A DAUGHTER'S CRY

                      PHOTO COURTESY:WWW.GOOGE.COM

                      

                      A DAUGHTER’S CRY

In today’s civilized world, when the 21^st century is almost over, performing such an uncivilized act of killing your own girl child because of anti female bias is a heart-breaking act that is totally unacceptable. This damns our history and defaces our heritage. The very ingredient of female infanticide makes it such a big vice. If people can practice killing their own girl child, they are barbarians. This can vary from person to person, its highly individual. But no one is entitled to take anyone’s life, nobody’s God. This truancy is itself a doom’s day device.

                  The bias against females in India is related to the fact that Sons are called upon to provide the income and they are the ones who do most of the work in the fields. In this way sons are looked to as a type of insurance. With this perspective, it becomes clearer that the high value given to males decreases the value given to females. The problem is also intimately tied to the institution of dowry in which the family of a prospective bride must pay enormous sums of money to the family in which the woman will live after marriage.

                  Like the rural people even urban people even though, educated and fairly wealthy people too often nurse a desire for a male child, and although they may not kill their daughter after she is born, they do try and find out the sex of their child, and abort female foetuses. Although disclosing the gender of a foetus is illegal, there are numerous doctors that disclose the child's sex for an enhanced fee, and then offer to arrange for the abortion. Thus although there is a good law in place, its implementation is not as effective as it should be.

                  Men and women are equal and definitely equal in this era so there should not be any kinds of discrimination on the basis of sex. Media should play a big role in spreading awareness to the mass people on this issue. Strict laws should be put forward and violaters should be punished accordingly. The laws that punish people who commit infanticide, abandonment, and neglect of female children, and the laws and regulations on the protection of women and children should be strictly enforced. The government should try to get the literacy rate high which also plays an important role regarding this issue.

                 Also our so called Indian culture which we are proud about, there is a need to understand that there is something totally wrong with a culture that assumes the superiority of males and treat females as dump. One way you can help counter this mindset is by being proud of the women in your life, and by taking pride in yourself if you are a woman.

RESEARCH:

There also have been campaigns that have been held to promote awareness on female infanticide, the famous ones being

·        ‘Silent Demonstration in Gwalior’ http://mpchildinfo.blogspot.com/2010/03/silent-demonstration-in-gwalior.html ,

·        ‘Save The Girl’ https://sites.google.com/a/snehalaya.org/savethegirl/

·                                                                               Pronoy Roy Chowdhury,advocate High Court says “It is not stoppable, it is suppressive. We have to dodge it. Even public awareness and literacy cannot be of too much help now. How much can public awareness prevent it? We are an ocean of population, half of India doesn’t have the media outreach and half doesn’t care.  We need a serious wake up alarm to stop these things, we need a dangerous interjection.

Constitution is kind of a foundation stone where all the laws are framed and constitution does not give any room for such crimes. Because of illiteracy we don’t understand our constitution, because we don’t understand our constitution we don’t have faith in it and this is the reason why these heinous crimes are still being practised without any guilt.”

·                                                                              Marathi actor Varsha Usgaonkar, who is part of another initiative taken against female infanticide, said she is more than happy to lend her name to such noble cause. "The sex ratio in India is alarming, and the root cause obviously is female foeticide. Since entertainment is common to all people, we thought that using this mode to spread the message for the girl child would be ideal. It is very sad that even educated people show a high preference for a male child," she stressed.

PROCEDURE:

• ·        This idea has been brought to my mind by this advertisement when I was discussing many public service advertisements with my friend who works for Ogilvy & Mather as a copy writer.
• The advertisement was basically done by this organisation named Aadhar to promote awareness regarding female foeticide and it received a Gold at the Cannes Ad Festival 2008.

• Then i found out the everything about female infanticide in India from google, also found out about the advertisement and what it included, all from google.
•  Got the pictures from google.com and flickr.com regarding the entire topic.

