SACW | 16 Oct. 2003
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at mnet.fr
Thu Oct 16 16:29:50 CDT 2003
SOUTH ASIA CITIZENS WIRE | 16 October, 2003
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+++++
[1] [Rulers of Pakistan and India complete 4
years in Power] Uninspiring four years (Praful
Bidwai)
[2] Khakhi Short and Saffron Flags Making Mayhem in Ayodhya
- Ayodhya Diary : On the Back foot (Raghuvanshmani)
- Making trouble but going nowhere (Editorial, The Hindu)
- Admn has VHP reeling (Srawan Shukla & Vn Arora)
- VHP show begins with a whimper but early days yet
[3] Salaam Judiciary - Salaam India (M Hasan Jowher)
[4] Goa's Governor Makes a dangerous statement re Re-Construction of Temples
[5] Press Release : South India Coalition for Sexuality Rights
[6] New publication: "Sex Selection: Issues and concerns"
[7] India beckons as a test-bed for western drug companies: (Ray Marcelo)
[8] Resist internet censorship in India: a list
of new proxy servers to bypass the ban on groups
yahoo com
--------------
[1.]
The News International [Pakistan]
October 16, 2003
Uninspiring four years
Praful Bidwai
It is of course a pure coincidence that the
fourth anniversaries of both General Pervez
Musharraf's coup d'etat and Prime Minister Atal
Behari Vajpayee's return to power in New Delhi
after the Lok Sabha elections should be separated
only by one day. But it is not a coincidence that
the events should have passed relatively
unnoticed and certainly uncelebrated in both
countries. The record of neither government is
particularly inspiring.
There is yet another connection between October
12 and 13, 1999. Musharraf's coup against Nawaz
Sharif cannot be separated from their differences
over the Kargil conflict, itself attributable to
the new belligerence in both India and Pakistan
produced by their nuclearisation in May 1998. The
Bharatriya Janata Party's return to power in 1999
was in no small way related to that belligerent,
militant, hypernationalism.
In India, only the BJP celebrated the fourth
anniversary of Vajpayee's National Democratic
Alliance government - mainly at its party
headquarters. The people did not. The anniversary
was eclipsed by the new offensive launched by the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad around the Ayodhya temple,
which highlights rifts, not cohesion, within the
sangh parivar.
The government recently launched a blitz of
expensive half- and full-page newspaper
advertisements, talking smugly and
self-congratulatingly of "India Shining", with
the economy (or rather the stock markets) "on a
roll", people "ringing in the good times" with
cellular phones, and with new highways (or
rather, toll-ways) being built under the "Golden
Quadrilateral" programme. But nobody was much
impressed.
India has indeed witnessed five to six percent
GDP growth over the past four years. But that
happened earlier under Congress and United Front
governments too. The BJP cannot take credit for
that. Faster GDP growth has produced fewer, not
more, jobs. Growth has been extremely unbalanced,
and sharpened regional and class disparities.
The past four years have witnessed a contraction
and withdrawal of public services, especially
healthcare and primary education, which are being
rampantly privatised. In many ways, the sinews of
the economy, especially its technological base
and its core industrial and capital goods
capacities, have been weakened under neoliberal
policies, mindless globalisation and wholesale
deregulation. Grotesque inequalities now threaten
to disrupt and destabilise Indian society.
The NDA's political record is even worse. It has
pursued and lent respectability to rank communal
politics and a perverse ethnico-religious
nationalism. It has robbed vast numbers of people
of their citizenship rights and made the
minorities feel insecure in this "nation of the
minorities" - where there is no large unified or
homogenous group within the same religious
denomination.
The NDA has shamelessly abused official agencies
to intimidate its opponents, as it is doing to
former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati. The
BJP practises outrageously confrontationist
politics, undermining the integrity of democratic
and liberal institutions, such as parliamentary
committees, including the Public Accounts
Committee, the Finance Commission, National Human
Rights Commission, Election Commission, and
sometimes, even the Supreme Court.
The BJP is trying to convert India into an
authoritarian "National Security" state by
exaggerating and communalising "security
threats", and imposing draconian laws. It has
militarised society and almost doubled India's
military expenditure over five years - and yet
made the public more insecure. It is trying to
turn India into a vassal state of the United
States, while mindlessly pursuing hostility
towards Pakistan.
