Health Care in India

Sick From Distorted Development

by GRAHAM PEEBLES

To speak of growth is to allude to one thing only: economic development, GDP and GNP figures, which of course should be increasing for the world to stay on track to become a global shopping emporium. The word has been confiscated by the economically erudite and the political ideologues. Monthly statistics are chanted, mantra like, by the politically aligned media, ignored by most and washed away with the residue. They are of no consequence to the majority trying to meet the basic requirements of living and are issued along with other contemporary anxiety stimulants: deficit, austerity and debt to name but three of the more popular narcotics of control.

India has recorded two delightful decades of around 9% ‘growth’, which has produced umpteen rupee resplendent billionaires who live in decadent luxury in the cities. Along with the government, which is seduced by all things corporate, they turn a comfortable blind eye to the hundreds of millions living in rural poverty and those in slums on the other side of town, where children play beside open sewage, where there are no functioning toilets or latrines: where child malnutrition is rife and where there are no health care facilities worthy of the name. The billionaires sit aloft a hierarchy of corporate wealth and power: they tower over the lesser millionaires (in 2012 there were 152,750 US $ millionaires); and see in the far distance the desperately upwardly that form a gaggle called the ‘new middle class’.

This group of city dwellers has benefited greatly from twenty years of market liberalization and government reforms, which have shifted support from the needy to the corporate greedy, resulting in increased levels of rural poverty and a multitude of suffering. The United Nations Human Development Index (UNHDI), which “represents a push for a broader definition of wellbeing and provides a composite measure of three basic dimensions of human development: health, education and income”, paints a vivid picture of Indian life after years of economic flowering. India comes in 136th out of 187 countries. Factor in inequality – “in each dimension of the HDI” plus gender inequality (considering the disadvantages facing women and girls), and India plummets even further down the table.

So, following P.Sainath’s noble lead, one asks who is this growth for? Not the poor, the marginalized and dispossessed, the Dalit’s (untouchables) or Adivasi (indigenous) people, the smallholder farmers, children and certainly not women.

Inequality and illness

The inequities in health care provision represent the extreme levels of inequality and social injustice pervading the country, as The Lancet makes clear, “mainly because of insufficient government funding for health.” Although the urban population continues to grow (currently thought to be around 377 million), by most estimates 75% of the population – (a staggering 900 million people) live in rural areas, where health-care is universally appalling. It is here in relation to health, disease and mortality that statistics have meaning to the people. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), India as a whole accounts “for 21% of the worlds global burden of disease”: as a % this is greater than the population ratio. The 21% is concentrated in rural areas where diseases lead to huge numbers of deaths that, correctly diagnosed and given access to treatment, are preventable. It is thought e.g. that over 2 million deaths occurred in 2008 due to preventable causes, such as diarrhea, dengue, measles, typhoid and malaria. The middle and upper classes seduced as they are by multi-national western exports of fast food, cigarettes and alcohol have seen stark increases in obesity-related illnesses like diabetes and cardiovascular problems, records Health India.

Mahatma Gandhi believed the soul and spirit of India rested in its village communities. He said: “The true India is to be found not in its few cities but in its seven hundred thousand villages. If the villages perish, India will perish too.” Neglected and ignored rural communities are indeed perishing:

Adivasi people, who have lived on the land for generations, are being displaced in their millions as mining companies move in to extract the bauxite, iron-ore and tin. Trapped into debt and crushed by the corporate take-over of the countryside, smallholder farmers, of which there are an estimated 120 million (down 9 million since 2001), are committing suicide at the unimaginable rate of two every hour. Huge infrastructure projects are underway throughout the country, the waterways are being swiftly privatized and millions of villagers, with no access to adequate health care, are dying. One imagines the ‘Father of the Nation’ would be ashamed, as the current government should be.

Within rural areas there is a dire lack of health care resources; human and material, including medicines as well as properly equipped Primary Health care centres (PHCs), which are the main state run facility. Although India is said to have a Universal health care system administered by the various states, who have as their “primary duty” as stated in the constitution the “raising the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health”, up to 60% of the population do not have access to adequate health care provision.
The conurbations, (with just 25%/30% of the population), have four times more doctors and three times more nurses than the PHCs in rural India; this means that of the latter almost 10% have no medical staff at all, 40% are without lab technicians and almost 20% lack a resident qualified pharmacist. The results of this dearth of medical support is (and here are some more statistics that matter) that 50% of all villagers have no access at all to allopathic healthcare providers, 10% of all babies die before their first birthday and 50% of all rural babies are likely to be permanently stunted for want of proper nutrition [according to Health India].

