Theatre as a tool for dialogue between nations could not have received a more dramatic fillip. The varied and engaging fare presented by the troupes that participated in Leela, the South Asian Women's Theatre Festival, was marked by a rich vein of creativity. The eight-day event, mounted by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) in collaboration with the National School of Drama and Jamia Millia Islamia, showcased a broad spectrum of theatrical offerings from across the region. Also read
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The World Bank is declaring a new openness. Beginning 1 July, details of projects, minutes of board meetings and a whole lot else will be made public under a disclosure policy. “India’s right to information law is an inspiration for us,” says Isabel Guerrero, the Bank’s Vice- President for South Asia and one of the architects of the disclosure policy. The policy itself is new, but the process has been on, with voices like Guerrero’s within the Bank pressing hard for transparency in keeping with the times. Guerrero believes that by being accessible it is possible to end the mistrust and suspicion that the World Bank attracts from activists and communities affected by projects financed by the bank. Read more...
AS traffic congestion on the streets of India grows at the rate of knots, Professor Murray Mackay, one of the world’s leading experts on transport safety, can clearly see the roadblocks that lie in the way. He warns that these speedbreakers could get bigger and worse unless something is done before it is too late. “The pace of growth in India has been tremendous. You are doing in 10 years what Western Europe took 60 to 70 years to do,” the Professor Emeritus, University of Birmingham, said on the eve of a lecture at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, in early March. “India is recording an 8 per cent increase in vehicles each year, but the highways and roads have not grown at the same rate.” As a result, Professor Mackay pointed out, the
conflict areas between motorised and nonmotorised
traffic have multiplied as have fatalities
in road mishaps. He said: “It is imperative to
build separate tracks for bicycles and pedestrians
to bring down road accident casualties.” ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 
The powerful mantra, Om Mani Padme Hum, played softly in the background. Buddhist Thangkas adorned the walls. Yellow and maroon cushions were neatly laid out on a row of white mattresses. Tibetan flags in blue, white, red, green and yellow fluttered around. And the fragrance of incense and fresh flowers filled the hall at the Indian Habitat Centre. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Twenty years of conflict and turbulence have led to a disturbing situation in the Kashmir Valley. Thousands of women have lost their husbands. Many women have become half widows – their husbands have either gone missing in custody or have disappeared. Alongside, a huge number of orphans have been created and the rehabilitation of these vulnerable children is a big challenge for society. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The South Asian women’s theatre festival, Leela, held in Delhi recently offers welcome relief from an atmosphere of politics and suspicion. It is often said that there is greater need for people-to-people contact in the region. Theatre works well for promoting understanding. It puts different communities on a single page of human concerns. What does peace mean to Pakistanis? How do Afghan women value cultural diversity and freedom? There is a spontaneity and freshness about theatre that cinema perhaps lacks. It is a bottom-up medium that reflects how people think and feel. It catches trends and aspirations as they manifest themselves. It reveals more than it hides. For a region caught up in conflicts and often trapped in elitist policies, exchanges that take place through a theatre festival are very valuable. It was wonderful to see all South Asian countries represented in Delhi and that too on the theme of women. The Indian Council for Cultural Relations must be complimented on this. We tend to forget that South Asia is more than just India and Pakistan. It would be a good idea to build on the experience of holding this event. We would suggest widening and deepening of the process of identifying troupes and plays. The more subaltern the interchange, the more valuable will it be. A theatre festival does many things all at once. The plays tell the stories of other societies. Performers, directors and stagecraft practitioners from different countries get to meet and talk and build creative links. A festival also introduces audiences to troupes. Further exchanges on a oneto- one basis are likely to follow. But perhaps there is a need to be more structured. For instance, can theatre from South Asian countries be promoted on campuses? Can it be introduced into curricula? Is there scope for workshops and training programmes? We are told that people from Pakistan have difficulty in getting admission to the National School of Drama. Is this true? Having done a first lap well, the ICCR, whose role is essentially international, should perhaps encourage other entities to take over and develop the good work in a domestic context. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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While learning how to do mehendi (henna) patterns at SEWA’s Gender Resource Centre in east Delhi, Farhana Faruqui didn’t know her career too could take an interesting turn. A resident of Sundernagari in east Delhi, Farhana graduated in arts through correspondence. But this gave her life little direction. Things have dramatically changed since. Farhana can now solve tough questions in maths and she wants to be a bank officer. While she waits to take the entrance examinations, Farhana helps a Japanese researcher who is collaborating on a project with SEWA. Her new-found confidence is due to a skills training programme she has been attending at the State Bank Academy, Gurgaon. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 
Four software developers who were formerly with Infosys are building a business in helping people on the move find their way around in Indian cities with a minimum of fuss. Founded in September 2007, Onze Technologies’ first product is Latlong SMS. It is operational in Bangalore and Chennai. If you happen to be lost in either city you can SMS the word “help” to 9008890088 and Latlong will tell you how to get to your destination. The service is free. It is also available on Internet at www.latlong.in and through WAP. “We have 180,000 registered users,” says Sudarshan HS, Onze’s CEO. “They are all people who have got to know about us by word of mouth.” Onze wants to be India’s best location- based services company. Navigational devices are nothing new. But Onze’s founders see an opportunity in shaping products which are specifically designed to meet Indian needs and cope with Indian realities. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The last Bangalore City Council election was held in mid 2001. Post that Council’s tenure in 2006, the state government had a convenient amnesia about the need to hold local council elections. Needless to stress, a slew of reasons were given for the delay, the major one being setting up of a Greater Bangalore Corporation with 198 wards. The Courts were not amused and repeatedly pressured the state government to hold local body elections. That has taken four years to fructify with a Sunday, 28 March election day to meet a 31 March deadline irrespective of school exams! No marks for guessing, but clearly the state government was unwilling to pass on even a miniscule part of its considerable powers with respect to the city. This is the case across our cities that remain shackled entities with the State lording over their wealth and determining their fate. The power to notify and de-notify land tracts, sanction building plans, determine land use, award project tenders are akin to the proverbial iceberg of visible powers. And we have this travesty of the Chief Minister of the State having to hold forth be it a case of city flooding or a boy washed down the city drains. One wonders why we can’t be in charge of our own destiny in our cities? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In 2009, reports from NASA, based on data from its Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace), caused much alarm in India. The reports showed that groundwater levels in Northern India have been declining at the rate of 33 centimetres per year over the past decade. The reports estimated that a staggering 108 cubic kilometres (26 cubic miles) of groundwater had disappeared from aquifers in areas of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Delhi, between 2002 and 2008. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 
It was a big relief to leave the din and bustle of Bangalore and arrive in Bannerghatta Biosphere Park (BBP) after an hour’s drive. The BBP, adjoining the Bannerghatta National Park, is where the Forest Department has rehabilitated lions and tigers (rescued from circuses and elsewhere) in semi-wild environs that are similar to their natural habitat. This has become an area of tourist interest and more than 11,00,000 visitors throng this park every year to have a glimpse of the big cats. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ About Us | Site Map | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | ©2007 Civil Society....................................... .Webmaster Vishwanathan ( vishu4@rediffmail.com ) |
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Pakistan: Women of peace
