by arian | Feb 18, 2012 | Reuters Foundation
Researchers in South Korea have developed a blood test that can determine the sex of a foetus as early as five weeks but not everyone may be gung-ho about the discovery, fearing it might be misused for sex selection in South Asian countries such as India where boys are prized over girls.
While the ability to determine the gender of a baby through a simple and cheap blood test may be seen as a blessing in the scientific community, the technique might prove lethal to baby girls in India where there is already a great difference in gender ratio with 933 females for every thousand males.
Until three decades ago, female infanticide — the killing a newborn baby girl — was widespread in India but due to advancement in technology, it is now possible to determine the gender in the womb itself, leading to a higher number of abortions.
The ultrasound test is currently the most commonly used procedure for finding the gender of the baby but it cannot be done before five months of pregnancy whereas an invasive test that carries a one to two percent risk of miscarriage must be done after 11 weeks.
“(The new test could) reduce the need for invasive procedures in pregnant women carrying an X-linked chromosomal abnormality and clarify inconclusive readings by ultrasound,” lead researcher Hyun Mee Ryu said.
The scientists said the method “might promote the potential for sex selection” and warned “there should be careful consideration about the use of this analytical tool in clinical situations”.
Thanks to female foeticide, high rates of violence and economic discrimination against women, a recent poll done by Reuters Foundation ranked India among one of the worst countries for women.
(Interact with Ariana at @arianawardak )
Read this on Reuters: India Insight
by arian | Feb 18, 2012 | Reuters Foundation
By Ariana Wardak
American host Jay Leno has sparked anger among Sikhs with a joke about their holiest shrine and the Indian government is making its displeasure known.
In his ‘Tonight Show’ last week, the comedian poked fun at the wealth of U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney, suggestingthat Sikhism’s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, was his vacation home.
A complaint against Leno will be officially filed by India’s ambassador to the United States, Nirupama Rao, after 2,000 people signed an online petition.
“The Right to Speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution excludes defamation and spreading hate, incitement and false advertising,” the petition urged.
Leno’s Golden Temple jibe comes just as India is juggling with another clash between religious sensitivities and freedom of speech.
On Tuesday, the Jaipur Literature Festival cancelled a video-link speech by author Salman Rushdie just minutes before it was scheduled to begin, after death threats to the organisers and fears of violent riots at the event by Muslim groups. Rushdie, whose 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses” is banned in India, last week cancelled plans to travel to Jaipur to address the festival in person after reported assassination threats against him.
Leno is the second Western TV personality to have drawn Indian ire this year. Last month, India’s High Commission in London complained to the British government that the BBC’s tongue-in-cheek car show Top Gear had ridiculed India and its culture.
While British Prime Minister David Cameron saidhe “did not like” the show and had “utmost respect” for Indians”, the U.S. government has called Leno’s remarks “satirical”.
“I think that Leno would be appreciative if we make the point that his comments are constitutionally protected in the United States under free speech and, frankly, they appeared to be satirical in nature,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
The spate of flaps has prompted some to suggest the Indian government and its people are over-sensitive, and need to get a sense of humour.
http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2012/01/24/indians-furious-at-jay-leno-joke-on-sikhisms-holiest-shrine/
by arian | Feb 18, 2012 | Reuters Foundation
By Ariana Wardak
NEW DELHI (TrustLaw) – Police in India have arrested three labourers for raping and strangling to death a 4-year-old girl before dumping her body in a drain in the country’s capital, the Indian Express reported on Wednesday.
According to the report, a passerby discovered the little girl’s body in the drain in West Delhi’s Kirti Nagar region on Jan. 5.
The newspaper said postmortem tests revealed that girl had been raped by more than one person and showed signs of sodomy.
The three men are believed to be migrant construction workers, the report said, adding that the child was taken by one of the three men with the permission of her parents.
Groups like ActionAid India say crimes like domestic violence, molestation and rape are showing high rates of growth both in India’s urban and rural areas.
A recent report by the aid agency said one-quarter of the rapes involve girls under the age of 16, while large numbers of girls between the ages of 5 and 15 are trafficked or sold.
(Editing by Nita Bhalla and Rebekah Curtis)
http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/four-year-old-indian-girl-gang-raped-killed-and-dumped-in-drain/
by arian | Feb 18, 2012 | Reuters Foundation
By Ariana Wardak
NEW DELHI (TrustLaw) – Authorities in India’s capital have rescued 14 HIV-positive children from a local charity after it was discovered the minors were being sexually abused by the manager of the group, the Hindustan Timesreported on Wednesday.
According to the report, the manager of the Drone Foundation – which provides support to children living with HIV/AIDS – had been sexually abusing the children, including eight girls, who had sheltered at the charity’s premises in Gurgaon, located on the outskirts of Delhi.
“We got a tip-off that the accused had been sexually abusing the children since a long time. After we got information, a team was formed to investigate the matter,” said an unnamed member of a team of aid workers and police, who raided the charity’s premises.
The report said the accused had absconded.
(Editing by Nita Bhalla and Rebekah Curtis)
http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/india-aid-worker-found-abusing-hiv-positive-children-report/
by arian | Feb 18, 2012 | Reuters Foundation
By Ariana Wardak
NEW DELHI (TrustLaw) – India’s election commission has appointed a team of female observers to the beach state of Goa ahead of local polls, citing that male observers deployed in the past have treated the job as an all-expenses paid vacation, the Times of India reported on Monday.
According to the report, there have been complaints of male election observers drinking and clubbing during office hours in previous polls in Goa, one of India’s prime tourist destinations.
Election officials said ahead of the assembly polls on March 3, several male officials were “actively lobbying” to be sent to Goa, located on India’s west coast along the Arabian Sea.
“We took the decision to finalise an all-women team so that lobbying can be put to rest. It is unfortunate but male officers see a month-long stint as observer as holiday in Goa,” a senior official from the election commission was quoted as saying.”(The) election commission is in no mood to oblige them. Moreover, women officers are more conscientious.”
Five of India’s 35 states are scheduled to hold local elections from late January to early March.
(Editing by Nita Bhalla)
http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/holidaying-male-observers-replaced-with-women-in-goa-polls/
by arian | Feb 18, 2012 | Reuters Foundation
By Ariana Wardak
NEW DELHI (TrustLaw) – A 24-year-old woman in northern India is recovering from serious burn injuries after she was gangraped and then set ablaze by her abusers when she threatened to inform the police, local news channel NDTVreported on Monday.
According to the report, the young woman was walking to the market on Sunday when she was abducted by four men in the Fatehpur district of India’s Uttar Pradesh state.
The men took her to a house and raped her overnight. When she threatened to tell the police, they poured kerosene over her and set her alight before escaping.
“They kept me there all night. Then in the morning at 5 a.m., they set me on fire because I was going to expose the truth,” the victim, whose face was blurred by the channel to maintain anonymity, was quoted as saying.
The woman is currently in a critical condition in the hospital, said the report, adding that she had sustained seventy-five percent burns.
The victim’s brother has filed a complaint with local police, who said they had so far arrested one of the four men.
In conservative and largely patriarchal India, women face a barrage of threats ranging from forced marriage and dowry murders to human trafficking, domestic violence, “honor killings” and abduction as well as rape and sexual harassment.
Rape cases in India increased by 3.6 percent to 22,172 in 2010 from 21,397 cases the previous year, according to latest figures from the National Crime Records Bureau.
But gender rights activists say the numbers are grossly under-reported due to the shame and stigma associated with rape in the region.
(Editing by Nita Bhalla)
http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/indian-woman-gangraped-set-on-fire-by-abusers-report