Water and Waste

Limited access to safe drinking water coupled with non-existent sanitation in rural India (and city slums) is a major factor in the spread of parasitic and bacterial infections, causing disease and malnutrition. Over a third of people living in villages have no access to toilets, while 50% of the population defecate in the open, added to which UNICEF, finds that “44% of mothers are disposing of their children’s faeces in the open”, resulting in “a very high risk of microbial contamination (bacteria, viruses, amoeba) of water which causes diarrhoea in children”, which is the primary cause of childhood mortality. Within rural families they found that only 11% “dispose of child stools safely”, whilst “80 % are left in the open or thrown into the garbage”, and shockingly, “only 6% of rural children less than five years of age use toilets”.

Drinking water is another major source of disease, and whilst UNICEF makes clear that access to safe sources of drinking water has improved, (from 68% in 1990 to 88% in 2008), with under a quarter of slums dwellers having access to this most rudimentary of needs, inequality poisons even their most basic human right. The problem is made worse, they say, by falling levels of groundwater, groundwater pollution and the widespread natural occurrence of “arsenic and fluoride in the groundwater”, which pose a major health threat. Proper sanitation methods and clean drinking water are not an issue of concern within the high-rise middle class city developments, or the gated communities in Delhi and Mumbai: they have toilets, bidets and Evian, or some such. It is the 75% that are left without health care, with restricted access to safe drinking water and no sanitation facilities. Where has the 9% growth gone?

The divide between the tiny percentage that have benefitted from economic development and market liberalization, and the vast majority that have been condemned to a life of extreme poverty and illness, is approaching cosmic proportions. Most people live in rural areas, but the beneficiaries of growth have primarily been city residents, where wealth is concentrated in the coffers of a handful of men. It is said that the 100 richest Indians own wealth equivalent to 25% of the national GDP (Annual GDP $1.84 trillion 2012), and, whilst Mukesh Ambani the chairman of Reliance Industries earns $18 million a year two-thirds of the population (according to the World Bank), lives on less than $2 a day. The 9% begins to rise to the divisive surface.
Two decades of economic growth have granted great benefits to the Ambani’s of India, but no improvements to the lives of rural people, and in particular have effected no change to health provision. Child malnutrition for example, which at 48% (UNICEF) is the highest in the world, fell by just 1% in the years since 2001.

Gender inequality compounds the economic and social divisions in the country. The treatment endured by women is universally appalling across a range of areas. Rape, (although barely reported-there is little point when cases take years to process), is endemic, female infanticide is widespread (12 million girls were aborted during the last two decades according to the United Nations UN), dowry killings commonplace: a trinity of abuse at the top of a list of mistreatment suffered by Indian women (specifically but not exclusively poor women). Add to this poor maternal health, causing 57,000 maternal deaths in 2010 (one mother dying every ten minutes, most of which occurred in rural areas), making India home “to the greatest burden of maternal, newborn and child deaths in the world”, (the WHO report). Forced marriage, although illegal is commonplace causing almost 50% of Indian women to (reluctantly) marry before they reach 18, resulting in early pregnancies, high morbidity and mortality rates, to say nothing of the unrecorded levels of depression and anxiety. Poor health care provision for women sits within a broader, horrific picture of gender inequality and prejudice, state neglect and female suffering. Collectively, according to a recent study by TrustLaw, they make India, the worst country for a woman to live out of the G20 nations, one place below Saudi Arabia.
Private Public

Health care is offered by public and private providers: with the public Primary health care centers (PHCs) understaffed and under-resourced with restrictive opening times, as well as long waiting times and in many cases sited miles from villages, the majority of visits (92%) are made to private centers. Around 70 % of private visits are made by city dwellers. They pay for their care by making ‘out of pocket’ payments, i.e. not covered by health insurance, which, The Guardian reports, only 11% of the population possess. The private sector has the monopoly on medical staff and materials, with, according to Government figures, 80% of all doctors, 26% of nurses, 49% of beds and 78% of ambulatory services working for the corporate boys. Care is expensive (up to nine times the cost of PHCs), and consistent with corporate irresponsibility, (sanctioned by government neglect and weakness); according to Gram Vaani it is “often unregulated and variable in quality. Besides being unreliable for the illiterate, it is also unaffordable by low income rural folks”.

