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Saturday, December 29, 2012

23-year Delhi rape victim dies in Singapore: Media Monitoring

For current update See News @ Google India Edition

NEWS Updates
  • Gautaman Bhaskaran "Much like religion, the images on the screen, however fleeting they may be, can be as addictive as opium – to borrow a time-worn phrase. How many, many times we have seen the young and the impressionable copy the dare-devil acts they watch in movies – or even in advertisements – and how they impersonate their heroes and heroines." [source]
  • Radhika Apte ‘sex tape’ proves India can’t make its peace with sex in cinema : The reason: Bikinis and sex scenes might have finally come to India, but Bollywood’s approach on women’s bodies and their sexuality remains centred around titillation. And it is an approach that continues to make money, so why bother changing it? 
Jothika fell off the radar for several years after their wedding but made a come-back through advertisements and ‘36 Vayathiniley’, the remake of the Malayalam ‘How Old Are You?’ At the audio launch of the film, however, Sivakumar was quick to stress that despite his happiness at Jothika’s return, her priorities would be ‘Family, Child, Husband, and then Cinema’. Aishwarya Rai, ever since she became part of the Bachchan family, has stayed away from doing intimate scenes. According to reports, the Bachchan family clout was enough for Karan Johar to drop a kissing scene between Ash and Ranbir Kapoor in his forthcoming film ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’.

  • Why Movies Must Stop Celebrating Stalking In The Name Of ‘Love’
    BBC Full Documentary- 'India's Daughter' on Nirbhaya Delhi Gang Rap | banned | public review -- See also BBC site
    • Actresses now object to being objectified: Vidya Balan (IANS Interview)
    • Why We Should Use Our Outrage For Good
      Look at a 2014 study of attitudes among youth conducted across 11 major cities in India which found that the importance of “gender equality” scored the lowest. Here are a few other findings (Source: Firstpost article):
      • “52% of Young India thinks a woman’s place is in the kitchen”
      • “39% of girls and 43% of boys, agreed that women have no choice but to accept a certain degree of violence”
      • “55% women and 59% men, whether a woman wears jeans or a sari, her clothing is to blame if a man chooses to manhandle her”
      • “A whopping 43% of the men are under the impression that well, tough luck women, you had that coming, now suck it up and accept it (on sexual violence)”
    • Does Bollywood normalise stalking?   --  A defence lawyer in Australia successfully claimed that his client’s aggressive pursuit of women was ‘quite normal behaviour’ for Bollywood fans. Sadly, it’s all too easy to concur
    • Dressing to kill, not thrill -- Film and TV heroines seem to have finally shunned the impractical sexy dresses and slipped into something more befitting their action [see also: U2 - Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me (Live)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxngIpxYLdM]
    • Opinionline: Will rape protests change India?
    • 5 reasons why Indian men rape South Asian Observer  
    • By Dinesh K. Sharma
      NEW DELHI
      India - rather whole of south Asia - has given the world a term called eve teasing. So why do Indian men tease eves? Why do they rape?
      In a land which elevated women to the status of a goddess and gave the world its first sex treatise in the form of the Kamasutra, there are a myriad deep-rooted religious, cultural and social reasons for sexual perversion prevalent today. Sex is such a potent force which, if not channelized properly, can be destructive. In India, it has become a destructive force.
      Here are five reasons why:
      1:  Sex, which was well integrated with daily life in ancient India (as old rituals show), was driven underground with the advent of Islam and later Victorian British rule. We are reaping the harvest today.
      2:  As mentioned above, sex was so integral to daily life that India that wife-sharing enjoyed so sort of social sanction. One brother would marry a woman and all his brothers would have sexual relations with her. That's why bhabhi (brother's wife) is the focus raunchiness in our society. This habit with Indian men has not spilled on to streets in the form of sexual attacks and rapes.
      3.  Indian entertainment industry thrives on titillation and eve teasing. Not surprisingly, when you bombard young people with so much lewdness they will give vent to their sexual frustration somewhere.
      4:  India today is overpopulated and cramped families leave no privacy release their pent-up sexual energy. This is more so with poor people who have no space in their family homes to indulge their sexual fantasies.
      5:  Most rapes are committed by poor migrate people in big cities such as Delhi. It happens because suddenly these sexually frustrated men find anonymity and space to give vent to their fantasies.
      So what is the solution? There is no solution until India becomes a sexually liberated society. But right now, sex has just been reduced to a procreative tool - a far cry from the Kamasutra.
    • 10 Ridiculous Ideas About Rape That I Got From The Movies, Devishobha Ramanan, The Huffington Post
    • 10 reasons why India has a sexual violence problem washingtonpost.com
    •  The bizarre reasons why men rape in India Rediff.com
    • -- Yet at such a time, short skirts, mobile phones and Western culture are blamed for these incidents.









