Category: Uncategorized

Right now the situation in India is desperate. Even in the so-called woman-safe Mumbai, ladies are being molested in broad daylight. We have all become passive observers even when injustice happens in front of our eyes, because we are deadly afraid of …what exactly? Death will come to all of us some day, it is really the fear of death that stops us from helping out a (wo)man in distress.

I am not in favor of death penalty because the system can always make mistakes and we should not have to lose even one innocent man. That said these folks deserve no mercy and should never again see the light of freedom.

Where is that plane? It can be in Australia, Korea, Pakistan, anywhere? God this is scary.

US
investigators suspect the missing Malaysian airliner was in the air for
four hours after its last confirmed contact, and may have been diverted
to an unknown location, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

It said US aviation investigators and national security officials are
basing their theory on data automatically downloaded and sent to the
ground from the Boeing 777’s Rolls-Royce engines, which suggested the plane flew for a total of five hours.

The WSJ attributed the information to two unidentified sources
“familiar with the details”. Contacted by AFP, Rolls-Royce in Singapore
said it could not comment on an ongoing investigation.
  regards

This may help (not likely) put a lid over the ugliness but India will need to watch-out about the other maid/victims who are off-shore with diplomatic personnel.  
The choice is to make them (Indian) govt employees with a special paygrade to avoid exploitation compalints, or even better …. get rid of the entire sordid arrangement.

Also, now that Sangeeta is free from both the clutches of both (uncaring) employer and (uncaring) husband, it is to be hoped that her new home-land will be able to provide for her (and her children) a rewarding and fulfilling future.
…..
Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade whose arrest and strip-search spurred an
international flap had charges against her dismissed by a US court on
Wednesday.  

The US district judge’s ruling said that Devyani Khobragade had
diplomatic immunity when she was indicted on charges of fraudulently obtaining
a work visa for her housekeeper and lying about the maid’s pay…

…prosecutors
suggested they might refile the charges stemming from claims she exploited her housekeeper

In a new twist to the India-US row involving Indian diplomat Devyani
Khobragade, the domestic help, who was at the centre of the controversy, and
her husband have filed for divorce citing differences between them.

Philip Richard, the husband of Khobragade’s help Sangeeta, and their
children were flown to New York by the US Embassy in Delhi on trafficking visas
days before Khobragade was arrested on charges of visa fraud in December.

Speaking to The Indian Express over phone, Richard said he was disappointed
with what he called the way his wife started to lie to him and the couple
decided to part ways. They filed for divorce in January, he said, but added
that he would continue to defend his wife against Khobragade’s allegations.

“She stopped telling me where she is going and with whom. She started to
lie. She said something and did just the opposite. But I still support her in
the case against Devyani as I know she is not at fault there,” Richard said.

regards
  

Total 8 dead, 60+ injured, and some people (numbers unknown) missing. 
The World War reference is likely from watching TV (the lady is only 30 years old).

What must be a minor miracle that a total of 15 apartments were wiped out and only (8) dead…yet. But also this, it is not common knowledge that gas explosions can be this lethal. 
..
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio called
the incident “a tragedy of the worst kind” and warned a number of
people were still unaccounted for, raising fears of possible further losses.

Firefighters battled throughout the afternoon to extinguish the heavy fire
in East Harlem, where witnesses compared the scene of twisted metal, thick
white smoke and dusty rubble to a war zone.

The explosion sparked inevitable reminders for some New Yorkers of the 9/11
terror attacks in 2001 that brought down the Twin Towers. Other witnesses said
it felt like an earthquake.

There were 15 apartments in the two buildings that collapsed, de Blasio and
city officials told reporters near the scene at 116th Street and Park Avenue, a
mainly Latino community. Around 15 minutes before the blast, energy company Con
Edison received a call from an adjoining apartment building alerting
maintenance staff to the smell of gas. The explosion struck around 9:30 am
(1330 GMT) and the New York Fire Department said firefighters were on the scene
two minutes later.

Four different hospitals told AFP
they treated a total of 63 patients, the vast majority with minor injuries.
A spokesman for Mount Sinai said 22 people, including three children, were
treated. Nineteen were discharged. One woman was “critical but
stable” with a head trauma and two other people were still being evaluated
in the emergency room, the spokesman said. The New York City Health and
Hospitals Corporation tweeted that its Harlem and Metropolitan Hospitals
received a total of 30 patients who suffered a variety of injuries. A
spokeswoman for NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital said that doctors received 11
patients, with 10 still under evaluation.

Jazzmen Arzuaga, 30, said she was at work at a hospital when her wife rang
to tell her what had happened. “She called me and told me ‘Oh my God, you
need to come home now, it’s like World War II, people are dying, there was an
explosion.’ I just literally ran,” she said. The couple live across the
street from the blast. Arzuaga’s wife Jay Virgo, also 30, said she was lying in
bed when the blast threw her to the floor. “There was glass everywhere,
huge pieces of glass. It just looked crazy,” she said.

Con Edison confirmed that a resident reported smelling gas inside the
apartment building at 1652 Park Avenue. “Our crews are checking our gas
lines and working to isolate any leaks that they find and they’re working
closely with the FDNY to make the area safe,” company spokesman Bob McGee
said.

regards

This is a (admittedly narrow) look at certain aspects of civil laws currently in vogue in India and in Pakistan as it impacts on marriage in discriminatory ways.

In India personal laws concerning muslims are mostly regressive. Thus you have the ridiculous spectacle of a (hindu) deputy chief minister of Haryana converting to Islam in order to get married for the second time to a (hindu) lady who also converted for this purpose and then subsequently dumping her (talaq decree via SMS) to go back to his first wife, which led to the lady committing suicide. This is just wrong on so many levels that it simply makes my blood boil.

