What’s Happening This Week
Our departure from India looms on the horizon. When I first arrived, I shared some of the wild, weird, bizarre, cultural and political snippets from the local papers. As we come full circle, here is what is going on this past week as recorded in the Times of India. Much of what is below are excerpts while I include my observations parenthetically.
Air India grounds two pilots for cockpit fight
Goa gov’t minister defends wife’s western culture-rape link……(he) endorses his wife’s public statement that western culture’s influence has increased rapes in India…and her call to Hindus not to send their children to convent schools. “What’s wrong with my wife’s statement? If Hindu dharma has to survive then someone has to take responsibility and create awareness….” ( Seriously?)
Rave party at resort raided…..Most of the arrested are business men. Police conducting raid found several scantily clad girls dancing in the party. 82 people including 16 women were arrested. ( nothing in today’s papers about protests being held where couples kiss in public…and get arrested).
Will Maharashtra go meat-free? Govt Tells High Court that Beef Ban Just the Beginning, May Stop Slaughter of Other Animals Too. ( Mumbai/Bombay is in state of Maharastra. Modi came out of a conservative group that is trying to impose Hindu practices on general public).
Bodies in trunks raise honour killing spectre. (Likely a young couple that married out of love across castes that may have been murdered by order of village elders).
Church attack figures under Sonya Gandhi match those under Modi….Even as Narendra Modi government faces criticism for the attacks on churches and Christian institutions……
Enraged ex-royal runs SUV over man….he has been infamous for his behavior. He was accused of keeping two minors – a girl and boy—as slaves
Will address your woes Modi assures Muslims…..Modi has promised to address grievances of all sections of the Muslim society with special focus on ameliorating their social conditions and meeting educational requirements
Lots of articles on the environment:
- Choking India gets air quality index ( result of Obama visit…India’s pollution much worse than China).
- Turn off street lights on full moon nights….Calling for lifestyle changes to counter climate change, Modi referred to tradition in villages where grandmothers would teach grandchildren how to thread a needle on full moon nights. He admits westerners will ridicule.
- Cooking fires poison air we breathe says gov’t study….780,000,000 Indians cook on open fires using traditional chulhas from which fumes trigger up to 30% of fine-particulate ambient pollution and are a major source of black carbon. One million people die prematurely in India each year because of the simple act of cooking.
- Picture with caption that describes photo of burning dry leaves, plastic and other forms of waste.
- Ahead of Paris talks, Modi demands access to N-fuels….”the world gives lecture on climate but if we tell them that we want to go on the nuclear energy path …and ask them to provide necessary fuel but they refuse…”
- Modi also “ laments India’s culture of respecting nature has not been sufficiently projected on the global arena.” ( Hard for me to swallow…given garbage everywhere, burning garbage, visible black or white exhaust fumes from trucks and autorickshaws, not to mention that cow dung is used for fuel and cooking by hundreds of millions. Since cows are gods, people do not believe that burning dung could possibly be harmful. Also, one of the states is harvesting the lumber of endangered trees that are supposedly protected. I see no respect for nature. He went on talk about how Indians worship nature as a God).
30 farmers dead in 4 days as rain, hail hit north India….Farm distress has peaked as crops are hit by unseasonal showers. ( Farmers borrow to plant. This is harvest time and when a crop is wiped out, they cannot pay back loans. The loans are not from banks but from wealthy individuals and families who charge interest rates of 25 percent. Already at subsistence level, they feel no recourse but to commit suicide. Very commonplace).
And lastly…
Protesters halt traffic after road rage murder….a car brushed a motorcycle and the five occupants of the car bludgeoned to death the 38 year old driver of the motorcycle in front of his 11 and 13 year old sons.
Violence uncalled for…Delhi has poor record when it comes to spur of the moment violence and road rage. (8 examples given that have occurred over the past 8 months along these lines) : A biker was brutally beaten up by a man and woman outside a temple after his bike touched their car. ( Driving is unbelievably chaotic and it is not unusual to have little bumps occur…I frequently see folks outside of their vehicles screaming at each other. Fortunately, there are no guns here….).
I do not read the papers as much as I did in the past.