India's global profile, especially its economic
profile, may have gone up somewhat, but most of
its basic problems, including its crisis of
governance, remain unresolved.
How does Pakistan's record over the four years
look from the Indian point of view? Musharraf
came to power condemning corrupt politicians for
their abuse of power - a view that is probably
shared by much of the public - and promising to
"salvage the nation" from their machinations. He
also cast himself in the role of the
moderniser-reformer who would take on militant
political Islam and clean up the political system.
Musharraf raised many hopes. Even progressive and
liberal-spirited people in Pakistan's civil
society, it seemed to us, were divided over what
approach to adopt towards him, which is why
someone with the whistle-clean image of Omar
Asghar Khan joined his government.
In the event, most of the promises were betrayed:
whether on punishing and deterring tax evaders,
abolishing the more obnoxious of the Hudood laws,
making the government more accountable, or
combating extremist and militant Islam. By
mid-2001, Pakistan again seemed to be drifting in
the direction of endemic instability, sectarian
strife, systemic incoherence, even state failure.
Had it not been for the catastrophic events of
September 11, Pakistan's drift might have got
accelerated and its marginalisation in the world
greatly increased. But with the "war on
terrorism", the US forged a new alliance with
Pakistan, and rescued it economically and
politically.
September 11 gave Musharraf a unique opportunity
to return assertively to his reform agenda and
take on Islamist extremists without getting into
an excessively dependent relationship with
Washington and while maintaining a dignified
distance from its parochial interests. Two years
on, that opportunity too seems to have been lost.
The sordid India-Pakistan sideshow to the "war on
terror" limited both states' options as they
tried to outsmart each other and competitively
courted the US. Islamabad's anti-Taliban alliance
with Washington was strong enough to antagonise
and strengthen radical Islamists, especially in
the provinces bordering Afghanistan, but it
wasn't strong enough to instil confidence in the
Musharraf regime that it could really confront
the extremists, clean up the mess in the armed
forces, and get rid of multiple, competing
power-centres.
Musharraf ended up undermining and virtually
crippling the country's only two political
parties with some kind of social base and
organisational continuity. Recently, sectarian
violence has worsened. The parliamentary
elections of last year have produced an uneasy
diarchy. Barring a quasi-revival of the economy,
and US military aid, there is little that the
Musharraf-Jamali government can claim credit for,
which will impress the public.
However, one of the greatest disappointments of
the past four years is the failure of the
Musharraf and Vajpayee governments to reform
their old, bankrupt and indeed irresponsibly and
dangerously hostile policies towards each other,
to make a new beginning.
Both continue to behave as if there could be a
military solution to their many mutual disputes -
"aar paar ki ladai", as Vajpayee put it - despite
their nuclear weapons-states status. They have
both allowed and encouraged hardliners in their
Establishments who believe that peaceful
co-existence between India and Pakistan is now a
virtual impossibility.
That's why six months after Vajpayee held out his
"hand of friendship" to Pakistan from Srinagar,
the "peace process" is all but dead. In India, it
has already become a hostage to domestic politics
centred on elections to five state assemblies,
for which the campaign has begun. Worse, official
exchanges have once again deteriorated to the
level of abuse. And Vajpayee now says inviting
Musharraf to Agra was a blunder!
As we reflect on the two anniversaries, one thing
is certain. History will not forgive India's and
Pakistan's rulers for having learnt nothing and
forgotten nothing - and for having put
their states and their military machines on the
path of a confrontation in which a nuclear
holocaust is a distinct, and horrifying,
possibility.
____
[2.] [Khakhi Short and Saffron Flags Making Mayhem in Ayodhya ]
October 16, 2003
Ayodhya Diary
On the Back foot
by Raghuvanshmani
Faizabad, UP[India]
The security measures of the government gets
tighter keeping in mind the Viswa Hindu
Parishad’s Ayodhya kooch. Today the force flag
marched in the sensitive areas of Ayodhya and
arrested some karsevaks from their hidings. The
deployed forces are seeking places to stay even
in the temples and houses. It may be a sort of
strategic pretense to see whether some karsevaks
are hiding in the temples and houses where they
did get shelter during the previous movements of
the VHP. The boundaries of Ayodhya and Faizabad
are already sealed.
