Global Voices » Rezwan

Bhutan: Learning About A Stone Bath

Rezwan — Wed, 30 May 2012 21:15:34 +0000

Sabrina from USA continues her adventure in Bhutan and learns about a stone bath.

Sri Lanka: Cast As A Mother

Rezwan — Wed, 30 May 2012 21:11:23 +0000

One year ago – 13 Sri Lankan women of the Stage were invited to look at their experiences of motherhood, through the lens of theatre and write about them. At the Passing Stage blog you can follow their progress.

Bangladesh: Using Blogging to Expose ‘Eve Teasing'

Rezwan — Thu, 24 May 2012 04:21:59 +0000

Eve teasing (sexual harassment of women) is one of the major problems in Bangladesh which many women face everyday. This social problem exists everywhere be it in rural or in urban areas. One of the main reasons of girls being married off at an early age or them dropping out of school is “eve teasing”. Many times these incidents lead to violence and even deaths. There had been instances of parents or siblings giving their lives to stop “eve teasing”.

Strict laws and regulations cannot deter these incidents from happening. Sometimes the harassers get away because of the silence of the society. Recently in the capital Dhaka, a blogger has taken a strong stance against the perpetrators of an “eve teasing” incident and he asked the help of other bloggers to unmask the identity of these violators.

On 11 May, 2012, Sorbonasha, an anonymous blogger, wrote a post titled ‘At this moment I am seeking help of thousands of bloggers from somewhereinblog.net (blogging platform) … right now‘ [bn]:

Then he described an “eve teasing” incident:

দাঁড়িয়ে ছিলাম ধানমন্ডি এলাকার রোড ৫/এ, মেডিনোভার উল্টা দিকের মেইন রোডে। রাত তখন প্রায় ৯:৫০ এর মত বাজে। হঠাৎ দেখলাম, ইউ ল্যাব ইউনিভার্সিটির দিক থেকে কিছু উঠতি বয়সী ছেলে হেঁটে হেঁটে স্টার কাবাব যেদিকে, সেদিকে যাচ্ছে । একজন তরুণী দাঁড়িয়ে একটি সিএনজি অটোরিক্সার সঙ্গে কথা বলছিলেন। ছেলেগুলো তাঁর থেকে অনেক কম বয়সী হওয়া সত্ত্বেও হঠাৎ তারা মেয়েটির জামার নিচ দিয়ে হাত বাড়িয়ে পাজামার পেছন ধরে টান দিল .. দিয়ে হাসতে হাসতে এগিয়ে চলল .. ঘটনার আকস্মিকতায়, অপমানে তরুণীটি হতবিহ্বল হয়ে দাঁড়িয়ে আছে, লজ্জায় মুখে কিছু বলার ভাষাও হারিয়ে ফেলেছে।

I was standing on road 5/A of Dhanmondi, on the main road opposite Medinova (medical center). It was almost 9:50PM at night. Suddenly I saw some young lad walking towards the Star Kabab & Restaurant. There One girl was trying to hire a CNG Autorickshaw. The boys were younger than that girl, however, one of them slipped his hand on to her tops and pulled her pant down from behind… then they continued walking laughing. In a state of sudden shock, the girl stood perplexed, harassed, she did not have anything to say in shame.

Then he described how he fought for her [bn]:

আর সহ্য করতে পারলাম না, দৌড়ে যেয়ে ছেলেটিকে পাকড়াও করে প্রতিবাদ করলাম। নিমিষেই ছেলেটির সঙ্গী-সাথীরা আমার উপর চড়াও হল। উপর্যুপরি কিল-ঘুষি-লাথি-চড় !! আমি চিৎকার করে এর প্রতিরোধ করতে চাইলে ছেলেগুলো তাদের ইউ ল্যাবের ছাত্র বলে পরিচয় দেয়। আমাকে টেনে সেদিকে নিয়ে যাবার চেষ্টা করে। মেয়েটি আমার সাহায্যে এগিয়ে এসে হাও-মাও করে কাঁদতে থাকে। আশ-পাশে এরই ভেতর অনেক লোক জমে গেছে। তারা জানতে চাইলে আমি তরুণীটিকে দেখিয়ে ঘটনা বর্ণনা করি।

I could not tolerate it anymore. I ran towards the boys and protested. They immediately attacked me. I was greeted with punches, kicks and slaps. I called for help and they identified themselves as the students of University of Liberal Arts Of Bangladesh (ULAB). They tried to pull me towards their campus. The girl now was in tears trying to help me and was crying for help. Many people had gathered by then. When they asked I described what happened with her.