  • Indian Films High on Sexualisation of Women: UN Report
    Yoshita Singh | United Nations | Sep 23, 2014

    India tops the chart in showing attractive women in its movies and as much as 35 per cent of these female characters are shown with some nudity, finds a first-ever UN sponsored global study of female characters in popular films across the world.
    The study, commissioned by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, with support from UN Women and The Rockefeller Foundation, reveals deep-seated discrimination, pervasive stereotyping, sexualisation of women and their underrepresentation in powerful roles by the international film industry.
    Indian films, the study finds, have a significantly higher prevalence of sexualisation of female characters and the movies score low in depicting women in significant speaking roles and as engineers and scientists.
    While women represent nearly half of the world's population, less than one third of all speaking characters in films are female and UK-US collaborations and Indian films are at the bottom of the pack.
    Both, the American/British hybrid films (23.6 per cent) and Indian films (24.9 per cent) show female characters in less than one-quarter of all speaking roles. Even the frontrunners (UK, Brazil and South Korea) feature female characters in 35.9-38 per cent of all speaking roles on screen.
  • Thanks for the crassness: An open letter to Honey Singh from a parent Sandipan Sharma, Hindustan Times   July 21, 2014 
  • Shot in the dark: Actress unhappy of beau's closeness to a starlet - mid-day.com













  •  Rape Cases Hushed Up In India: U.S. Lawmakers Told












  • Website Article Sparks Protests in Assam Outlook India   Nov 09 03:54am -- A website article on an alleged 'Assam Rape Festival' has sparked widespread protests in Assam for denigrating the image of the state  -- See also: Assam Rape Fest’ triggers rowThe Times of India  - An American news satire website's play of words and comment on the security of women in India, and particularly in Assam, has evoked sharp criticism from netizens
  • Why Women are Sometimes Responsible for 'Rape'
  • Jasmine: Depicting rape scenes on celluloid justified? Maitreyee Boruah, TNN | Jul 21, 2013,
  • Reaction to gang rape shows India isn't as 'backward' as US, Alaska Dispatch March 15, 2013
  • Siddiqui: Ending India’s culture of silence on rape, Toronto Star, January 16, 2013 They May Never Know Her Name. Given name of the Indian medical student, trainee physiotherapist, a victim:
    >>> Google lights up a candle to honour the Delhi braveheart
    >>> President Pranab Mukherjee called her a "true hero";
    >>> In Memory of The Unknown Citizen by Shuddhabrata Sengupta @ Kafila, Run from the big media
    >>> Nirbhaya (the symbolic name given to the girl by The Times of India);
    >>> Delhi gang-rape victim given symbolic name 'Damini' (seen on a banner, is a symbolic name given to the victim, taken from a Bollywood film of the same name about a woman's fight against society for justice for a rape victim);
    >>> Amanat (“treasure”); whose gang rape triggered mass protests ... was first trapped in the name of love and friendship and then raped...leading to her death...
    >>> Demand for revealing her name grows, The Hindu, Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar -- but there is a legal issue: "Under Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code, disclosure of a rape victim’s name is punishable with a two-year jail and a fine."
    The six criminals who have been charged for the murder are listed @ Wikipedia:
    Ram Singh, the bus driver, and his brother, Mukesh Singh, were both arrested in Rajasthan; Vinay Sharma, an assistant gym instructor, was arrested in Delhi, as was Pawan Gupta, a fruit seller; Raju, a minor, and native of Uttar Pradesh was arrested by the police at Anand Vihar terminal in Delhi; and Akshay Thakur, a man who had gone to Delhi seeking work, who was arrested in Aurangabad in Bihar.
  • 23-year Delhi rape victim dies in Singapore: Media Monitoring