As the result of it the communal forces are
desparate. The low profile taken by the Chief
Minister Mulayam Singh Yadov leaves very little
room for the fiery speeches to impress the public
and lead them to communal clashes. He has, to the
surprise of some people, asked the forces not to
use firing in any case. This has given him a
liberal image of a changed person in the eyes of
the common people. In turn it has made the BJP
leaders to go on the Backfoot.Atal Bihari Vajpai,
as ever made his double speak, consoling the VHP
that trains will continue running on the rout of
Ayodhya on one hand and praising Mulayam Singh on
the other. He has asserted that the state
government should have faith in the VHP but has
also asked to obey the court orders.
It is all due to the diminishing public support
to the rank and files of the VHP.While the
orthodox Togariya moves his cannon from the
central govt to the state govt. the cool BJP
leaders know that they are locked in a stalemate
situation. Another firebrand Vinay katiyar seems
to be changing his previous stance of criticizing
the government of Vajpai for being hand in gloves
with Mulayam Singh.As the MP of the area he is
well aware that the local public will not support
them this time. So he clashes with Togaria on the
issue. As a point of strategy the Sangh Parivar
is trying to maneuver the cadre from the nearby
areas like Basti, Gonda, Ambedkar Nagar,
Sultanpur and Barabanki. They know very well that
it will be very difficult for the forces to stop
karsevaks infiltering from the adjacent cities
and rural areas.
But it is very difficult for the cadres of Sangh
Parivar to convince the general public who seems
to have come to understand their hidden agenda of
collecting votes for the coming elections.
Despite their religious belief in Lord Rama, they
are losing their faith in the leaders of BJP.One
tells me with the feeling of disillusionment that
they did not come to build the temple when there
were Bhartiya Janta Party chief ministers like
Ram Prakash or Rajnath Singh. During their times
BJP was ruling both center and state. This
demystifies their politics of election gains. You
cannot befool the general public all the time.
They have minds of their own and they ask
questions.
Among the sants of Ayodhya Nritya Gopal Das is
the only major one to support the VHP and he must
be feeling alienated .In a conspicuous move sants
like Gyandas roamed through the muslin dominated
areas of Ayodhya telling the Muslims not to get
afraid. Things are changed this time in
Ayodhya.Trains are passing but without the terror
some shout of Jai Shree Ram. No bhagwa banners of
welcome on the houses.
VHP’s own claims to have collected karsevaks in
the villages on the outskirts of Faizabad tell
the story of the public support going down. But
one cannot be certain of the peaceful passing of
the DAY although most of the people desire so. It
is strange that we need a big number of good
civilians to keep peace, but only a small pack
can disturb and finish it. Any way it is clear
that the Hinduttva forces are on the back foot
but ready to knock down the peacekeeping efforts
till the last minute.
o o o
The Hindu, Oct 16, 2003
Editorial
Making trouble but going nowhere
THE SHOCK FORCES OF THE Sangh Parivar,
spearheaded by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, have
nowhere to go in Ayodhya - having demolished the
Babri Masjid more than a decade ago but unable to
take forward the project of building a Ram temple
on the `disputed' site where the 16th century
mosque used to stand. This is the essential
difference between the militant Ramjanmabhoomi
campaigns of the early 1990s and today. The
temple building project has met with both legal
and political obstacles. The legal obstacle is
the `title' suit and related issues being heard
by the Allahabad High Court. In March 2003, the
Supreme Court, in a splendid demonstration of
judicial impartiality and commitment to the
secular values enshrined in the Constitution,
prohibited the Central Government from handing
the 67.703 acres of land claimed to be
"undisputed" to a trust or organisation for the
purpose of constructing a Ram temple. It ordered
that the "status quo" should be maintained until
the title suits were adjudicated by the Allahabad
High Court. The political obstacle is the breadth
and depth of opposition from political parties to
handing over the disputed site for the building
of a temple. Given the apex court's order and the
repeatedly expressed positions of most of the
parties that make up the National Democratic
Alliance, the Vajpayee Government is in no
position to aid the Ramjanmabhoomi campaign in
any material way.