However the blogger was surprised to see that many were advocating for the perpetrators instead of the victims [bn]:

লক্ষ্য করি যে, ইউ ল্যাবের ছাত্র, পাশের সিগারেটের দোকানদার, ছাত্রদের গাড়ী চালক সবাই ঐ বদমাস ছেলেগুলোর পক্ষে সাফাই গাচ্ছে, কেউ কেউ ওদের সমর্থনও করছে। বলার চেষ্টা করছে, রাস্তা-ঘাটে এরকম হতেই পারে, ওরা হয়তো একটা ভুল করেই ফেলেছে, কিন্তু তা বলে আমার এত বাড়াবাড়ি করা উচিৎ হচ্ছে না, ঝামেলা না বাড়িয়ে আমি যেন তাড়া তাড়ি সেখান থেকে চলে যাই .. আর আমজনতার বিশাল এক অংশ নীরব, নিশ্চুপ। প্রতিরোধ দূরে থাক, অন্যায়ের প্রতিবাদটি পর্যন্ত কেউ করছে না।

I noticed that the students of ULAB, the cigarette sellers, the chauffeurs of some students were advocating for the boys. They were trying to say that perhaps they had done a mistake, but I should not exaggerate it as these can happen. Some also advised me to leave the place immediately without causing much trouble. I noticed a large section of people standing there silent, watching inactively. Let alone defending me, nobody was even protesting the incident.

But the blogger did not stop there. After reaching home he wrote a blogpost trying to identify those boys. He proposed some steps including a blogger's meeting. In his post he asked the netizens to help him expose the real identity of those involved in that harassment.

The post was widely read (43,839 times at the time of writing the post) and many people commented on it (1062 comments).

Shafiul Alam [bn] commented that he will be able to help in finding their identity.

অনেক কিছু বলার ছিল, কিন্তু কিছু প্রবলেমের কারণে বলতে পারছি না। যাই হোক। আমি ঐ এলাকার এবং ইউল্যাবের অনেকের সাথেই পরিচয় আছে। যদি ওরা ইউল্যাবের কেউ হয়, তাহলে মনে হয় বের করতে পারব।

I could say many thing, but cannot because of some problems. I know many people of that area and have contacts in ULAB. If those boys are students of that institution, I think I will be able to find out.

Nostalgic [bn] is angry to learn about this incident. But he is hopeful seeing the protest of the blogger:

জঘন্য অনুভূতি হলো পড়ে!

আপনার সাহসকে সম্মান জানাই! আমরা সবাই ভিড়ের মানুষ হয়ে যাই নাই। আপনার মত মানুষ আছেন, যারা ভিড় ঠেলে সামনে দাঁড়িয়ে প্রতিবাদ করতে ভোলেন না এখনও।

I felt awful reading it. I admire your courage. We have not all become passive bystanders. Still there are people like you who stand alone from the crowd trying to protest.

Birendra [bn] tells why these criminals should be punished:

সামগ্রিকভাবে সমাজের নৈতিক অবক্ষয়। আপনি যে প্রতিবাদ করেছেন এ জন্য আপনাকে অনেক অনেক ধন্যবাদ।

এদের যদি শাস্তি হয় তাহলে ভবিষ্যতে অপরাধ কমবে।

This shows degradation of morals in the society. Many many thanks to you for your protest. If these people are punished we can expect a decrease in such crimes.

Sajid [bn] commented that these kinds of problems can be solved through everybody's help:

আপনাকে স্যালুট, কারো পক্ষে সম্ভব না এর সমাধান করা, যদি না আমজনতা জেগে উঠে

Salute to you. Nobody can do it alone if people do not rise.

Ashikur Rahman Amit [bn] was angry to see bystanders doing nothing:

কোথায় চলে গেছে আমাদের নৈতিকতা, ঘৃণা প্রকাশ করতেও লজ্জা লাগছে ইউল্যাবের ঐ সকল জানোয়ারদের প্রতি। সেই সাথে ধিক্কার তাদের প্রতি যারা প্রতিবাদ করতে দেখেও এগিয়ে আসেনি।

Where have our morals gone? I feels ashamed to express even my hatred towards those animals of ULAB. I condemn those who did not come forward to protest.

Noman Mir [bn] lauded the courage of the anonymous blogger:

আপনার মানবতা এবং সাহসিকতার জন্য স্যালিউট।
তবে থেমে না থেকে এগিয়ে যান, আমরা আছি।

I salute your humanity and courage. You should not stop and should go forward. We are with you.