How about Pakistan? My impression is (based on limited knowledge) that Pakistani laws are far more protective of women’s rights – in this case for muslims, but not for christians who have to prove adultery by spouse in order to win a divorce.

All of this may fit into a pattern of non-interference in minority affairs but that claim is again….simply ridiculous. Both India and Pakistani society would not think twice before harming minorities, killing people and destroying property, but personal laws are somehow a red line? If we are that concerned about minorities, India should pass the communal violence bill and Pakistan should withdraw the blasphemy law.

Two examples where Pak laws are clearly superior- (a) the minimum age of marriage (for women) is sixteen, which is not defined by puberty [ref. wiki], and (b) if men want to marry a second time they have to take permission from the first wife [ref. article below].

That was then, the future however looks pretty bleak due to the pronouncements by the Council of Islamic Ideology that current marriage rules are not in compliance with Sharia. All the carefully thought out compromises for the original bill (not to mention international obligations on child marriage) will now be discarded on the say so of the CII. 

The PPP human rights cell has raised its voice in opposition (full credit to them) and the comments section is almost uniformly dismissive of what the CII is proposing. It restores one’s faith in humanity for a few nano-seconds before you realize that PPP is now a minor regional party and the DAWN readership is probably not representative of mainstream thought in Pakistan today. Thus game, set and match for Maulana Sheerani. It is indeed a proud day for him and he will be savoring a (not so) hard-earned victory.
…. 
The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) concluded its 191th
meeting, here Tuesday with the ruling that the laws related to minimum
age of marriage were un-Islamic and that children of any age could get
married if they attain puberty.

At the conclusion of two day meeting, Chairman CII Maulana Muhammad
Khan Sheerani noted that the laws related to marriage too were unfair
and there cannot be any age of marriage.  

However, he explained that there were two segments of marriage – nikah and ruksati, while nikah could be performed at any age.“Even
the minors can have nikah but that has to be executed by the
guardians,” chairman CII said adding, “But ruksti could be executed only
after attaining the age of puberty.”

He said that the age of
puberty varies from individuals to individuals and it was the
responsibility of guardians to have ruksati soon the child attains the
age of puberty. “The laws limiting the age for both the segments of marriage are unIslamic and needed to be rectified,” he added.

The officials were asked if the
international conventions signed by Pakistan related to child marriage
would be violated after this ruling by CII. Responding to the
query the official said that the international conventions cannot be in
contradiction to the constitution of the country or Islam and if they
were, those particular clauses would not apply on Pakistan.

The CII had on earlier day suggested the government to change Muslim marriage laws as it required Muslim male to seek permission from the previous wife or wives for another marriage.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) human rights cell has expressed concern over the CII rulings. “Why
is Council concerned with men’s four marriages and why have they done
nothing to ensure that women get their property as enshrined in Islamic
Law? Or why have they failed to stop practices such as vani, swara and
karo kari? Or stop rape, and acid crimes against women?” asked Dr Nafisa
Shah, coordinator PPP’s human rights cell.  

“Unfortunately Islam
has been misinterpreted over a period of time by a mindset and a
particular school of thought. Islam and modernism are compatible
provided progressive scholars interpret the religion,” she added. The
PPP human rights cell has called upon the government to include
progressive Islamic scholars in the council so that women’s rights and
the rights of all are protected.

regards

The site is East 116th street. Hope any BP folks traveling up-town are keeping safe, train service for Metro North, New Haven and Hudson lines are suspended; lots of sweet/sad memories left behind in White Plains, train trips to NYC and boat trips on the Hudson

Best wishes to all

Sounds too good to be true, but then elephants are funny creatures (and this is not the first time this has happened, see below).
At least it is heartening to know that the baby has survived the attack and is out of danger.

The bad news is that elephant and their habitats are under siege (from villagers locally and Chinese globally).   
Will there be any wild life left by the time this baby grows up? Ganesha will then live only in paintings and temples. That will be a profound tragedy.
….

Many of us are likely to suffer from dementia as we drink, breathe and wallow in an ever more poisonous environment (SAsians more than most). It is imperative to be able to predict this condition in advance. Once the tell-tale signs are confirmed, we can go out and have a gala party, sign off on the will (please do that anyway), take a boat out to the sea and…jump in with the fishes.

Only one small question: 90% accuracy sounds very impressive (also likely to improve over time), but is it??

regards

At this stage when India is grasping for breath any small investment should be considered good news. Others are watching and (as our moneyed friends tell us) businessmen like the fact that other businessmen are planning to invest. As the “market sentiment” is boosted more money flows in….and then one (not so) fine day the tide recedes and the money flows out again.

But then what is this we hear about the recent patent dog fights and the imminent threat of sanctions? Big pharma being (very) displeased with India? Guess it is all a riddle wrapped up in an enigma.

Glaxo Smith Kline
said on Monday it had paid 64 billion rupees ($1.05 billion) to
increase its stake in its Indian pharmaceuticals unit to 75 per cent, as
it banks on rising demand for medicines in emerging markets.

Britain’s biggest drugmaker first announced plans to lift the holding in
Glaxo Smith Kline Pharmaceuticals from 50.7 per cent in December. It held
an open offer to buy the extra shares at 3,100 rupees each from Feb. 18
to March 5. Final payment for shares tendered and accepted will be completed by March 20, GSK added. 

David Redfern, GSK’s chief
strategy officer, said the decision to increase exposure to the Indian
market was “a significant vote of confidence” in growth prospects for
its business in India.

GSK, which has had a presence in India
for 90 years, is keen to secure a bigger share of India’s growing $14
billion-a-year market, which it views as promising despite recent moves
to impose price cuts and limit patents on some medicines. The open offer was managed by HSBC. 

regards