Over the past several days, the Mulayam Singh-led
Government of Uttar Pradesh has made a firm,
quiet and well-coordinated effort to thwart the
VHP's threat of holding an unlawful meeting, the
`Sankalp Sammelan', in Ayodhya on October 17. The
mass arrest of Sangh Parivar (and Shiv Sena)
activists, the requisitioning of more than 100
companies of Central paramilitary forces with the
cooperation of the Vajpayee Government, the
sealing of routes to the twin towns of Faizabad
and Ayodhya by diverting trains and stopping bus
services - a variety of law enforcement measures
has been employed to stop potential violence and
trouble at the disputed site. In enforcing such
measures, the U.P. Chief Minister, Mulayam Singh
Yadav, is armed with a potent weapon: a court
order. Last week's direction by the special bench
of the Allahabad High Court is unambiguous: the
State Government must not allow the VHP to
conduct a religious programme at, or in the
vicinity of, the disputed site where the Babri
Masjid once stood. It is notable that in this
round the U.P. Chief Minister has gone out of his
way to signal that he is not in favour of any
confrontation.
The VHP has repeatedly declared that courts have
no competence to adjudicate `matters of faith'.
It is no longer a novelty for top VHP leaders to
shower the Prime Minister with some of their
choicest abuse and insults. They are on record
accusing Atal Bihari Vajpayee of "weakening the
country", of not having "any sentiments" for
Hindus, of being a deal-maker (for the sake of
power), a "pseudo-Hindu", an "anti-Hindu", and,
worst of all, a "secularist". Pravin Togadia,
international general secretary of the VHP, has
even warned publicly that the country "will be
plunged into communal riots" if Ram bhakts are
stopped from going to Ayodhya for a `darshan'.
Not surprisingly, the Vajpayee Government has
come under pressure from the Sangh Parivar, and
especially its `brain', the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh, to come to the aid of the VHP. The top RSS
leadership has asked the Government not to stop
or divert trains and not to do anything to
prevent VHP volunteers from reaching Ayodhya for
their "sankalp" programme. There has been some
back-pedalling by the Prime Minister, who has
suddenly advised that the VHP should be trusted
to act peacefully. With five Assembly polls a
little more than a month away and a general
election due next year, the BJP has a desperate
political need to keep the Parivar together to
counter the party's adversaries. In Uttar
Pradesh, the party's political stock has declined
to a level that alarms senior leaders. VHP
leaders make no secret of their assessment that
the BJP, as presently led, is headed for defeat
in the next general election - and for a
near-collapse in U.P. - for the simple reason
that it has gone `soft' and `effete' on Hindutva.
The "sankalp" programme might have put some
pressure on the polity, but its main achievement
thus far has been to spotlight the contradictions
and dilemmas faced by the NDA coalition
Government and its Prime Minister.
o o o
The Times of India, October 16, 2003
Admn has VHP reeling
SRAWAN SHUKLA & VN ARORA
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=235720
Indian Express, October 16, 2003
VHP show begins with a whimper but early days yet
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=33502
_____
[3]
M Hasan Jowher
President
SPRAT [Society for the Promotion of Rational Thinking]
Rajnagar Complex, Narayan Nagar Road, Paldi, Ahmedabad 380 007
Tel 079-663 46 55/66/77 Res: 661 40 95 / 661 20 45
email: <mailto:mhj at mysprat.org>mhj at mysprat.org Web: mysprat.org
----------------------------------------------------------
SALAAM JUDICIARY - SALAAM INDIA
M Hasan Jowher
Masuma did not live to hear the scolding Narendra
Modi government received from the Supreme Court.
She died the same night, when at our bidding, she
narrated her tale of woe to an international TV
channel. Recounting the loss of her husband, two
daughters, her own limbs and house at Naroda Gam
proved unbearable. We killed her but don't feel
guilty. She was too miserable to live.
The thousands of other riot victims of Gujarat
riots drew some satisfaction from the indictment
Gujarat Government received from the Supreme
Court in the Best Bakery and Bilkis rape cases.
After the genocide celebrating yatras, denial of
compensation and justice, and visible state
animosity comes some ray of hope.