Kangal Murshid [bn] has expressed his support in this initiative from afar. He also expresses his concerns:

আপনাকে ধন্যবাদ দিয়ে ছোট করব না - আপনি যা করছেন তার প্রতি অকুণ্ঠ সমর্থন রইল। আমি থাকি চট্টগ্রামে, তাই ব্যাক্তিগত ভাবে অংশ নিতে পারছি না। আপনারা এগিয়ে যান - বিবেকবান মানুষেরা নিশ্চয়ই আপনাদের সাথে থাকবেন। শুধু একটাই অনুরোধ - বিষয়টি কিছুতেই যেন রাজনৈতিক ইস্যু হয়ে না ওঠে।

I cant thank you much – I support you in all your steps. I live in Chittagong, so I cannot join you in person. Please go forward, people with conscience will be with you. But one small request, dont let this turn into a political issue.

The blogger did not limit this campaign online, he called [bn] a meeting offline to help in this cause.

প্রস্তাবিত তারিখ : ১৩ মে ২০১২
প্রস্তাবিত সময় : রাত ০৮:১৫
প্রস্তাবিত স্থান : টি.এস.সি. চত্বর, ঢা.বি.

আগ্রহী সবাই দয়া করে মন্তব্যের স্থানে উপস্থিতির ব্যাপারটি নিশ্চিত করুন।

I call every blogger, online activist and anyone interested in this cause to a bloggers meeting:

Proposed date: 13th of May 2012
Proposed Time: 08:15 PM
Proposed venue: TSC square, Dhaka University

Many expressed interest to be in that meeting. The ULAB authority also posted a comment on the blog [bn]:

আপনার ব্লগে প্রচারিত ইউনিভার্সিটি অব লিবারেল আর্টস বাংলাদেশ (ইউল্যাব) এর শিক্ষার্থীদের জড়িয়ে একটি বক্তব্য ইউল্যাব কর্তৃপক্ষের দৃষ্টি গোচর হয়েছে। এ ধরনের একটি ঘটনা যা ইউল্যাব ক্যাম্পাস এর অদূরে ঘটেছে তা অনাকাঙ্খিত ও অত্যন্ত নিন্দনীয়। আমরা এই ঘটনার শিকার সকলের প্রতি গভীর সহমর্মিতা ও সমবেদনা প্রকাশ করছি। এটা অত্যন্ত দুঃখজনক যে, আজকের সমাজে জনারণ্যে আমাদের মা বোনেরা নিরাপদ নয়। এই ধরনের একটি বিষয়ের বিরুদ্ধে উচ্চশিক্ষা প্রতিষ্ঠান হিসেবে ইউল্যাব সবসময় বিপক্ষে দৃঢ় অবস্থান গ্রহন করে।

The ULAB authority took notice of the incident cited in your blog which indicates that some students of this institution was involved. It happened near to the campus and we regret and condemn such incident. We express our wholehearted compassion and sympathy for the victims. This is really unfortunate that in our society our mothers and sisters are not safe from these sadists. As an institute for higher education the ULAB administration always takes a firm stand against such crimes.

In the statement the institution expressed their support in the investigation [bn].

বিষয়টি নিয়ে ইতিমধ্যে ইউল্যাব তার নিজস্ব পদ্ধতিতে তদন্ত শুরু করেছে। আমরা ইতিমধ্যে SOMEWHEREINBLOG এর কর্তৃপক্ষের মাধ্যমে সংশ্লিষ্ট ব্লগার এর সাথে যোগাযোগ এর চেষ্টা করেছি। তদন্ত প্রক্রিয়াটি দ্রুত ও সঠিক করার লক্ষে আমরা পুনরায় তাকে আমাদের সঙ্গে সরাসরি যোগাযোগের জন্য আহবান জানাচ্ছি। এ ক্ষেত্রে ব্লগার ও ভিকিটিম কে আমরা পূর্ণ সহযোগিতার আশ্বাস দিচ্ছি।

ULAB has started their own investigation on this. We have already tried to contact the anonymous blogger with the help of Somewhereinblog authorities. To expedite the investigation and ensure accuracy we would request him to contact us directly. We express our full support for the victims.