With 9% growth for two decades one would expect a major level of government investment into health and education, however this is far from the case. Spending on public health care according to the WHO is 1.1% of GDP, placing India below Pakistan, China and Nigeria in the spending table. Cash (or out of pocket) payments are increasing (up to 80%) amongst those who have the money, but for the majority health care is an unaffordable luxury. In a country with more people living in poverty than all Sub-Saharan African countries combined, an additional 40 million a year are estimated to be forced into destitution by medical costs. So where has the growth gone; who is it for: who has benefitted from the ‘economic miracle’? The middle class have become rich; the rich have become super rich: the super rich stellar rich. This tiny group of city beneficiaries have as Arundhati Roy puts it, “ascended into outer space from where they look down at the indigenous people and the poor.” And as for the poor: their numbers have grown, their land has been stolen from them, their problems increased: they have been condemned to a life of illness, exploitation and suffering. And their voices are ignored.

Graham Peebles is director of the Create Trust. He can be reached at: graham@thecreatetrust.org

Death of Indian Working Elephant “Bijlee” Starts Global Movement

We kill them by the thousands for their ivory or for “sport”; exploit them in circuses, and work them mercilessly to death. And we’re robbing them of their ancestral ecosystems in both Asia and Africa. Surely a record we can be proud of.

After decades of exhausting work for her masters, Bijlee was abandoned after her acute and very painful arthritis and other conditions prevented her from working. She was found by animal charities lying in a ditch by the side of a road. As usual this is totally preventable suffering.

by Jordan Carlton Schaul of University of Alaska on June 30, 2013
Source: National Geographic Newswatch

It was legendary Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan who essentially, with intention or not, launched this campaign to help working elephants through his tweeted and compassionate appeal to animal welfarists.

Early last week, Mr. Bachchan requested welfarists and the like, to come to the aid of one suffering begging street elephant (a type of working elephant) named “Bijlee” and it seems to have started a whole movement to end the working Asian elephant practice.

On June 26th, News Watch published a tribute to Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan by India’s largest wildlife conservation and animal welfare organization, Wildlife SOS.

The tribute recognized the Bollywood icon for bringing attention to one 54 year old suffering female Asian elephant — “Bijlee”— who was fighting for her life in critical condition on the side of the road in a suburb of Mumbai, India. First on the scene was the Indian charity Animals Matter To Me, followed by countless other groups including Wildlife SOS.

[pullquote] Elephants continue to be exploited on the streets of India where they are forced to beg on the streets, in temples and perform in marriages or circuses. [/pullquote]

Unfortunately, Bijlee died early Sunday morning after her condition progressively deteriorated. “In her last day she remained in a recumbant position and was only able to be repositioned with the help of a crane,” according to Wildlife SOS Senior Veterinarian Dr. Yaduraj. A postmortem examination will be conducted shortly.

[pullquote] Our thanks to National Geographic Newswatch for this report.

New BRICS Development Bank Announced

by Stephen Lendman

In September 2006, four original BRIC nations met in New York. On May 16, 2008, Yekaterinburg, Russia hosted a full-scale diplomatic meeting. In June 2009, Brazil, Russia, India and China again met in Yekaterinburg. Early steps were taken to end dollar supremacy. Eventual plans may replace it with a global currency or basket of major ones.

In 2010, South Africa joined the BRIC alliance. It was formally invited to do so. The group was renamed BRICS. Annual summits are held. On March 26 and 27, Durban, South Africa hosted the group’s fifth one. More on that below.

Their “mechanism aims to achieve peace, security, development and cooperation. It also seeks to contribute significantly to the development of humanity and establish a more equitable and fair world.”

America’s economic supremacy is declining. BRICS countries are some of the world’s fastest growing. They comprise a significant economic and political block. They account for over 20% of world GDP.

