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Is India the worst place in the world to be a woman?

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India the worst place for woman

(DW) India is the world’s most dangerous nation for women due to the high risk of sexual violence and regressive traditions, said a new study. Activists disagree with its methodology, but agree that gender crimes are up.

Repeated instances of brutal and horrific sexual crimes in India have often grabbed global headlines over the past several years. They have spurred a far-reaching debate about the safety of women and deeply entrenched patriarchal tendencies in the world’s second-most populous nation.

They have forced the Indian government to tighten laws on sexual assault and trafficking, and take measures to ensure women’s safety in both domestic and public spaces.

These measures, apparently, haven’t brought about the desired change, as revealed by a new poll conducted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. It concluded that India is the most dangerous country in the world to be a woman because of the high risk of sexual violence and slave labor.

The results were based on a survey of 550 experts on women’s issues across the world, including academics, health workers, policymakers and NGO workers. The experts were asked to consider parameters like sexual and non-sexual violence, human trafficking, cultural traditions, healthcare and discrimination.

Embarrassingly for India, it emerged in this survey as the most dangerous place for women due to the high risk of sexual violence against them, as well as human trafficking for domestic work, forced labor, forced marriage and sexual slavery, among other reasons.

In the same survey seven years ago, India was the fourth most dangerous country for women. But this time around, India fared even worse than places like war-torn Afghanistan and Syria, which ranked second and third on the list.

India was also the most dangerous country in the world for retrograde cultural practices that impact women, the survey said, pointing to issues like female genital mutilation, acid attacks and child marriage.

Armenia confirms military cooperation with India

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The Defense Ministry on Monday, January 15 confirmed to PanARMENIAN.Net that Armenia is indeed involved in international military cooperation with India.

Indian media agencies reported earlier that Armenia is interested in purchasing radars for battlefield theatre and long-distance artillery ammunition from India.

The Armenian defense ministry, however, failed to provide details about the types military hardware and ammunition it is purchasing from India, characterizing the information as secret.

Reports on Indian news sites suggested that the defense ministry is in the process of tying up with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Myanmar and Armenia for supply of radars, helicopters and missiles, and tank upgradation by 2018.

Israeli company in center of investigation involving Azerbaijan Part of Netanyahu’s Entourage to India

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Senior executives from drone firm Aeronautics Defense Systems, a company that allegedly attempted to bomb the Armenian military on behalf of Azerbaijan, will travel to India as a part of delegation of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu will visit India on Saturday with a delegation of 130 businessman from 100 companies, including Aeronautics Defense Systems, Haaretz reported.

The company is at the center of a sensitive criminal investigation by the international crime unit of the Israel Police, Haaretz writes.

The office of the Prime Minister did not disclose the list over concern of the conflict of interests, but Israel Export Institute, which set up the list said “Aeronautics is one of the companies participating”.

“We have no information regarding the investigation being conducted against the company,” the statement reads.

India newspaper: Armenia is a cradle of civilization

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Armenia is a cradle of civilizationThe Economic Times newspaper of India published an article about Armenia, in which its writer describes the tourist attractions of the country.

As per the article, “Armenia is picture-postcard turf,” a cradle of civilization, and “as the world wakes up to the charms of this Caucasian nation of 3 million people, tourism [in this country] is galloping—at about 25% per year.”

Also, The Economic Times article noted that even though Armenia has gone through a lot hardships, its “turbulent past still lingers” and “the country is still bedeviled by the Nagorno-Karabakh [Artsakh] conflict with Azerbaijan.”

India’s Vice President: Genocide memorial is evidence of Armenians’ sufferings

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India's Vice President: Genocide

India’s Vice President: Genocide

YEREVAN. – The delegation, headed by India’s vice-president Mohammad Hamid Ansari visited Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex in Yerevan on Tuesday.

Vice President was accompanied by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, First Deputy Mayor of Yerevan Kamo Areyan, Ambassador of India to Armenia Yogeshwar Sangwan and Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Director Hayk Demoyan. Hamid Ansari laid a wreath to the Memorial and flowers to the Eternal flame.

Indian official and the Foreign Minister of Armenia took photo on the background of Ararat mount.

Hamid Ansari also visited the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, where he got acquainted with the details of the cruel plan of the leadership of the Ottoman Empire to exterminate the Armenian people. Asked about his impressions, the Indian official noted that the monument which was a reminding of a human mistake.

