) loans in Karnataka, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal activists warned that a similar experience was in store for Kerala.

The file contains the narrative of a horrible ritual in which the Dalits are forced to eat raw pig with banana.

The file contains an on the spot experience of the Koovaagam festival of the Aravanis. The festival becomes a suitable opportunity for HIV/AIDS campaign.

The file is about the campaign of fish worker organizations against the Indian Union Government’s notification on Coastal Zone Management (CZM). The Fish worker’s organizations think that the Government move is to open up the coastal areas to the tourism industry and permit foreign trawlers to operate in coastal seas.

The file is about the declaration of the United Nations General Assembly to observe the International Day of Non-Violence each year on 2 October – the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, who helped lead India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.

A campaign demands reduction of military expenses and to divert funds or a greater allocation of funds to deal with Socio-economic program for the poor.

The file contains details on a socially responsible film festival held at Trichur, Kerala. The four-day Film festival invests not just in the banquet of films of value and sense but strives to make the event a rich visual and intellectual experience in interfacing with filmmakers, activists, peoples’ movement leaders and academicians from as divergent streams of life and activities.

The file presents the activity of celebrating Women’s Day on March 8th by Theeradesa Mahila Vedi, the women’s wing of Kerala Swathanthra Matsyathozhilali Federation (KSMTF), in Kerala. It also contains the Prelude to the Declaration of Rights and the Demands.

The file is the testimony of a Dalit woman Panchayat President on her empowerment process and capacity building by participating in the political process. She also narrates the obstacles she had to face during and after the election.