CHENNAI AUTOS TO GET GPS

CHENNAI AUTOS TO GET GPS

SOURCE :NEWINDIANEXPRESS By IANS – CHENNAI

Image taken from nextcity.org

Auto-rickshaws in Chennai will be fitted with new meters with global positioning system (GPS) and an electronic digital printer, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said Sunday.

She said in a statement: “For the first time in India, auto-rickshaws plying in Chennai will be fitted with GPS and electronic digital printer, free of cost, by the government, involving an outlay of Rs.80 crore.”

She said commuters will be given a receipt with the distance travelled and the tariff rate.

“The operation of the auto-rickshaws will also be monitored effectively,” she added.

The meter, she said, will have a ‘panic button’ so that a passenger can press it in case of any danger. The device enables monitoring by a control centre.

She said the government has fixed the minimum tariff rate at Rs.25 for the first 1.8 km and Rs.12 for every additional km. The revised tariff will be effective from Sunday.

The auto-rickshaw tariff in Chennai was last revised in 2007

DAUGHTERS OF THE BROTHEL FILM

DAUGHTERS OF THE BROTHEL FILM

Posted by Al Jazeera on Youtube

There was a time she had to hide her identity to pursue schooling, but she is now not only looked up to by the sex workers she fights for but is also respected by the common public and the government. Today, she proudly calls herself the “daughter of a brothel”.

Naseema, 28, a social activist from Muzaffarpur’s red-light area — Chaturbhuj Sthan — fought with pimps, police and clerics to convince them that concerted development and special programmes, not “ineffective” government rehabilitation, was the solution to prostitution. Now 50 other girls have quit their profession to join in Naseema’s pursuit.

Their main job is to bring dignity to this oldest human profession. They have started a non government organization called ‘Parcham‘ for their united fight. And to voice their sufferings and concerns they publish India‘s only fully handwritten monthly magazine ‘Jugnu‘ which has found subscribers all over the world. This is a unique magazine published by sex workers.

This film revolves around these girls and their activities. Their personal trauma and redemption. Their rescue of trafficked girls, sending them back home, negotiating with parents when they do not want their child back because of their tainted image, saving the red light districts when villagers with the help of local government tried to eliminate them by setting entire area on fire.

Stronger Laws to Deter Acid Attacks on Women

Stronger Laws to Deter Acid Attacks on Women

By Ranjita Biswas IPSNEWS.NET

Perhaps the most appalling of these many forms of violence against women are acid attacks, which have become increasingly frequently in India Those who succumb to their injuries invariably die a painful death – acid eats into the skin, resulting in wounds that quickly become infected and cause septicaemia and other fatal conditions.Survivors, meanwhile, end up with scars that often last a lifetime, and many live out their days hiding what many described to IPS as their “deformed” faces and bodies from horrified gazes.

Though there is a dearth of official data on the issue, reports conducted by independent researchers and rights groups show that acid attacks are a gendered crime, with young women being the primary targets. The attackers, more often than not, are men whose romantic overtures were spurned.

Image taken from ibtimes.co.uk

In India, a largely patriarchal society that is on the cusp between conservatism and modernism – and where the aspirations of young girls and women to secure an education and find employment are supported by national economic development plans – hundreds of men feel slighted by women’s newfound independence. Unable to bear what they perceive as an insult to their “masculinity”, many seek revenge by physically harming women, in an attempt to reclaim their authority.

Eighteen-year-old Chanchal Paswan, hailing from the central state of Bihar, has a face that resembles nothing but melted flesh, the result of an attack that was supposedly “provoked” by her protesting against sexual harassment by four men.

Up until now, acid attacks have simply fallen under the general rubric of crimes against women, which numbered 244,270 in 2012 and included such atrocities as rape, dowry death (women killed or driven to suicide by in-laws to extort an increased dowry) and trafficking of women and girls, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

The eastern state of West Bengal accounted for 12.67 percent of these crimes, while its capital, Kolkata, ranked the third most dangerous Indian metropolis for women, behind Delhi and Bangalore. As such, the number of acid attacks in Kolkata is estimated to be higher than in many other cities around this country of 1.2 billion people.

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Comments : In India acid attacks on women are way too high. Strict measure on sales of such chemicals should be brought into effect immediately. A scar for a lifetime , mental trauma  and the torture of pain ! how long can we compromise on this ?