    For current update See News @ Google India Edition

    NEWS Updates
    Jothika fell off the radar for several years after their wedding but made a come-back through advertisements and ‘36 Vayathiniley’, the remake of the Malayalam ‘How Old Are You?’ At the audio launch of the film, however, Sivakumar was quick to stress that despite his happiness at Jothika’s return, her priorities would be ‘Family, Child, Husband, and then Cinema’. Aishwarya Rai, ever since she became part of the Bachchan family, has stayed away from doing intimate scenes. According to reports, the Bachchan family clout was enough for Karan Johar to drop a kissing scene between Ash and Ranbir Kapoor in his forthcoming film ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’. SEE ALSO: Private lives of Indian (Mumbai) stars

  • Why Movies Must Stop Celebrating Stalking In The Name Of ‘Love’
    BBC Full Documentary- 'India's Daughter' on Nirbhaya Delhi Gang Rap | banned | public review -- See also BBC site
    • Actresses now object to being objectified: Vidya Balan (IANS Interview)
    • What is Bollywood’s role in changing Indian attitudes to women?

    • Why We Should Use Our Outrage For Good
      Look at a 2014 study of attitudes among youth conducted across 11 major cities in India which found that the importance of “gender equality” scored the lowest. Here are a few other findings (Source: Firstpost article):
      • “52% of Young India thinks a woman’s place is in the kitchen”
      • “39% of girls and 43% of boys, agreed that women have no choice but to accept a certain degree of violence”
      • “55% women and 59% men, whether a woman wears jeans or a sari, her clothing is to blame if a man chooses to manhandle her”
      • “A whopping 43% of the men are under the impression that well, tough luck women, you had that coming, now suck it up and accept it (on sexual violence)”
    • Does Bollywood normalise stalking?   --  A defence lawyer in Australia successfully claimed that his client’s aggressive pursuit of women was ‘quite normal behaviour’ for Bollywood fans. Sadly, it’s all too easy to concur
    • Dressing to kill, not thrill -- Film and TV heroines seem to have finally shunned the impractical sexy dresses and slipped into something more befitting their action [see also: U2 - Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me (Live)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxngIpxYLdM]
    • Opinionline: Will rape protests change India?
    • 5 reasons why Indian men rape South Asian Observer  
    • By Dinesh K. Sharma
      NEW DELHI
      India - rather whole of south Asia - has given the world a term called eve teasing. So why do Indian men tease eves? Why do they rape?
      In a land which elevated women to the status of a goddess and gave the world its first sex treatise in the form of the Kamasutra, there are a myriad deep-rooted religious, cultural and social reasons for sexual perversion prevalent today. Sex is such a potent force which, if not channelized properly, can be destructive. In India, it has become a destructive force.
      Here are five reasons why:
      1:  Sex, which was well integrated with daily life in ancient India (as old rituals show), was driven underground with the advent of Islam and later Victorian British rule. We are reaping the harvest today.
      2:  As mentioned above, sex was so integral to daily life that India that wife-sharing enjoyed so sort of social sanction. One brother would marry a woman and all his brothers would have sexual relations with her. That's why bhabhi (brother's wife) is the focus raunchiness in our society. This habit with Indian men has not spilled on to streets in the form of sexual attacks and rapes.
      3.  Indian entertainment industry thrives on titillation and eve teasing. Not surprisingly, when you bombard young people with so much lewdness they will give vent to their sexual frustration somewhere.
      4:  India today is overpopulated and cramped families leave no privacy release their pent-up sexual energy. This is more so with poor people who have no space in their family homes to indulge their sexual fantasies.
      5:  Most rapes are committed by poor migrate people in big cities such as Delhi. It happens because suddenly these sexually frustrated men find anonymity and space to give vent to their fantasies.
      So what is the solution? There is no solution until India becomes a sexually liberated society. But right now, sex has just been reduced to a procreative tool - a far cry from the Kamasutra.
    • 10 Ridiculous Ideas About Rape That I Got From The Movies, Devishobha Ramanan, The Huffington Post
    • 10 reasons why India has a sexual violence problem washingtonpost.com
    •  The bizarre reasons why men rape in India Rediff.com
    • -- Yet at such a time, short skirts, mobile phones and Western culture are blamed for these incidents.