In the book of condolences he wrote that the monument was the vivid evidence of the fact that the Armenians suffered from severe violence.

Sexual crimes continue to haunt India

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(DW) Despite India stiffening its laws on sexual crimes, nothing much has changed on the ground. A rash of sexual assaults recently once again sparked intense discussion about attitudes towards women. Murali Krishnan reports.

Crimes against women in India, including rape, molestation and abuse, have gone up in recent months and the spate of high-profile sexual attacks in the nation’s big cities bears testimony to this spiraling yet disturbing graph.

Last week, a famous actress from southern India who has acted in over 70 films was allegedly raped inside her moving car while she was headed for the port city of Kochi from her home in Thrissur. The culprits, including her former driver, further took compromising pictures and videos of her.

The case caused an uproar across the country, with many calling for swift and stringent punishment for the accused.

Vulnerable

Delhi, which has already earned the dubious tag of the “rape capital,” was also shaken by an alarming incident over the weekend when a 24-year-old woman was raped in an upscale region of the city by a man who offered her a ride after a party. The woman, who is from the northeastern state of Nagaland, was alone and walking home when the incident occurred. Figures show that Delhi reports on average six rapes every day.

Delhi, however, is not alone in reporting such cases.

Recently, a 17-year-old girl was dragged into a car in an upmarket residential locality of Bhopal in the central state of Madhya Pradesh and sexually tortured for over an hour as she was driven up and down the same road that thousands of commuters take every day.

If that was not enough, earlier this month, two persons were arrested in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, for sexually assaulting a mentally-challenged 14-year-old girl.

“Women’s vulnerability varies enormously across states in the country. Besides, poor conviction rates have only seen a rapid rise in gender violence,” says lawyer Vrinda Grover.

Just early this year, scores of young women were groped and molested by a mob of men during New Year’s Eve celebrations in the southern city of Bangalore in an incident that numbed and shamed the country.

Systemic changes required

Such incidents have underscored the ugly history of violence against women in the South Asian country. Data released by India’s National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a government agency, for the year 2015 highlight the dismal level of safety enjoyed by Indian women.

Chennai India: 300 year old Armenian church rots away due to neglect and calamities

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Rachel Chitra | TNN

304-year-old monument with burmese wood & antique bells awaits renovation

CHENNAI: The Armenian church, built in 1712, has weathered many a storm in the last 300 years, but cyclone Vardah managed to leave its mark on this landmark monument in Chennai.

With insufficient funds and lack of public interest, certain portions of the church such as its famous bell tower, housing 26-inch wide bells, overhead pews and wooden rafters- built with Burmese wood- need massive repair. These portions have been cordoned off for the general public as they are unsafe for use.

In the last few decades, services have become a rarity in the 304-year-old church with mass being served only on Christmas by a high priest, who comes down from the Armenian Apostolic Church in Kolkata.

“This is one of Chennai’s most beautiful and unique institutions. When the cyclone hit, we lost a lot of ancient trees. The woodwork has weakened and the plaster is falling off in places,” said Jude Johnson, caretaker of the Armenian church aka Church of Holy Virgin Mother Mary.

The church, which is opened for tourists, from 9 am to 2 pm every day, is nestled in the busy hub of Parrys. The Armenian Street- named after the church- has banks, corporate establishments, schools, shops, eateries, clothing retailers and a host of other establishments. Yet visitors to the church number few and far between.

“Once in a while, we get Armenian families, who have heard about the church. But weeks can go by without us seeing anyone. For them, the attraction is tracing their ancestors. The church’s flagstones are inlaid with the graves of about 350 Armenians. For the Armenians, death was as much a part of life and they did not believe in erecting separate graveyards. The stone epitaphs also bear testament to the lives of Armenian merchants, being embedded with grapes, quills, grain, ships, etc,” said Johnson.

Chennai, which has always been a melting pot of cultures, has a richness of culture and value systems unrivalled by other cities. The city has its own rich blend of mosques, rubbing shoulders with temples and churches. But while the city’s Roman Catholic, Protestant, Syrian Christian, Marthoma churches, and those other denominations see a steady stream of church attendants and visitors- for instance, the St Mary’s Church, St Thomas Basilica, Kurks and St George’s Cathedral – the Armenian church is solitary in its inclusiveness.