Continuing violence and persecution, collapse of
justice system and witch hunting of those who
worked for the victims, have further alienated
Gujarat's largest minority. Of the 240 held under
POTA one is a Sikh, the rest are all Muslims.
Sycophantic bureaucracy and spineless police abet
a decadent administration of Gujarat in
persecuting and even prosecuting the victims
themselves through unabashed misuse of law even
while sections of judiciary look the other way.
The Police often use Muslim goons, passing for
local leaders, in perpetuating this stranglehold.
As I write this dozens of innocent Muslims of
Ahmedabad are said to be held in illegal custody
for periods ranging from five to fifty days.
Alas, no one speaks for them. No wonder
retaliatory terrorism, however
counter-productive, has gained some sub-conscious
legitimacy. But in Gujarat government's lexicon
killing of twenty innocents by two armed
desperadoes is terrorism while the killing of two
hundred innocents by a mob of two thousand
marauders is "natural reaction".
It is in this background that the nation's
conscience keeper has reminded Modi Government of
its Rajdharma. It is time for the 'Adharmi
sarkar' to quit in remorse for the sake of
Gujarat's asmita and gaurav. Will the civil
servants also now wake up to their duty?
Implicit in the Supreme Court observations is
also the emphatic assertion for the Muslims of
India: Look within for justice; relief and
support is next door from your Hindu neighbors
and not from pan-Islamic fraternity beyond. The
state may have betrayed you but the nation has
not turned a blind eye. That the soul of India is
intact. And disturbed.
Caught between the vice-like grip of an
unimaginative and opportunistic leadership on the
one hand and majoritarian extremism on the other,
the common Indian Muslim today lives in a
pitiable situation. Firmly rooted, yet uprooted;
with a glorious heritage, a dismal present and a
bleak future; branded traitors and terrorists,
Muslims of India are undoubtedly the suffering
children of the subcontinent's painful recent
history.
Before Graham Stains a Muslim was similarly burnt
to death in Orissa; no one heard about him. The
killers of over 2000 Gujarati Muslims are most
likely to go scot-free. Meerut, Bhagalpur,
Bhiwandi, Bombay.. no one was punished, as Modi
government reminded the court. But if Bush can
hunt Saddam inside Iraq, if Sharon can imprison
Arafat in Palestine, why can Modi not subjugate
Gujarati Muslims? How will the ill-trusted
Nanavati commission be more effective than the
conscientious Justice Shri Krishna commission?
Yet, the ilk of Togadia has successfully
convinced the majority that the Indian Muslim is
an appeased lot. Some Gujarati Hindus genuinely
believe that the genocide has actually benefited
Muslims through compensation and insurance
claims! Lagging behind in almost every facet of
contemporary life, Indian Muslims have been on
the defensive for far too long, thanks largely to
their own misplaced priorities. One hundred fifty
million Muslims of India sadly lack an
organizational structure and a courageous,
visionary leadership that can challenge the
bigots and address the real issues of poverty,
illiteracy, irrationality, obscurantism.
Consider that the three lakh residents of
Ahmedabad's Muslim Juhpaura do not have one
nationalized bank branch, a college, a single
public utility office or government hospital.
When some hooligans attacked a bus, the
government changed the transport route skirting
Juhapura by four extra kilometers. A whole
generation of Ahmedabadi Hindus has grown without
ever visiting Juhapura.
Isn't is time the Muslims turned the tables and
aggressively presented to the nation a Muslim
Charter espousing their secular cause with all
the strength the Indian republic bestows, with
all the cooperation the conscientious Hindus will
undoubtedly extend?
With extensive credible evidence in support, they
should demand fair and equal opportunities in the
temporal life of the nation. To bridge the gap
they need preferential treatment in credit,
education, sanitation, employment and
representation in government. Muslims shall not
be second grade citizens of India. They must
contribute and share in the prosperity of the
nation as equal citizens. No need for ritualistic
secularism: condemning every terrorist act,
distancing from community causes. For this, of
course, their commitment to the nation, the next
door Hindu friend and to secularism at large
should be sincere and unflinching.