  • Indian Films High on Sexualisation of Women: UN Report
    Yoshita Singh | United Nations | Sep 23, 2014

    India tops the chart in showing attractive women in its movies and as much as 35 per cent of these female characters are shown with some nudity, finds a first-ever UN sponsored global study of female characters in popular films across the world.
    The study, commissioned by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, with support from UN Women and The Rockefeller Foundation, reveals deep-seated discrimination, pervasive stereotyping, sexualisation of women and their underrepresentation in powerful roles by the international film industry.
    Indian films, the study finds, have a significantly higher prevalence of sexualisation of female characters and the movies score low in depicting women in significant speaking roles and as engineers and scientists.
    While women represent nearly half of the world's population, less than one third of all speaking characters in films are female and UK-US collaborations and Indian films are at the bottom of the pack.
    Both, the American/British hybrid films (23.6 per cent) and Indian films (24.9 per cent) show female characters in less than one-quarter of all speaking roles. Even the frontrunners (UK, Brazil and South Korea) feature female characters in 35.9-38 per cent of all speaking roles on screen.
  • Thanks for the crassness: An open letter to Honey Singh from a parent Sandipan Sharma, Hindustan Times   July 21, 2014 
  • Shot in the dark: Actress unhappy of beau's closeness to a starlet - mid-day.com












  •  Rape Cases Hushed Up In India: U.S. Lawmakers Told











  • Website Article Sparks Protests in Assam Outlook India   Nov 09 03:54am -- A website article on an alleged 'Assam Rape Festival' has sparked widespread protests in Assam for denigrating the image of the state  -- See also: Assam Rape Fest’ triggers rowThe Times of India  - An American news satire website's play of words and comment on the security of women in India, and particularly in Assam, has evoked sharp criticism from netizens
  • Why Women are Sometimes Responsible for 'Rape'
  • Jasmine: Depicting rape scenes on celluloid justified? Maitreyee Boruah, TNN | Jul 21, 2013,
  • Reaction to gang rape shows India isn't as 'backward' as US, Alaska Dispatch March 15, 2013
  • Siddiqui: Ending India’s culture of silence on rape, Toronto Star, January 16, 2013 They May Never Know Her Name. Given name of the Indian medical student, trainee physiotherapist, a victim:
    >>> Google lights up a candle to honour the Delhi braveheart
    >>> President Pranab Mukherjee called her a "true hero";
    >>> In Memory of The Unknown Citizen by Shuddhabrata Sengupta @ Kafila, Run from the big media
    >>> Nirbhaya (the symbolic name given to the girl by The Times of India);
    >>> Delhi gang-rape victim given symbolic name 'Damini' (seen on a banner, is a symbolic name given to the victim, taken from a Bollywood film of the same name about a woman's fight against society for justice for a rape victim);
    >>> Amanat (“treasure”); whose gang rape triggered mass protests ... was first trapped in the name of love and friendship and then raped...leading to her death...
    >>> Demand for revealing her name grows, The Hindu, Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar -- but there is a legal issue: "Under Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code, disclosure of a rape victim’s name is punishable with a two-year jail and a fine."
    The six criminals who have been charged for the murder are listed @ Wikipedia:
    Ram Singh, the bus driver, and his brother, Mukesh Singh, were both arrested in Rajasthan; Vinay Sharma, an assistant gym instructor, was arrested in Delhi, as was Pawan Gupta, a fruit seller; Raju, a minor, and native of Uttar Pradesh was arrested by the police at Anand Vihar terminal in Delhi; and Akshay Thakur, a man who had gone to Delhi seeking work, who was arrested in Aurangabad in Bihar.
  • Monday, July 16, 2012