They’re on three continents. They cover more than one-fourth of the world’s land mass. Their population exceeds 2.8 billion. It’s 40% of the world total. By 2020 or earlier, China may become the world’s largest economy.

By mid-century or sooner, India’s predicted to be number three, Brazil number five and Russia number six. Between 2000 and 2008, BRICS contributed about half of global growth. In the late 1990s, Russia’s debt default and Brazil’s currency crisis rocked world economies. Today they have vast foreign exchange reserves.

BRICS have more global trade than America. China’s the world’s largest exporter. India’s an information technology powerhouse. Brazil’s a dominant agricultural exporter. It’s highly competitive. It has vast amounts of fertile land. It’s known as “the world’s biggest farm.” Russia is oil and gas rich.

South Africa holds resources worth an estimated $2.5 trillion. It’s rich in gold, platinum, uranium, chrome and manganese ore, zirconium, vanadium, and titanium. Two key institutions emerged from Durban’s summit. A BRICS Joint Business Council (JBC) and Development Bank were announced.

JBC formerly functioned as a forum. It encourages free trade and investment. Two meetings will be held annually. Rotating chairmen will head them.

Each BRICS country chose five top business executives to represent them. They’ll coordinate relations between member states and private sector players.

Separately, China and Brazil agreed to a bilateral currency swap line. It permits them to trade up to $30 billion annually in their own currencies. Doing so moves almost half their trade out of US dollars. It suggests other BRICS partners will make similar moves. They endorsed plans to create a joint foreign exchange reserves pool. Initially it’ll include $100 billion. It’s called a self-managed contingent reserve arrangement (CRA).

It’s a safety net precaution. It’s to strengthen financial stability. It’s an additional line of defense. They agreed to establish a new Development Bank. The idea was proposed last year in New Delhi.

“It’s done,” said South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. BRICS leaders “will announce the details,” he added. South African President Jacob Zuma said:

Ahead of the summit, officials said each country may contribute $10 billion for starters. It’s aim is to fund infrastructure and other development projects. It’ll operate separately from Western international lending agencies. It’ll challenge their global dominance. It’ll test how they do business. They prioritize neoliberal harshness.

It includes privatizing state enterprises, selling them at a fraction of their worth, mass layoffs, deregulation, deep social spending cuts, wage freezes or cuts, unrestricted market access for Western corporations, business-friendly tax cuts, trade unionism marginalized or crushed, and harsh recrimination against non-believers.

It strip mines nations for profit. It shifts wealth from public to private hands. It destroys middle class societies. It turns workers into serfs. It substitutes debt peonage for freedom. A race to the bottom follows. An elite few benefit at the expense of most others. It sacrifices economic growth for private gain. It’s the worst of all possible worlds. Nations are transformed into dystopian backwaters.

BRICS have other ideas in mind. They seek a multipolar world. Much work remains to be done. Agreement on details must be finalized. It’ll take time to begin operations. It’ll be a second alternative to Western debt bondage. In December 2006, Hugo Chavez proposed a Bank of the South (Banco del Sur).

A November 2007 summit launched it. In September 2009, it was established. Its members include Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay. Plans are to increase initial capitalization. Member countries pledge to contribute. Full operations are expected to begin later this year. At issue is representing the needs of the South. It’ll contribute to its development. It’ll do so free from debt bondage.

BRICS Development Bank intends no one country to dominate. Voting rights will reflect equality. Economic growth matters most. India’s Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textiles, Anand Sharma, said:

“We are creating new axis of global development. The global economic order created several decades ago is now undergoing change and we believe for the better to make it more representative.”

BRICS trade today exceeds $360 billion. By 2015, it should reach $500 billion. Continued longterm growth is expected. Mutual cooperation helps sustain it. Each member country benefits. It remains to be seen how plans unfold. Hopefully global changes for the better will follow. They’re long overdue. Dominant emerging economies will play leading roles. They’re laying the groundwork to do so.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book is titled “Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity.” http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour

http://www.dailycensored.com/new-brics-development-bank-announced/

ANIMALS: Indian and “Western” attitudes—Quien es más civilized?

Four-year old Couscous: Murdered by the "shoot first, ask questions later" reflex drilled into humans when it comes to supposed "animal threats."

