Stories that Matter

Peace Process in Assam and the victims Submitted by  admin4  on 14 February 2011 - 5:12pm Articles   Indian Muslim By Anjuman Ara Begum, The three-decade-long active armed conflict between the Government of India/Assam and United Liberation Front of Assam has called it a day when most of the top leaders of the banned organization came for peace talks that kicked its start with the meeting with the Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on February 10, 2011 at New Delhi. This icebreaking interaction was the result of the acceptance of unconditional talks by the ULFA. ULFA ULFA which was formed on April 7, 1979 by Bhimakanta Buragohain, Rajiv Rajkonwar alias Arabinda Rajkhowa, Golap Baruah alias Anup Chetia, Samiran Gogoi alias Pradip Gogoi, Bhadreshwar Gohain and Paresh Baruah at the historic Rang Ghar in Sibsagar to establish a "sovereign socialist Assam" through an armed struggle. The group instantly became ‘Robin Hood’ though later suffered several setbacks for various reaso

Coal mining in Meghalaya: Child labourers in the ‘rat-holes’ Submitted by  admin4  on 14 October 2010 - 5:32pm Articles   Indian Muslim By Anjuman Ara Begum, TwoCircles.net, “Inside the mine everything is very fragile. Even the falling of a small rock can cause death sometimes. People from outside cannot imagine what the hell is inside the mine!” These are the words of 16-year old Muzzammal Haque who works in a coal mine in the Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya. He is yet another example of the bonded child labour in the various coal mines in the Jaintia Hills on which the National Human Rights Commission has asked the government of Meghalaya to submit a report. The National Human Rights Commission acted suo motu based on several media reports and registered a case – Case No. 22/15/3/2010. After two days of issuance of the NHRC’s notice, the Jaintia Hills district authorities in Meghalaya found on September 8 that 222 children were working in the coal mines. The Government reported that the

Women as Panchayats leaders: The real picture A baseline report prepared by Kuala Lampur based organization International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific (IWRAW Asia Pacific) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia entitled, ‘Baseline Report: Women and Political Participation in India’ observed about the political participation women in India that, ‘Articles 325 and 326 of the Constitution of India guarantee political equality equal right to participation in political activities and right to vote respectively. While the latter has been accessed, exercised and enjoyed by a large number of women, the former i.e., right to equal political participation is still a distant dream. Lack of space for participation in political bodies has not only resulted in their presence in meager numbers in these decision making bodies but also in the neglect of their issues and experiences in policy making’.( http://www.iwraw-ap.org/aboutus/pdf/FPwomen_and_pol_pax.pdf ). To address the gender gap, India is one o

When memories haunt Memory is a mental activity of recalling information that one learns or experiences in life. Memory can be short term as well as long term. Short term memory is one that remains in the temporarily. On the other hand long term memory is a procedural one that remains for a long time or permanently in the mind either consciously or unconsciously. The long term memories of the victims of the Nellie victims are very much permanent. Yet another year passed by for the victims of Nellie massacre. Each day Nellie victims are haunted by the memories of the massacre that took place long back on February 18, 1983. “We cry when we remember that day and I feel as if it happened the other day. Memory is so fresh in my mind.’ Memories of violence may impact ones reaction and may cause inaction on instance which may be otherwise severely disturbing. “We have seen so many dead bodies that when Mumbai terror attack [at Hotel Taj and other places] killed 200 people, we hardly felt any