Many commented on this statement and some did not support this kind of internal investigation

Headsir [bn] says:

সব ঠিক আছে। তাদের তদন্ত কমিটি যা আসল সত্য প্রকাশ করবে তার কি নিশ্চয়তা? যেহেতু এইটার সাথে ইউল্যাব এর সুনাম বা অন্য স্বার্থ জড়িত তারা সর্বোচ্চ চেষ্টা করবে এটাকে ধামাচাপা দিতে।

Everything is ok. Where is the guarantee that the investigation committee will reveal the truth? To keep the goodwill of the institution untainted they will try to bury this incident.

Konad [bn] says:

এই ঘটনার তদন্তের ভার কর্তৃপক্ষের হাতে ছেড়ে দিলে আসল অপরাধীরা কখনোই বের হয়ে আসবে না। তাছাড়া অপরাধীদের সবাই ইউল্যাবের নাও হতে পারে। তাই আমাদের, ব্লগারদের অনুসন্ধান অব্যাহত রাখতে হবে।

If we let the investigation the hands of the ULAB administration then the real criminals will never be exposed. And all perpetrators may not be from this institution. So we have to keep our search efforts running.

But many praised the stance of the ULAB authorities:

Zia Chowdhury [bn] said:

ইউল্যাব কর্তৃপক্ষকে ধন্যবাদ জানাই। এবার ইউল্যাবের ছাত্রদের এগিয়ে আসা উচিত অপরাধীদের ধরিয়ে দেয়ার ব্যাপারে।

I congratulate the ULAB administration. Now the students of the Institution should come forward to expose these culprits.

After the first statement the ULAB administration posted an update on the steps taken by them.

While some commented in the blog post that the anonymous blogger reacted dramatically, most of them did not negate the incident as it sadly happens in Bangladesh.

The bloggers meeting, ULAB's statement, and the subsequent discussion of the bloggers with the administration involved common concern of how to nab the perpetrators. But after all these the boys are still to be identified. Nonetheless, one blogger raised his voice against one crime and thousand voices echoed to support him.

India: Crackdown on Tamil Nadu Anti-Nuclear Plant Protests

Rezwan — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:49:02 +0000

Concerns have been sparked that the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) currently under construction in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, India, may have similar vulnerabilities to the ill-fated Fukushima nuclear power plant of Japan. Activists fear that in the case of an earthquake followed by a tsunami in the Indian Ocean, there could be an accident similar to the radiation leak at the Japanese coastal nuclear plant last year.

Construction started more than a decade ago and KKNPP is expected to be in operation soon. S. P. Udayakumar of the voluntary organisation ‘People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy' (PMANE) lists 13 reasons why the activists and locals do not want the power plant to start. He stress that:

More than 1 million people live within the 30 km radius of the KKNPP which far exceeds the AERB (Atomic Energy Regulatory Board) stipulations. It is quite impossible to evacuate this many people quickly and efficiently in case of a nuclear disaster at Koodankulam.

Protest campaign against Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant. Image courtesy Kracktivist, used with permission.

Protest and arrests

Shedding a light onto the government crackdown on the protesters, Kracktivist cites:

Between 10.9.2011 and 23.12.2011, police had filed 107 FIRs (field investigation reports) against 55795 people and “others,” among whom 6800 have been charged with “sedition” and/ or “waging war against the State.”

In March 2012, police arrested approximately 200 anti-nuclear protesters objecting the resumption of work on one of the two 1 GW (gigawatt=1000 megawatt) reactors, a day after the local government restarted work on the project. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has also been filed against KKNPP at India's Supreme Court. Amnesty International has written a letter to the Prime Minister expressing their dismay on the detainment of the protesters. However, there were also rallies and protests in favor of commissioning the nuclear power plant.

The protests continued as the ‘People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy' (PMANE) recently launched three campaigns against the Kudankulam Nuclear power Plant, reports Kracktivist:

Collection of signatures by villagers who oppose the nuclear plant and surrender of voter identity cards will be observed in 60 villages belonging to three neighboring districts while [a] ‘respect India’ campaign will be observed throughout the country.

On May 9, around 23,000 people belonging to nine villages in Tamil Nadu surrendered their voter identity cards to draw attention to the continuing ignorance of the peaceful protest against the KNPP. The government did not take it lightly; Kracktivist also reported that thousands of police personnel were deployed near Idinthakarai village and a crackdown seemed likely.

According to a press release, “The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) called off the planned event at Idinthakarai on May 10, 2012 as the District authorities have clamped down prohibitory orders such as 144 in and around Kudankulam area”.

Protesters on hunger strike. Image courtesy DiaNuke/Aaam Janata, used with permission.

However, some 9,000 people still participated in a sit in, with several hundred on an indefinite fast. The hunger strike has been going on since last month. DiaNuke/Aam Janata has posted some pictures from Kudankulam which depicts women on hunger strike and villagers living under constant fear.