Four-year old Couscous: Killed by the “shoot first, ask questions later” reflex drilled into humans when it comes to supposed “animal threats.”

s human populations continue to expand all over the globe, the spatial and ethical question underscoring the clash between human and non-animals grows ever more acute and in need of a fair resolution.

OpEds

Ruth Eisenbud, Independent animal advocate

“People keep spreading like cancer and wiping out all the beautiful life, but at least in India they don’t usually murder the poor animals for existing.”

The shoot first reaction towards animals in the USA is a direct result of the devaluation of their lives by dominion… Despite deadly attacks in India by wild elephants and a leopard, the animals were not killed. They were taken deep in the forest, so that both humans and animals would remain safe. It is understood that they are entering human spaces because their territory has been encroached by human development. The animals are not punished for human destruction of their territory. (articles enclosed)

Another animal has been added to the toll in dominion USA. This time a captive lion (Couscous), frustrated by his confinement attacked a woman who entered his enclosure. For daring to stand up to his dominion captors, he was shot on the spot, as is the case. No effort was made to evaluate the circumstances, or assess the nature of the wrong done by confining an animal accustomed to roaming a large territory, so that humans could experience the thrill of watching him. The lion was victimized twice: he lost his freedom and his life, so that profit could be gained by putting him on display.

While it is tragic that a well-meaning young woman who entered the enclosure was killed, the lion was shot and killed for who he was: a wilderness animal confined to a small space, so that he could be an exhibition for human enjoyment:

Lion kills woman at private California big cat park

Couscous was raised at the private park from the age of eight weeks old
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21693683

A lion has killed a volunteer intern at a private big cat park near Fresno, California, officials say. The 26-year-old woman was attacked and killed when she entered the lion’s enclosure, Project Survival founder Dale Anderson said in a statement.

Fresno County police say they found her severely injured, still lying inside the enclosure with the lion nearby. Deputies shot and killed the animal so they could reach her but she died at the scene, a police spokesman said. Investigators were trying to determine why the intern was inside the enclosure and what might have provoked the attack, Fresno County Sheriff’s Sgt Greg Collins said.

The facility, known as Project Survival’s Cat Haven, is normally closed on Wednesdays, and only one other worker was present during the mauling. When officers arrived on scene the victim was still in the enclosure. The 26-year-old woman was not identified by police. Mr Anderson was crying as he read statement to reporters on Wednesday, saying the group would investigate if their protocols were followed before the attack.

The lion was a four-year-old male named Couscous, a California Fish and Wildlife spokesman said.
Couscous had been raised at Cat Haven since he was eight weeks old, said Tanya Osegueda, a spokeswoman for Project Survival. Lt Tony Spada of Fish and Wildlife told the Fresno Bee this type of incident was “very rare” because of the safety measures required by the state and because regulations require minimal human-animal interaction. “This facility has a very good history,” Lt Spada said. “In this case, someone just got too close.” Cat Haven is about 45 miles (75km) east of Fresno.

The project opened in 1993, and has housed numerous big cats, including Bengal tigers, Siberian lynx, jaguars and leopards.

A dead lion lays on the ground in Terry Thompson’s farm near Zanesville, Ohio, Oct. 18, 2011. (see appendix A for entire article)

In dominion USA a man who had been holding every manner of wild life captive, ranging from tigers, lions, to bears and others, released them prior to committing suicide. Perhaps he had remorse for imprisoning them. Though the animals had done no harm upon release, almost all were killed by sheriff deputies. Perhaps it was a great opportunity to display macho prowess, or they were pumped up by dominion inspired fear and fury, or perhaps they were so terrified of their own cruel instincts, not possessed by the animals, the only reaction they had was to kill. In any case these killers did not understand that the animals they massacred also had the right to live. Such deeply embedded ignorance is a product of Judeo.Christian conditioning, where animals are viewed as disposable trophies or violent criminals when they protest imprisonment.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/zanesville-animal-massacre-included-18-rare-bengal-tigers/story?id=14767017#.TwwcYYF8fHo