To win Gujarati Muslim mind and heart justice
should be done and seen. A special federal
investigating and prosecuting agency comprising
well-known secular police officers and lawyers
nominated by NHRC should probe the entire Godhra
and post Godhra violence. A statutory
compensation commission should be set up to
solicit, investigate and grant fair and
contemporaneous compensation for losses suffered
by all victims. A reconciliation commission may
also be set up at the national level to promote
interfaith and inter-caste harmony, reuniting the
fragmented Indian society into an emotionally
unified nation.
The Supreme Court has shown a direction. Masooma
is gone but Bilkis lives with her shame and pain.
To salute the dead, to celebrate life, to the
spirit of unity amidst diversity; humanity amidst
bigotry; reason, truth and justice against
fanaticism, falsehood and injustice, on this day
an Indian Muslim offers salaam.
The writer is the Founder President of SPRAT
[Society for the Promotion of Rational Thinking]
- a voluntary organization - and may be reached
at mhj at mysprat.org.
_____
[4.]
[GOA, INDIA] GOVERNOR HIGHLIGHTS IMPORTANCE OF THE RE-CONSTRUCTION OF TEMPLES
October 11, 2003 (Department of Information)
Governor Mr. Kidar Nath Sahani has said that the re-construction of temples
demolished by the Portuguese and erstwhile regimes has great importance in
the nation building task and in bringing about national awakening among the
people.
Mrs. Vimla Sahani also accompanied the Governor.
The Governor was speaking to the people when he visited the old site of
Shree Mahalsa temple at Verna. The re-construction of Mahalsa temple has
been taken up at Verna at a cost of Rs. 4 Crores. The old temple was
demolished in the year 1567 by the Portuguese. Besides the main temple of
Shree Mahalsa other small temples of Shree Sateri, Ganesh, Mahalaxmi and
Nagadevata will also be constructed. The work has been entrusted to M/s K.
V. Nadkarni and Associates, Architect Abhijit Sadhale, Consultant engineers
Mr.R. M. Dhume, Mr. Manoj Amshekar .
Speaking further Mr. Sahani said, people from all faiths should come
together and extend cooperation in this mammoth task as it involves issue of
national identity and heritage. He said re-construction of a temple is a
noble task and there should be no difficulty in getting funds for the
project.
He also advised the committte members to approach the managements of other
temples in Goa and seek their help.
Mr. Devidas Saraf welcomed the guests. Mr. Yeshwant Paradkar took around the
Governor and Mrs. Vimla Sahani and explained about the construction work and
also the brief history. Mr. Shaba Verekar compared and Mr. Anand Dessai
proposed vote of thanks.
Prof. Subhash Velinkar, Vice President of the Committee, Mr. Nitin
Kuncoliekar, President, GCCI, Mr Ratnakr Lele, Mr. Prakash Kawlekar, and
President South Goa Vishwa Hindu Parishad were among those present on the
occasion.
_____
[5]
South India Coalition for Sexuality Rights
Flat 13, Royal Park Apartments, 34 Park Road, Tasker Town, Bangalore -
560051
Phone: 080 2868680/2868121 Email: <sicsr at hotmail.com>
=========================
PRESS RELEASE
Bangalore
14th October, 2003
Subject: Launching of 'South India Coalition for Sexuality Rights' and
'Campaign for Repealing of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC'
Around 100 activists belonging to various organizations working on issues
related to sexuality minorities, sex-workers,
women, dalits, human rights, sexual
health, trade unions, students, youth, social
action etc.. in South India have
gathered in Bangalore for a full-day
deliberations on the issue of Repealing
Section 377 of IPC. The groups have resolved
to launch a campaign to sensitize
the state, media and the civil society about
the need to Repeal Section 377 of the
IPC, the law used to criminalize
homosexual/bisexual/transsexual people. IPC
377 is used often by police and criminal
elements to harass, abuse (physical as
well as sexual), extort and intimidate homosexual/bisexual/transsexual
populations. This law stands as a hindrance in seeking justice when human
rights of sexuality minorities are violated.
This law even criminalizes certain
forms of sexual activities between consenting
heterosexual adults like 'oral sex'
and 'anal sex'.
