Stories that Matter

‘From today, everything is coming to a halt’, my land lady ‘aunty’ warned me early morning as I am sipping a cup of tea. ‘It’s been a hell’, she cried. Her anguish and helplessness is understandable. It’s been nearly a month, the ‘unofficial economic blockade’ has devastatingly hit the land locked country of Nepal. The country is heavily dependent on India for essential supplies like food items, patrol products, cloths etc. 51% of Nepal’s import is from India and is it the sixth largest contributor to India’s foreign revenue. Fuel shortage impacted transportation creating worst situation ever since the deadly earthquake hit the country early this year.   It’s been two months since I have moved to Nepal. Since then I have observed political turbulence along with violence in the country surrounding the adoption of a Constitution for itself. About 49 people lost their life in the areas bordering Nepal. However, standstill life like this in the capital Kathmandu was beyond my ima...

Guwahati, 24 May 2015: Shillong-based NGOs, Civil Society Women Organisation (CSWO) and  Thma U Rangli   Juki ( TUR ) pressure groups have sought more deliberations on the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council ( KHADC) Village Administration Bill 2014, and urged inclusion of all stake holders in the discussion.   The CSWO in a press release issued on May 19, 2015 raised concerns that most of the traditional bodies don’t include women and in some cases women are not even allowed to sit in the Dorbar, the traditional panchayat of Khasi community and hence empowering the headmen of Dorbar will lead to more discrimination against women and human rights violation. The allegations are based on the fact that in many instances headmen are depriving villagers of their basic rights, like right to live, right to food, right to nutrition for children, and right to education etc for women and children and often favour the ruling political party and get away with their malpract...

http://www.indiatomorrow.net/eng/sudden-closure-of-media-houses-in-north-east-render-hundreds-jobless Guwahati, 28 May 2015: A prominent news channel of north east India, Focus NE (previously known as NE TV) was officially closed down on Tuesday at Guwahati, Assam. Several media organisations like Electronic Media Forum Assam (EMFA) has expressed concerns over the sudden closure and urged the management to compensate its employees as per their entitlements. Launched in March 2004, this was the first satellite news channel of north east India delivering news in 16 north-eastern languages and served to nearly 50 million people. EMFA apprehended that the news channel may be re-launched in a different name and in that case, urged the management to continue the employment of the present staff. The local news channels in Assam and in north east India play an important role in exposing the human rights violations, corruptions and educate people with timely information and knowledge. H...

Mothers and Motherhood 10 May 2015 08:05 PM, IST http://www.indiatomorrow.net/eng/mothers-and-motherhood Meira Paibi rally against illegal drugs at Tiddim Road on the night of March 1 2013 (Photo credit - Deepak Oinam) By  Anjuman Ara Begum , When everything failed, a writ petition filed by the widowed mothers of Manipur organized as  Extra-judicial Execution Victim Families’ Association, Manipur, sought constitution of a special investigation team to probe 1,528 alleged fake encounter killings in the state before the Supreme Court. Though the final judgment in the case in pending, the directives issued by the Supreme Court in the course of litigation is ‘positive. Widowhood or more appropriately widowed motherhood provided a strong platform creating social space for women to raise their voices for justice. In 2008, the state of Manipur witnessed a spree of extrajudicial executions allegedly committed by the armed police commandos and central armed f...

Assam to criminalise the practice of 'witch hunting' 13 May 2015 01:05 PM, IST http://www.indiatomorrow.net/eng/assam-to-criminalise-the-practice-of-witch-hunting Shanti Sandipurti, a victim of witch hunting who stays 9km from Bandgaon in Jharkhand. (Photo credit - Ramesh Pathania -LiveMint) By  Anjuman Ara Begum Guwahati, 13 May 2015: The Assam Government has finally got ready with the draft Prevention and Protection from Witch Hunting Bill, 2015 in an attempt to criminalise the evil practice of witch hunting prevalent in the state.  Witch hunting is killing of a ‘witch’, a superstitious customary practice prevalent among the communities of Rabha, Hajong, Mishing, Bodo, Adivasi etc. and mainly practiced in Goalpara, Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baska, Sonitpur, Udalguri, Tinsukia, Dhemaji districts of Assam. Reports indicate that the practice is gradually spreading among other communities. Gender wise, most of the victims are females.  The Bill is an outc...

http://indiatogether.org/afspa-in-arunachal-and-northeast-states-raise-questions-government AFSPA IN ARUNACHAL Questions over AFSPA continue to echo in ‘disturbed’ northeastern states The Centre may have rolled back its sudden unilateral decision to accord ‘disturbed area’ status to Arunachal Pradesh under the AFSPA 1958, but that does little to restore confidence and good faith between the state and the government of India. Anjuman Ara Begum analyses why. 0   Write to the Author Law and Order Laws Human Rights 22 April 2015  - It was a bolt from the blue for Arunachal Pradesh on 7 April 2015, when 12 of its districts were declared ‘disturbed’ and the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 (AFSPA) was extended to the state, over and beyond the districts that were already under the Act, namely Tirap, Longding and Changlang. Section 3 of AFSPA empowers the central government to declare,  suo motu , any area in northeast India as ...