And its relative solitude was reflected during the cyclone, when trees got uprooted and the plaster got dented. With the state authorities taking little to no interest in this heritage monument, it has fallen squarely on the shoulders of the Armenian Church in Kolkata- which also suffers from the same lack of church attendance and interest- to maintain the premises.

 The magnificent belfry, which houses six large bells weighing more than 150kg, today is out of bounds for the commoner. The wooden stairwell, which leads up to its narrow upper climbs has become too weak for regular use. Uniquely cast, the first bell was hand cast in 1754, while the last two bells were added nearly a century later in 1837. Shipped in from London, the bells still bear the inscriptions “Thomas Mears, founder, London.”
The church bells, each of which differs in size and were added decades and centuries apart, are rung only on Sundays by the caretaker at 9am.

 For the rest of the week, the bells remain silent as does the church, which is a testament to the Armenians’ skills as merchants of silk, spices and gems. The motifs of the church are predominately Mediterranean, with the altar and pews made of Burmese wood in mint condition.

The wooden rafters and the upper pews, however, have not escaped the ravages of time. The creaky wooden stairwell and the upper beams in the main church structure have become so weak that visitors are not allowed and even cleaning is done occasionally. The church’s plaster is chipped in multiple places with the paint peeling off. “Given its solid structure and the fact that it has weathered centuries, a little restoration will go a long way to bringing it back to its former glory,” Johnson added.

 

Armenia and India: The connection “world’s oldest civilizations”

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The Armenian Church in eastern city Kolkata. Photo by Avishek Mitra

The Armenian Church in eastern city Kolkata. Photo by Avishek Mitra

Armenia and India, two of the world’s oldest civilizations, have also shared socio-cultural ties for many centuries as new research shows. Mane Mehrabian, a journalist from Armenia, reports

Who could have imagined that the guns used by the Mughals against the Marathas were made by an Armenian? Did one know that an Armenian wife formed part of Mughal Emperor Akbars harem? Lady Juliana who built the first church in Agra is believed to be a sister of one of Akbars Armenian wives. She was also a doctor in the royal harem of Akbar. Very few know that the Mughal Court once had an accomplished Urdu and Hindi scholar, Mirza Zulqarnain, again an Armenian. How about the fact that the Scindia royal family of Gwalior once employed an Armenian as the commander-in-chief of their army?

The similarity in Armenian and Hindi languages (where ten is tas and thousand is hazar in both) opened up scope for a research in the Indo-Armenian connection, which is not known to many among the younger generation.

Several of these facts are revealed in Shahzad Z. Najmuddins book Armenia: a Resume with Notes on Seths Armenians in India, which is a recounting of the Armenian history. He was one of the few Pakistani Armenians who preserves in his book family anecdotes and the struggles of his family who emigrated to Lahore from Afghanistan where Armenians were employed as gunsmith by the invading Afghan armies. The name may come as a surprise as a Muslim name, but readers will discover that Armenians often used surnames such as Khoja or Khan, which belonged to Persian upper class authorities.

In one of the paragraphs Najmuddin talks about Lahores famous gun, the Zamzamah, meaning the lions roar cast by the Armenian Shah Nazar Khan. The gun was used by the Afghan invader, Ahmad Shah Durrani in the famous Battle of Panipat in 1761 against the Marathas. In Rudyrad Kiplings book the gun found frequent mention and came to be known as Kims Gun because the novel Kim opens with a mention to this gun. In India, it is also called Bhangianwala Toap, because it was used by the Sikh chief Sardar Hari Singh Bhangi..

The Armeno-Indian economic, cultural and scientific relations go deep into the past. Being situated on the crossroads of the caravan routes between the East and the West, Armenia had achieved cultural and economic ties with India long before this era.

The Armeno-Indian trade relations continued also in the succeeding centuries. They strengthened and acquired a new quality; the visits of Armenians grew in number as the first Armenian colonies began to appear on the hospitable Indian soil.

Armenians, in fact, are believed to have arrived on the bank of Hooghly before the East India Company s Job Charnock decided to establish a British trading post in Calcutta/Kolkata thereby changing the history of India. They never amounted to more than a few thousand in Kolkata, but in the 18th and 19th centuries they ran trading companies, shipping lines, coal mines, real estate and hotels. The Armenian Street in Barabazar area, in Kolkata, gives testimony to it and also the Armenian ghat. Ghats (river ports) were means of transport and trading those days.