This archaic law was imposed on our sexually
tolerant society 135 years ago by
British colonial rulers. Though Britain has decriminalized homosexuality 50
years ago, we continue to serve our erstwhile masters through this law. The
recent affidavit filed by the central
government in Delhi High Court stated that
"homosexuality should not be decriminalized
because: 1) Homosexuality is not
accepted by Indian culture and Society, 2)
Criminalisation of homosexuality is
necessary to "provide a healthy environment
by criminalizing unnatural sexual
activities" and also, that "it can open the
floodgates of delinquent behavior", 3)
The criminal law should represent the wishes
of majority of the population and
homosexuality should be a crime as a majority
of Indian are intolerant towards
it" (emphasis added). This only shows how the present central government,
which claims to uphold the Indian traditions
is actually a reactionary force, and
has very little understanding of tolerant Indian traditions towards
homosexuality. What gives us hope is the positive support extended by the
visual/print media through editorials, reports, talk shows etc..
The activists at the Bangalore meeting have
launched ‘South India Coalition for
Sexuality Rights’ to fight not only for the
rights of sexuality minorities but also
for the rights of all people who are facing
oppression due to sexual intolerance
including sex-workers and people living with HIV/AIDS through public
education and campaigns. The constituents of
the coalition include: Alternative
Law Forum (ALF), DISC, Federation of Voluntary Organisations for Rural
Development in Karnataka (FEVORD-K), Garment Workers Union, Gelaya,
Good As You, Indian Social Institute, Jagruthi, NESA (New Entity for Social
Action), PUCL – Karnataka, Sakya Balaga, Samraksha, Sangama, Saturday Sex-
workers’ forum, Queer IISc (Queers in Indian
Institute of Science) and Vividha
from Karnataka); Sexworkers’ Forum Kerala, Vaathil and Foundation for
Integrated Research in Mental Health (FIRM) from Kerala; Social Working
Association for Men (SWAM) and Theni Mavattam Aravanigal Association
from Tamilnadu, Darpan Foundation, Duties,
Jyothi Welfare Society, Mithrudu,
PASCA, Saathi and WINS (Women's Initiatives) from Andhra Pradesh.
We request you to carry this news in your
publication/television in support of
our struggle for equality and justice.
Yours truly,
Elavarthi Manohar, Maitreya
for Coordination Committee
______
[6]
[ANNOUNCEMENT]
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 13:37:43 +0530
Subject: Sex Selection: Issues and concerns
Dear Friends,
We have come out with a new publication titled
"Sex Selection: Issues and concerns".
This book is a collection of papers, articles and
news reports. The purpose of this compilation is
to bring together various points of view and
voices that have shaped the sex selection debate
to date. The writings in the volume are broadly
divided into four sections.
'Sex selection and the Campaign' traces the
rising concern over sex selection across time. It
puts into focus crucial debates that eventually
led to the genesis of the campaign against sex
determination. The section also comprises of
papers studying the extent to which such a
practice prevails.
'Role of the state and the law' deals with the
role of state and the legal battle towards a ban
on the practice from the formulation of the
Maharashtra Regulation of Use of Prenatal
Diagnostic Technique Act, 1988 to the Pre Natal
Diagnostic Tests (Regulation and Prohibition of
Misuse) Act, 194,
'Social Impact of Sex Selection practice' looks
at the impact such rampant practice of sex
determination has on demographic indicators.
'The political Economy of sex selection' looks at
the social, cultural, economic and political
aspects linked to the prevalence of such a
practice.
Cost of the publications is Rs. 125/-
For copies write to:
<cehat at vsnl.com>
<cehatpun at vsnl.com>
______
[7]
Financial Times [UK]
October 14, 2003, Tuesday London Edition 2
Pg. 24
India beckons as a test-bed for western drug
companies: Groups see the chance for big savings
but questions are raised about the ethics of
trials on illiterate patients, writes Ray Marcelo
By RAY MARCELO
Harmala Gupta runs a cancer patient care and
counselling service in New Delhi, but she is
worried that many patients have little say in
their treatment.
"Patients with lower social status are treated as
if they have a basic inability to understand or
even have feelings," she says. "I've heard young
doctors saying it's so easy to do research on
these people. But if you don't see people as
people, but as case studies, it becomes
exploitative."