    Ten ways to make yourself indispensable, by Stephen Abram

    PS. I met Stephen last week and came to know him better as a professional who leads and continues to head many projects and responsibilities. His blog is updated everyday, or every couple of hours (unlike mine)!!!

    Ten ways to make yourself indispensable: don't wait too late to take steps that can help you demonstrate your value now, by Stephen Abram. Information Outlook / Jan-Feb, 2012

    Extract:
    "You've probably noticed that there are some people who seem to survive every organizational restructuring. As for me, I've been through too many to remember--survived some and didn't make it out the other side on others. By some counts, there have been no fewer than 14 downturns in my professional career. These swings in the economy have burnished me and, ironically, made me less dependent on employers for my self-worth or finances.

    I was inspired recently by an article from Black Enterprise ("10 ways to make yourself indispensable at work") that was shared with me. I've adapted its 10 points for library land, but the original can be read without translation, too. As the article notes, barring situations of collective bargaining (where the rules can be prescribed), there are things you can do and should do precisely when you don't need a job right away:

    1. Take ownership of all your responsibilities by seeing your role in the context of the entire enterprise and community
    2. Take personal responsibility for your professional development and career preparedness.
    3. Define your value and, most importantly, tend to your personal and professional network.
    4. maintain a visibly positive attitude while protecting your job
    5 Become a Renaissance person.
    6 Find an important, strategic task that you know how to do better and faster and less expensively than anyone else.
    7 Don't stick your head in the sand.
    8. Excel in an area in which your boss is weak.
    9. Become an organizational star by being a spokesperson at community events and professional association meetings.
    10. Be an effective team player. Be independent internally, but always present a united front externally and support your boss and the team" Continue reading the full article or here
    Stephen Abram, MLS is Vice President, strategic partnerships and markets for Gale Cengage Learning. He has been VP Innovation for SirsiDynix and Chief Strategist for the SirsiDynix Institute.

    Stephen is an SLA Fellow and the past president of the Ontario Library Association, SLA and the Canadian Library Association. In June 2003 he was awarded SLA’s John Cotton Dana Award. He received the AIIP Roger Summit Award in 2009 and Outstanding Teacher Award from the U of Toronto iSchool oin 2010. He is the author of Out Front with Stephen Abram and Stephen’s Lighthouse blog.

    On the same shelf
    (what others say about this article):
    "Whether or not one is able to promote one's value independently of one's library's value, I think Abram's main point of becoming indispensable is a good one. In an Information Age, it seems almost silly that a librarian has to prove his or her value, but that is the world we live in. If we want libraries (especially small, corporate libraries) to continue, librarians have to become indispensable." Kristin Johnstone

    Sunday, March 25, 2012

    Muhammad Abdur-Rahim Dalvi, 1925 - 2002

    A Librarian, author, translator, and mentor. Dr. Dalvi's last project completed in his life time, has been best described in an article in Indian Express:



    He believes that people should rightfully know about Islam, as it is. No personal interpretations, no prejudices. Just what the religion says, in a language that's native to the city. And that is why Mohammed Dalvi sat down after his retirement in 1980 and translated the Quran into Marathi - in both forms - poetry and prose.