The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Ms. Jayalalithaa, has vowed that the plant will start to function soon. Anuj Wankhede at DiaNuke invited a debate with Dr. M R Srinivasan, the former chief of India’s Atomic Energy Commission on whether the Kudankulam reactors are really the “safest in the world”, as claimed by the authorities.

The anti-Kudankulam activists are willing to end their protest if the government meets their demands.

India: Cricket Or Wife

Rezwan — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:38:46 +0000

Jaspreet discusses how some Indian men have to balance between their love for cricket and obviously for their wife.

Bangladesh: Economic of Marriage payments

Rezwan — Tue, 15 May 2012 06:28:15 +0000

“There are two kinds of marriage payments — dowry and brideprice, with significant differences among their prevalences in time and across societies,” - informs J. Rahman at Mukti.

Sri Lanka: Buddhism and Violence

Rezwan — Sun, 13 May 2012 01:25:44 +0000

Ameena Hussein at Groundviews tries to analyze why there is a growing tendency among Sri Lankan Buddhists to embrace violence and hatred.

Bhutan: The King's Birthday Celebration

Rezwan — Sat, 12 May 2012 18:17:32 +0000

Sabrina from USA is visiting Bhutan and she is in love with the country. She blogs about her adventures and here is one post in which she describes how the birthday of the King of Bhutan is celebrated.

Bangladesh: Movie Theaters Are Dying

Rezwan — Wed, 09 May 2012 21:16:27 +0000

Watching movies in theaters was once a favorite pastime for Bengalis. The custom was to go to the movies on the holidays or special days. It was popular culture to follow the fashion and postures of the stars of the new released cinemas.

But cinema-loving Bengalis do not go to movie theaters nowadays and the country's cinema halls are closing one by one, as new shopping malls are being erected in their place. According to reports in the past decade, hundreds of cinema halls have been closed down [bn]. There also used to be approximately 100 cinemas built each year, which has now decreased to 30-40 [bn].

Darashiko blogs on cinema regularly. Here he shares the latest state of the Bangladeshi film industry [bn]:

Shyamoli Cinema Hall is just a memory. A 14-story shopping mall is being built in its place. Image courtesy Wikipedia

The Bangladeshi cinema industry is going through its worst time. In 1990-91 the number of cinema halls were around 1230. But in 2010 the number has decreased to 742. Out of 44 cinema halls in Dhaka 33 are surviving. Huge building were erected in their place. Big names like, Gulistan, Shyamoli, Naz, Lion, Star, Shabistan, Tajmahal cinema etc. went into oblivion. With Lack of quality script and mediocre performance the cinema industry managed releasing of 100 movies per annum. In 2010 the number was 63, one of the lowest in the decade. Its getting much worse. In 2011, in first six months only 19 cinemas were released and only 300 million Taka (US $3.6 million) was invested. Newspaper reports say that this year only 45 films will be produced and the next year it would be only 30.

But why are movie theaters being closed down? Why are audiences not going to movie theaters? Megh Roddur writes [bn] about it:

Of course I want to go to the movie theaters to watch movies. It hurts but the truth is that most of the movies are not of my taste. Why should I watch a movie full of weird costumes and blunt themes. Why should I go and watch repeating stories? Why should I go and watch copycats and gross copypaste movies?

The building behind the sculpture was once the famous Gulistan Cinema Hall. Now its a clothes market. Image by Ranadipam Basu. Used with permission.

A guest blogger at Sachalayatan reminisces about his childhood memories of going to cinemas with family. The blogger blames the film distributors for lack of viewers in movie theaters:

Now we don't watch movies in Theaters with family. I would not blame low quality pictures. I would place the blame on the environment of the movie theaters. There are a few good movies still being produced. Still we cannot go with the family to watch them in this environment.

Lekhajoka Shamim cites three reasons for the demise of this industry:

The low quality of the local cinema, indecent movies and the environment of the movie thater are the causes of lack of movie viewers.

Once the thought of going to movie theaters was an exciting thing. Many had keen interest. Russel Ashraf tells one such story:

Me and my uncle went to see the movie “Aguner Poroshmoni”. We thought that there would be no rush and went a few minutes before the start. But alas, we saw that the queue was extended to the road. What to do! Waited in the queue for the tickets and manged a seat in front of the screen. I could not move my neck for three days in pain.