True to his Judeo.Christian roots, Jack Hanna, self-proclaimed wildlife expert, pictured in a macho animal skin hat, appeared on TV to justify the massacre. Based on the wealth generated by the exotic animal business, which includes canned hunts, zoos, animal acts and associated products, Hanna did not want to jeopardize this lucrative industry. The possibility that the animals might harm a human, though there was no indication that this was in any way imminent, would have threatened profits. In keeping with the biblcal mandate it is always better to kill the animals first and ask questions later. Michael Mountain (Best Friends) expressed the position of Hanna as follows:

http://www.zoenature.org/2011/10/why-jack-hanna-supported-the-zanesville-animal-massacre/

Michael understands that within the framework of a Judeo.Christian paradigm for animal compassion, no matter that humans have caused the problem, it is always the animals that must be made to pay. This injustice is explained by Prof. Richard Schwartz as follows:

The paradigm of righteous wrongdoing, that is dominion, will not change until the semitic religions abandon this heartless biblical doctrine, or until we send these religions the message that we want nothing to do with their brand of pious cruelty.

Take a lesson from India…

Such a massacre would not have occurred in India, where the Wild Life Protection Act prohibits the killing of animals who make the wilderness their home…

In India it is understood that animals do not live by human laws, so when an animal such as an elephant or leopard wanders into a densely populated area and kills or harms humans it is understood that the animal is not a criminal to be [automatically] executed. Instead it is understood that man has encroached on animal territories, driving them into heavilly populated urban areas. In two recent lethal animal attacks one involving elephants and the other a leopard the animals were not harmed, but returned to a safer natural habitat. Monkeys roam freely among human populations and are never culled, massacred or shipped abroad.

In India animal protection takes its cue from the Jain/Hindu concept of ahimsa (unconditional compassion for all who live). This tradition does not give angry and aggressive individuals the right to terrorize, torture, enslave and slaughter animals. In fact it is the arrogant right of dominion to violate animal lives that helps reinforce aggressive individuals to act out. The man hoarding these animals, Terry Thompson, undoubtedly felt he had the right to hold them captive due to his superior human status. Ahimsa of the Jain religion insists that both human and animal lives must be respected and preserved. Ahimsa has been incorporated into the mainstream indian consiousness, resulting a more copassionate view of animals. Therefore when an animal who has been displaced by human incursion on his/her territory behaves aggressively, sometimes harming or accidentally killing a human, the animal is not destroyed, but rescued and returned to his/her home or to a sanctuary. The two items which follow illustrate the influence of ahimsa on the treatment of animals. In the first case a leopard driven from his home, frightened and disoriented in an urban environment attacked and even killed one individual. The leopard was captured and released to a sanctuary…to live out his life as a leopard. In the second item two marauding elephants, pushed from their home by human incursion of their traditional home, charged through the city of Mysore, harming and killing those who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Again, Indian wild life protection officials tranquilized the elephants and returned them to their home:

“Leopard in deadly attack in Indian city of Guwahati

By Amitabha Bhattasali BBC News, Calcutta

One person has been killed and several others injured in an attack by a leopard in the Indian state of Assam. The man died after the leopard attacked several people in a densely populated area of the city of Guwahati.

The leopard strayed into the Shilpukhuri area of the city on Saturday and attacked residents, one of whom died the next day of his injuries.

The animal has now been released into the Manas Wildlife Sanctuary, forest officials said.

For the people of Guwahati, bomb blasts and other terror attacks were not uncommon till recently, because of repeated attacks by the secessionist United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa), but a leopard straying into a town is rare, particularly during the day.

Chased out

•••
The leopard was first sighted on Saturday morning near a crematorium in the town. As the funeral of a Congress Party leader’s son was going on, the place was full of dignitaries, ministers and other VIPs. Police sent them to a safer place and chased the leopard out, but it turned towards the Shilpukhuri residential area.

“First, it jumped across several multi-storey buildings, including a bank, then jumped on to the ground,” said Manas Paran, photojournalist for the Sunday Indian magazine and an eyewitness. Local people armed with sticks and iron rods tried to chase the leopard away. The enraged animal then started attacking locals, Mr Paran told BBC.

Mr Paran kept following the big cat at extremely close quarters to get good pictures for his magazine. Deb Kumar Das, aged around 50, was one of the first people whom the leopard clawed at. He suffered severe wounds to the head, ear and neck. He was treated in hospital but later returned home, where he was found dead on Sunday.