    Also to his credit are other literary works, all pertaining to Islam, written either in English or translated into Marathi. All because ``I feel that there is a paucity of Islamic literature in Marathi, and this can be effectively handled by a man from Maharashtra.''
    Hailing from the coastal village of Dabhil, Dalvi headed the British Library in Pune in the years after 1960. A brief stint at the Kenya Institute of Education in Nairobi in 1975 was followed by his retirement five years later.


    ...While most of us would wish that religion in its true essence is understood by all, very few can or actually do anything towards that end. Here's one man who can rest assured that he has done his bit for harmony and tolerance amongst different faiths.
    continue reading: Translating faith, by Rasika Dhavse



    [ 1 ]
    1400 years of Islam : a deskbook / compiler, Muhammad Abdur-Rahim Dalvi.
    1989; ACCESS:Jefferson or Adams Bldg General or Area Studies Reading Rms
    CALL NUMBER:BP40 .A13 1989

    [ 2 ]
    Islamic tales (moral) / retold by Muhammad Dalvi.
    1985; ACCESS:Main or Science/Business Reading Rms - STORED OFFSITE
    CALL NUMBER:MLCS 93/09847 (B) FT MEADE

    [ 3 ]
    Kuraāna Karīma : kāvyarupa āśaya rūpāntara / rūpāntara Muhammad Muhammed Abdurarahīma Daḷavī.
    1990 ACCESS:Asian Reading Room (Jefferson LJ150) - STORED OFFSITE
    CALL NUMBER:PK2418.D235 K87 1990 FT MEADE

    [ 4 ]
    Sharia : its substance and significance / Muhammad A. Dalvi.
    1994; ACCESS:Law Library Reading Room (Madison, LM201)
    CALL NUMBER:KBP315 .D35 1994

    [ 5 ]
    Sharia : its substance and significance / Muhammad A. Dalvi.
    1978; ACCESS:Main or Science/Business Reading Rms - STORED OFFSITE
    CALL NUMBER:MLCS 93/09812 (K) FT MEADE

    Saturday, February 18, 2012

    10 CEOs and Their Favourite Books

    "Tell me what you read and I'll tell you who you are" is true enough, but I'd know you better if you told me what you reread.” Francois Muriac
    “We can be knowledgeable with other men's knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men's wisdom.” Michel de Montaigne
    Quoted from Dictionary of Library and Information Science Quotations Edited by Mohamed Taher & L S Ramaiah. ISBN: 8185689423 (New Delhi , Aditya, 1994) p. 45. Available @ Amazon.com



    1) Apple CEO - Tim Cook ~~ ‘Competing Against Time’ by George Stalk Jr. and Thomas M. Hout
    2) Facebook CEO - Mark Zuckerberg ~~ 'Ender's Game’ by Orson Scott Card
    3) Microsoft CEO (Former) - Bill Gates ~~ ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ by J.D. Salinger
    4) Berkshire Hathaway CEO - Warren Buffett ~~ ‘In an Uncertain World: Tough Choices from Wall Street to Washington’ by Robert E. Rubin and Jacob Weisberg (and much more)
    5) Oracle CEO - Larry Ellison ~~ ‘Napoleon’ by Vincent Cronin (and much more)
    6) Amazon CEO - Jeff Bezos ~~ ‘The Remains of the Day’ by Kazuo Ishiguro and ‘Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies’ by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras
    7) OWN CEO - Oprah Winfrey ~~ ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee
    8) Bloomberg L.P. CEO (Former) - Michael Bloomberg ~~ spy novels by John le Carre
    9) Virgin Group CEO - Richard Branson ~~ ‘Swallows and Amazons’ series by Arthur Ransome,
    10) Coca Cola CEO - Muhtar Kent ~~ ‘The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World’ by Niall Ferguson.

    Note: Information courtesy: siliconindia.com & Nipam Shah

    On the same shelf:
  • 21 CEOs Name Their Favorite Books @ businessinsider.com