To save the film industry and bring more viewers in movie theaters, the government decided to remove the ban on Indian cinema (it should be noted that Indian movies have been banned here since 1965). This move attracted sharp criticisms online.

Balaka cinema hall besides Dhaka New market. Image from Wikipedia by Ragib Hasan

Nazrul Islam says in a post in Amrabondhu blog:

Not from the hatred of Hindi language films, the government has to back down from such wretched decision to save a dying industry.।

But there are also those who favor import of movies:

One blogger (Fahmidul Haque) says:

To me its a right of a citizen to be able to watch local and international movies of different tastes. Lets not limit this right with the debate of saving of local industry by stopping the import of Indian movies.

Due to much criticism the government decided to reverse the decision to withdraw ban from the Indian movies.

Kallol Mustafa has specific suggestions on how to revive the local film industry:

We need government institution support, financial responsibility, institutionalization of the industry and mandatory show of international movies (not only Indian) in a week each month in every theater.

India: Mysterious Village of Twins People

Rezwan — Wed, 09 May 2012 09:29:33 +0000

Undiscovered Indian treasures Blog reports that Kodhini, a town in Kerala, India, with a population of only 2000 villagers has around 350 twins. This rate is 700 times of the global average.

India: Online Cartoon Exhibition Protesting Repression

Rezwan — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:43:06 +0000

The arrest of Ambikesh Mahapatra, a professor of Jadavpur University, for circulating West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees's cartoon has enraged many online activists. A cartoon exhibition protesting her acts is available online.

India: Freedom Fast To Save Your Voice

Rezwan — Sun, 06 May 2012 17:28:55 +0000

The protests to stop the new IT rules in India (see our previous post on this) are still going on. Today is the fifth day of the hunger strike of Aseem Trivedi and Alok Dixit from Save Your Voice to support annulment motion against IT Rules-2011 in Rajya Sabha. They started this hunger strike on the 2nd of May and vowed to carry on until they get any satisfactory response from the government and the opposition regarding the annulment of IT Rules-2011. Sh. P. Rajeev, the Hon’ble Member of the Rajya sabha has moved an annulment motion to get these rules abolished and the motion has been admitted and is expected to come up in this budget session.

On behalf of Save Your Voice, a Facebook campaign, updates are being published in Aam Janata blog. Some excerpts:

(The) Government has enacted laws that give it a free pass to censor our Facebook posts, listen to every Skype conversation we have, monitor our tweets or blogs oraccess private photographs and documents we store online, or track our location using our mobile phones or surveil all of your online activity. We want to tell our government that they cannot use vaguely defined laws and loopholes to take away our freedom of speech and expression.

It seems that many Indians have not yet realized the perils of the new IT rules and the censorship it threatens - they think “can anyone really censor the Internet?”. Vidyut explains the situation and asserts why activism is needed to stop such dark law.

Indian Law and Technology Blog lists the things an activist should do to get rid of the IT rules 2011.

Freedom Fast Hunger Strike And Sit in at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, India. Image courtesy ‘I Love India'

Arvind Gaur, prominent theatre artist and director of Ashmita Theatre, was at the Freedom Fast at Jantar Mantar, New delhi. In the above photo he is sitting with Alok Dixit and Aseem Trivedi.

Arvind is against the implementation of the IT Act and says that internet, which is a source of expression of the common man, should be provided ‘free' and not be brought under any rules.

The mainstream media has been silent on these protests. Some lone voices can be seen on Twitter providing updates:

@rahulgaitonde: RT @nixxin: In case you weren't aware, there's a hunger strike at Jantar Mantar against the IT Rules http://t.co/6865MHhb

@saveyourvoice: Fifth day of FREEDOM FAST- Alok Dixit and Aseem Trivedi have been admitted to Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, due to health breakdown.

Thumbnail image courtesy Save Your Voice

India: The Best Tea Cafés

Rezwan — Sun, 06 May 2012 10:57:41 +0000

There is a new hype in India - the rise of tea cafés (tea lounges or tea bars). Charukeshi lists some of the best tea cafés in different Indian cities which you can explore.

India: Budget & Corruption

Rezwan — Sun, 06 May 2012 10:04:29 +0000

Ramanujapuram analyzes the Union Budget (annual budget of the Republic of India), and opines that the tax payers are paying interest for the scams and corruption of some of the members of the ruling coalition.

Bangladesh: How Democracy Works

Rezwan — Sun, 06 May 2012 09:39:10 +0000

J. Rahman at Mukti writes about the confrontational politics in Bangladesh and sheds a light into how democracy works in a developing country like Bangladesh.