Several others suffered the ire of the big cat. One of them, Kripesh Dey, had part of his scalp removed in the attack. Later, when the leopard entered a shop, locals locked it up. Forest officials and vets reached the scene after some time with tranquilisers and were able to capture it.

“After it was tranquilised and treated in Guwahati Zoo, we released it in the Manas Wildlife Sancturary today”, said Utpal Borah, head of the zoo. This incident has once again brought to fore the conflict between humans and animals in India. Assam’s forest officials say humans are encroaching onto leopard habitats. Residential areas built right in leopard habitats have become vulnerable to such attacks.

This is the second death from leopard attacks in five years. Elephant rampage causes terror in Indian city. The three-hour rampage caused panic in the streets of Mysore. Two wild elephants have gone on a rampage in southern India, killing at least one person, officials say. The elephants left a trail of destruction in a suburb of the city of Mysore, in the state of Karnataka. Officials say the animals walked into the city from a nearby forest, leaving residents running for their lives. Officials say that one elephant barged into a women’s college compound and wandered the grounds, while the other wreaked havoc in a residential area.

Forest rangers and officials from Mysore Zoo later tranquilised and captured the animals.

Encroachment

A 55-year-old man who left his house in the Bamboo Bazaar area of Mysore after hearing the commotion was trampled to death, Karnataka state Higher Education Minister SA Ramdas told AFP news agency. The elephants are thought to have come from a nearby forest. Mr Ramdas said schools and colleges in the city were closed throughout Wednesday and extra police had been deployed as a precaution.

State forest department officials said the young elephants came from forest about 35km (22 miles) from the city. They say that two other elephants remain at large on the outskirts of Mysore. One official blamed the rampage on human encroachment into areas traditionally inhabited by elephants.

“Unregulated expansion of farm lands and increasing movement of people and vehicles through the elephant corridor are making the wild jumbos enter into villages and towns in search of food and shelter,” he told AFP. Mr Ramdas said that the two captured elephants would be released back into the wild.”

If the Judeo.Christian tradition of dominion is not reigned in, the only nation to have any animals left living in the wilderness will be India. Wildlife services in dominion nations will find a way, reason and means to cull every animal deemed expendable, bolstered up by cruel religious doctrine, unprincipled politicians, and fearful police departments (fearful of lawsuits, of getting fired, and so on, all of which are all too common a response in litigious and badly organized America.)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ruth Eisenbud has spent decades fighting for animals. Her uncompromising persistence has alienated some but also expanded the views of others in connection with animals and our place in the web of life. The animal question, entailing the brutal tyrannization of untold billions of creatures at the hand of humans, is no issue to be ignored much longer (now that it has been shown that factory farming contributes more gases to global warming and pollution than all vehicular emissions combined, for example) and no apologies should be made for injecting it into “everyday” conversation.

Dating in India: More Than Just Marriage

Rakhee Ghelani, rakheeghelani.com (Aussie Girl in India)

I was recently asked to write a relationship column for a fantastic online magazine here in India called Women’s Web. My first topic is about dating in India, something I have written about before here and here. These posts have been topics of great controversy, but they are based purely on my own experience and I stand by what I have said in them.

In my column in Women’s Web (see addendum) I have written about the concept of dating in India, which seems to be relatively new here. When I say dating, I mean the real western concept of dating where two people hang out and get to know each other without expectations of engagement, marriage and children just around the corner. It seems to me that this isn’t something that happens much here, and it is actually really hard to do without one person expecting that the relationship will inevitably lead to marriage.

From my very western perspective, I feel like marriage is a lot of pressure to put on a new relationship. I just want to know if a guy enjoys good food and makes me laugh, without worrying about whether he expects me to cook for him and how many children he wants. It feels like there is little choice for those who don’t wish to make a commitment very soon after meeting someone, and therefore options are limited for those who don’t want to either.

The other alternative is to date someone who is already in a relationship and not looking for (another) commitment. Each to their own, but as I think I made clear in this post, that is definitely not an option for me.

Is marriage really the end goal for all dating in India? Is it possible to just date without any pressure or expectation from either party, family or friends that the relationship will lead to marriage or otherwise it must end? What do you think of the advice in this article?