Ms Gupta's concern for her patients serves as an
ethical reminder for multinational pharmaceutical
companies that hope to cut drug development costs
by recruiting Indian patients for clinical trials.
The reality of clinical trials - the approval
process for any new pharmaceutical - is that they
are time-consuming, expensive, and ethically
tricky. The task involves recruiting hundreds,
often thousands, of sick people to volunteer for
the testing of experimental medicines, with
unknown side effects.
This makes India, with a population of more than
1bn and no shortage of diseases, an attractive
destination for contract research organisations,
businesses that run trials for pharmaceuticals
groups.
The aim is to reduce the time and money needed to
turn new molecules into marketable drugs: a
process that can take 20 years and cost Dollars
800m (Pounds 480m).
Peter Pfeiffer, associate principal with
consultancy McKinsey, told an industry conference
in New Delhi: "The overall cost advantage in
bringing a drug to market by leveraging India
aggressively could be as high as Dollars 200m.
"India clearly provides an opportunity for
western pharmaceuticals companies . . . because
of the availability of large patient populations,
access to highly educated talent and a lower cost
of operations."
These developments come when pharmaceuticals
companies are beginning to consider transferring
parts of their research operations to India. It
is attractive because of its many scientists and
the fact that it is implementing tougher patent
protection. The companies are keenly searching
for ways to increase the productivity of their
research. Some executives believe India could
become as prominent in pharmaceuticals as it is
in information technology.
In clinical trials, India, unlike the US, offers
an enormous pool of what the industry calls
"treatment-naive" patients - those who have not
been tested with rival drugs. A larger pool of
such people offers the prospect of faster patient
enrolment in trials and thus more rapid drug
development.
India has about 30m people with heart disease,
25m with type-II diabetes and 10m with
psychiatric disorders, according to Centerwatch,
a trade magazine. The abundance of these
supposedly "rich-world" diseases is regarded as a
prize attribute for companies looking to test
drugs destined for western consumers.
The world's largest CRO, US-based Quintiles,
began operations in India in 1997, and has
recruited 6,400 patients for clinical trials in
areas such as psychiatry, infectious diseases and
oncology. Centerwatch estimates there are a dozen
CROs that have set up offices in India, up from
three in 2001.
Mike Ryan, business development manager of New
Jersey-based CRO Pharmanet, which has been in
India for about a year, says one of the country's
attractions is that patients hold doctors in high
esteem. As a result, patient compliance in trials
is high - as opposed to the US, where subjects
often drop out to seek second opinions.
Indian companies, too, are angling for a share of
contract research. Cathy White, chief executive
of Neeman Medical International, a US-based
subsidiary of India's Max Healthcare group, says
companies can save 20-30 per cent in drug
development costs by outsourcing to India.
Most of these savings come from hiring clinical
researchers, nurses and IT staff at less than a
third of western wages.
Another factor underpinning the shift of drug
testing to India is the recent change in medical
research rules. India's health authorities this
year adopted guidelines on "good clinical
practice" in line with global norms.
Still, some inside the industry express caution.
Urmilla Thattle, associate professor at Tamil
Nadu's medical college, argues that if patients
are illiterate, there are serious ethical
questions surrounding their consent in a drug
trial.
She says she has seen hospital ethics committees
using photocopied consent forms irrelevant to the
proposed drug trial.
Allan Weinstein, vice-president of clinical
research and regulatory affairs with US drugmaker
Eli Lilly, says: "India should not be a place to
go just because there are a lot of fresh
patients." He says there must be a likelihood
that patients involved in a clinical trial will
benefit from the drug.
LOAD-DATE: October 13, 2003
______
[8]
FOCUS ON INTERNET CENSORSHIP IN INDIA
http://membres.lycos.fr/sacw/ [Updated on October 16, 2003]
Beat the ban on groups.yahoo.com
by using any of the following proxies (any users
reports would be welcome: please send reports to
aiindex at mnet.fr)
Readers outside India are requested to help point
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Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on
matters of peace and democratisation in South
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit
citizens wire service run since 1998 by South
Asia Citizens Web (www.mnet.fr/aiindex). [Please
note the SACW web site has gone down, you will
have to for the time being search google cache
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The complete SACW archive is available at: http://sacw.insaf.net
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