Within the scope of the overall history of Armenians in India, the role of Madras/ Chennai was also exceptional. In the second half of the 18th century, the dwelling became a prominent center of enlightenment, cultural awakening, literary life and the Armenian national-liberation ideology.

According to Portuguese sources, Armenian merchants were trading in Chennai in the early 16th century. Armenian merchants from Julfa (of Persia) flourished there during the 17th and 18th centuries and carried on a lucrative trade with Europe and the Philippines from there. An Armenian manuscript tells us that in 1666 Armenians settled permanently in Chennai. Known to be philanthropic by nature these opulent merchants helped the downtrodden. They also contributed to the advancement of Armenian classical literature in India. The first ever Armenian newspaper in the world was published in Chennai in 1794, by Father Harutiun Shmavonian.

Manuscripts in profusion on the history of India and the Armeno-Indian relations are preserved in the repositories and archives of Armenian manuscripts and documents in Yerevan, Venice, Vienna, Jerusalem, New Julfa and other cities. It should be mentioned that a brief description of the Brahmans has also reached Matenadaran i.e. the book repository of ancient manuscripts, now made into a research institute of Armenia. In this brief text the author speaks of the Hindu-Brahmans with great warmth and depicts them as honest, industrious and peace-loving people.

The Indo-Armenian community in India had produced a number of leading barristers, solicitors and advocates, including members of the Bengal Assembly and the Bengal Legislative Council. Some such illustrious Indo-Armenians are: M.P. Gasper, a leading barrister at the Calcutta High Court. He was the first Armenian who passed the Indian Civil Service Examination in 1869. Gregory Paul, who had graduated from the Cambridge University, held different posts in the High Court in India.

The book Armenians in India from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, by Mesrovb Jacob Seth is a great revelation too. It is amazing to read about Martyroses Chapel, the oldest Christian edifice in Northern India. This mausoleum was built in 1611 at the old Armenian cemetery of Agra, over the grave of a wealthy and charitable Armenian merchant, Khojah Martyrose. And as the name Martyrose means martyr in the Armenian language, the place has been called Martyrs Chapel. A lot of Armenian names are found in the old Armenian inscriptions on the tombstones at the cemetery like Zachariah, son of Amir Khan, Petrus son of Pogose, Avetick, the son of Malijan, Kirakose, Margar.

Armenia and India as two of the worlds oldest civilizations who have co-existed in peace for millennia are proud of a glorious past with still a handful of Armenians in India, mostly in Kolkata where the Armenian College still functions.

Source: newkerala.com

The first festival “Days of India in Armenia” starts tonight Yerevan

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arton115504-380x264The First International Festival “Days of India in Armenia” started today in Yerevan on August 30. The Armenian-Indian Friendship Festival will run until September 6th. The event is organized by the Embassy of India in Armenia, the restaurant chain “Havana” and the organization Intercultural Studies and the International Centre for Studies and dialogue. The launch of the festival will take place this evening in Yerevan at 19:15 (local time) Restaurant complex “Havana”. During the week, the “Days of India in Armenia” will try to make known to the Armenians Indian culture through the traditions, songs and dances from various regions of India. More than two dozen ambassadors from various countries will be present at the launch of this cultural and festive event.

Krikor Amirzayan

Thousands flock to Tamil Nadu to have coconut smashed over their skulls – an Indian tradition (video)

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coconut smashedIn a bizarre plea to the gods for health and success, this video shows Indian devotees smashing coconuts on their heads – sometimes causing themselves serious injury.

Thousands of people flock to Tamil Nadu, a southern Indian state, to take part in the painful practice every year.
Men, women and even children patiently sit in lines as godmen are handed large coconuts, before bringing them crashing down on their skulls.

Each year dozens are tended by medical staff for serious injuries – prompting doctors to warn that the practice is potentially deadly and ironically hazardous to health, according to The Daily Mail.

Kumar Peethambaran, a neurosurgery professor at the Indian governments medical college, told local media: ‘There is a certain amount of tolerance for the skull beyond which it will cause damage.

‘If the coconut breaks, the energy is dissipated, but when it doesn’t this can cause damage to the skull.’

But despite the warnings, many refuse to stop the ancient tradition, which is thought to have begun in the 19th century.

One devotee said: ‘My family have been coming here for years. Today four of us have come for the ritual. The coconuts broke well – we hope it brings success.’

Source: Panorama.am