What do you think?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (In her own words)

I am a Melbourne girl of Indian origin. After completing degrees in Law, Commerce and Management, my career followed a rather traditional path for 16 years. I worked in a corporate career for some of Australia’s best known brands (like Foster’s, General Motors Holden and ANZ Bank). In 2011, I was in my mid-30′s, single and had been through some challenging times personally, so I decided it was time for a change and chose to leave Australia and move to India. I was granted Overseas Citizenship of India, which means I can live and work in India forever. I settled in Mumbai in 2012, and have been working as a writer, business consultant and entrepreneur since.

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ADDENDUM

Dating In India: More Than Just Marriage (Women’s Web)

Monday, March 4, 2013 – Posted in Relationships, Self & Family

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Societal constraints make dating in India a daunting prospect. Relationship advice for Indian women who want to start dating in India.

By Rakhee Ghelani. Women’s Web

Dating in India is a relatively modern concept, particularly when there is no intention of marriage. As it is something that is frowned upon in some circles, there isn’t always the opportunity to discuss it openly or seek relationship advice from family or friends. Is there room in Indian culture now just to simply date and get to know someone without it having to be a precursor to marriage?

One of my male friends explained to me that he doesn’t feel that he could just date someone, and even at the first meeting he finds himself assessing whether he would be happy to be sitting across the table from this woman in three years time with a child. The concept of just enjoying a woman’s company in a way that isn’t platonic without it leading to marriage is something he does not feel capable of, which means every woman he dates is held up to incredibly high standards and scrutiny.

…where I am quite upfront about not wishing to be a wife, men who’ve appeared to be interested in me, soon start to avoid being alone with me.

Whilst lines are blurring, with the youth having more freedom to go out and spend time with friends, there is more opportunity for romance without immediate commitment. However, for most, dating someone generally means an interview for marriage.

Relationship advice for Indian women: Playing the dating game

So, if you do just want to date someone without the pressure of committing to marriage how do you go about it? If you have someone in mind, the easiest way to find out if they are happy to just date is to simply ask him. Being honest and upfront early on can save you both a lot of heartache in the long run, and in my opinion, this is the best relationship advice anyone can give.

If you tell him you just want to date without an expectation of commitment, be honest with him about what that means to you. Does it mean you want the relationship to be a physical one? Do you want the freedom to date other people at the same time?

If you are honest with a guy about your intentions and he isn’t comfortable with it, then you can’t expect him to change his mind. If he wants a wife, your reluctance to rush into marriage isn’t going to make him change his mind. Just dating in India is not for everyone, people come from different backgrounds and while you may be comfortable with the concept, you may also have to accept that others are not.

If you have no one in mind how do you go about meeting like-minded people? Traditionally, introductions in India have been through family friends. Being introduced to someone by family and friends may lead to expectations from them, placing undue pressure on you both, even if you are clear about the nature of your relationship. To avoid this, try and meet people independently, but finding them is not always easy.

Online dating in India: A welcome trend

Online dating in India is a relatively new concept, with most online forums being used primarily as a means for arranging marriages or sex. However, there are some sites that have been created with the specific purpose of dating includingTwoMangoes.com, stepout.com or floh.in, which introduce like-minded people without specific expectations. The latter is an elite site, by invite only, for urban professionals, but also mixes online with off-line events so that you don’t have to meet someone alone the first time. Online dating can be a lot of fun, introducing you to people outside your social circles and lets you be a bit choosy as well. I have met some great people through online dating in the past, so relax and remember to have fun.

With divorce rates in India on the rise and growing exposure to Western culture, the case for dating rather than arranging marriages is slowly growing.

Another great way to meet people is through social networking sites like Twitter or through special groups on Facebook. Whilst through these sites you may not know if someone is only looking for a wife, you can meet some new people who share common interests. The easiest way to do this is to just jump in and join the conversation. For example, if you are into movies, then perhaps see if there are any Facebook groups in your area for people who love films and that organises group get togethers. With Twitter you can search and follow people who share your interests, and just join in their conversation. I personally have dated men in India that I have met on Twitter, and made some great friends (male and female) along the way as well.

With divorce rates in India on the rise and growing exposure to Western culture, the case for dating rather than arranging marriages is slowly growing. If it is something you want to do then get out there and have some fun. Enjoy the company of new people without the pressure of having to make lifetime decisions.

*Photo credit: heiressanj (Used under the Creative Commons Attribution License.)