|
The
print gallery
Special offers at '
the
shop' |
New ! - Calendar for South Asian
Events in London & Washington DC
November
8 - 14 November
15 - 21
NOVEMBER 2002
South Asian Travels
|
Read on ...
|
Afghanistan
- An Empire of Blood & Ash
Akhil
Bakshi travelled to Afghanistan in September 2002 and saw
the problems facing the proud nation - to prevent
mass starvation by managing the continuing five-year famine that
has forced people in remote mountain settlements to eat grass;
to replenishing livestock herds that have been decimated by the
drought; to tackle widespread rural indebtedness that is forcing
families to sell off their daughters in marriage; to provide
urgent medical assistance to the thousands of innocent people
caught in crossfire between power-hungry warlords, between the
Taliban and the Northern Alliance, and between Al-Qaeda and the
US; to rush assistance to the refugee camps where hundreds
of children die every day due to exposure and starvation; and to
raise schools from the rubble. It would have been a nice gesture
on the part of the international "leaders", who went to the US on 9/11, to also have visited Afghanistan to
see the horrors the people there are living through.
|
Natural Heritage
|
The
Sundarbans of Bangladesh
have been declared a Natural World Heritage site. One of the few existing
biologically productive natural ecosystems of the world, the Sundarbans are
also the world’s largest mangrove forest, and home to over 350 species of
wildlife - many threatened by extinction
Read
on .....
|
Sundarbans - the Royal Bengal's natural
habitat
|
Real Issues
|
Read
on ...
|
Bonded Labour is
the existing form of slavery. Unconstitutional, yet present in
most of the south Asian countries, bonded labour is not an issue
that political parties have on their agenda, nor is it a
mainstream concern. Yet, 20 million of the humanity is trapped
and victimised in a system that has defied and continues to defy
and deny human rights to men, women and children.
Most of the
bonded labourers are found in the agricultural sector and the
construction industry, where they often spend a lifetime
crushing stones or making bricks in exchange for two sparse
meals and an undignified shelter for living. It is a vicious and
a ruthless cycle that leaves the vulnerable section of our
societies with little choice and no support.
|
From the pages of History
|
Maldive
Islands - in 1884
One
of the earliest travelogues on Maldives, this article was
written by C W Rosset and published in The Graphic in
1886. It is an account of Rosset's stay in the group of Maldive
Islands in 1884.
|
|
And more ...
|
Special
Sections
the-south-asian
data bank
Anniversary Issue
South
Asian Woman
|
