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Journalist “picked up” in Bangladesh

Meanwhile, in Bangladesh, the military backed interim government isn’t exactly fond of judicial processes or the free press. Bangladeshi journalist and blogger Tasneem Khalil was arrested yesterday. Since the state of emergency curtails rights of the citizens, it doesn’t look like the government needed a reason. Rezwan has an excellent roundup of bloggers’ reactions from [...]

Inheriting Colombo

While doing the daily roundups for Global Voices today, I chanced upon this lovely post at the The Lolly DJ on a grandfather who landed in Sri Lanka 65 years ago. The piece is so well-written and goes well with the wonderfully lyrical title – “Inheriting Colombo.”
To understand his stories, you have to understand the [...]

Corporate Social Responsibility: Reuters Live Event

Have an opinion on Corporate Social Responsibility? Necessary or not? Viable, irrelevant or pointless?
From Global Voices
On Thursday November 9th, at 6:30pm EST (23:30 GMT / 05:00am Friday in India), Reuters will be hosting a live conversation about corporate social responsibility at its New York headquarters. …
According to the special web page built for the [...]

India at 105 in the Annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006

According to the Reporters sans frontières – Annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index – 2006, India is at 105 out of 168 countries listed.
Yemen (149th) slipped four places, mainly because of the arrest of several journalists and closure of newspapers that reprinted the cartoons. Journalists were harassed for the same reason in Algeria (126th), Jordan [...]

The Sikh family upstairs and shaving the locks

I lived for ten years in RK Puram in South Delhi. A Sikh family lived in the house upstairs. When I occasionally went to their house, I was fascinated by the row of turbans in various colours. He was rather particular to match his turban with his clothes. And thus it was, that in a [...]

Tesco, Child Labour and Bangladesh

Meanwhile Tesco, that giant that wants to stomp all over the world apparently is caught in a child labour issue.
The allegations are potentially embarrassing for Tesco, which has prided itself on its strict policy on ethical trading. The supermarket giant is one of the founding members of Ethical Trading Initiative, an organisation that promotes [...]

Diaspora, expat and returning to India

Washington Post has an article on Indians in the US and the notion of “more than one home”. I suppose I agree with certain parts, but a large part of me is rather convinced that it has little to do with being outside the country, as it has to do with the fact that we [...]