• Then I found out if there had been other campaigns like this before to promote awareness about the issue and came to know that there had been many.
• ·                  Next was to gather some information about those campaigns so I found out the contacts of people who had been a part of few campaigns.
• ·                 Then I talked to Advocate, High Court, Pronoy Roy Chowdhury who has handled cases on female infanticide and shared his experience with us and Actress Varsha Usgaonkar to gather some information and what they have to say about the issue of female infanticide and where has it reached till now and if the campaigns have helped to curb the rate down.
• Then after gathering all the required information I came to a conclusion to be able to write a small feature about female infanticide in India.

SOURCE:

http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2008/how-to-carry-on-the-family-name/ http://adland.tv/ooh/aadhar-how-carry-family-name-print-india

http://www.google.co.in/#sclient=psy&hl=en&q=carrying+on+the+family+name&aq=1&aqi=g3g-o1&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&fp=711c8c4c4bc28dfe

This ad promoting awareness of female foeticide in India is downright disturbing. Using stark black-on-white newspaper print, the ad boasts "How to carry on the family name," and then describes, in excruciating and graphic detail, how to perform an abortion. In India, every year 1.1 million unborn baby girls die before they are born. The print ad was awarded gold at the Cannes Ad Festival 2008.

Read more: http://www.funonthenet.in/forums/index.php?PHPSESSID=df7832f3e86df11a6e829367b25c3c6a&topic=97603.msg1342899#quickreply#ixzz1CLonDTp6

CAMPAIGNS ON FEMALE INFANTICIDE:

https://sites.google.com/a/snehalaya.org/savethegirl/

http://mpchildinfo.blogspot.com/2010/03/silent-demonstration-in-gwalior.html

SHRESTHA DAS

ROLL NO 56

Love Astrology

Valentine’s Day may have disappeared leaving shades of red in the air. But are the hues going to colour your life? Behold, Ladies! The tarot cards have spoken. Let’s see if they if they are about to transform your love life into a magical journey.

 

Aries

King of Pentacles: The King is a wise man. He knows his woman. He loves his woman. However, the Aries woman must not expect something bizarre or outrageous from him. The King is a practical man. While, he will go out of the way to do something special, he’ll be rather stoic about it. The Aries woman will be treated royally. But it is for her to realise that his affection lies in his practicality. 

 

Taurus

The King of Cups: The King of Cups is a man of great strength and a man who is in touch with his emotions, all the same. When it comes to wooing his woman, he shall resort all sorts of creative techniques. He also has a way with words. Poems, songs, love notes. Expect surprises all the way. For the single Taurean woman, love might just be one stop away from where you are standing.

 

Gemini

The Knight of Pentacles: The King of Cups is a man of great strength and a man who is in touch with his emotions, all the same. When it comes to wooing his woman, he shall resort all sorts of creative techniques. He also has a way with words. Poems, songs, love notes. Expect surprises all the way. For the single Taurean woman, love might just be one stop away from where you are standing.

Cancer

Death: The Death card must not be taken literally. More often than not it signifies transformation rather than the end. Cancer women will watch their relationships transform into something more mature and practical. Issues that previously lead to friction shall resolve themselves. Out of the ashes a new relation shall be born. In certain cases, the end is near. But then again the end signifies a new beginning.

 

Leo

Page of Wands: The Page of Wands is a child at heart. Watch the little things he will do to amuse his woman and bring a naughty little grin on her face. The Leo woman, who is not the most serious of relationships, will see a gradual change. In the positive direction. Either way, the Leo woman and her lover will end up having one heck of a torrid affair. 

 

Virgo

Four of Wands: The Four of Wands bring along with themselves joyous tidings. For those who have been in a serious relationship for a while, you will find your relationship progress to the next level. Engagement or even marriage may be on the cards. In certain cases the four of wands bring material possessions with them. There is a good chance you will you will invest in something together. Love is the in the air. Good times shall follow.

Libra

The Sun: When the sun shines, the flowers bloom and love starts to grow. However, there is a practical connotation to this card. The lovers see each other in a better light and start the process of acceptance, flaws included. It renders the beginning of a mature relationship. One that has the potential to spread its wings and fly.

Sagittarius

Eight of Wands: The Eight of Wands indicate that a lot is coming your way. Prepare to be overwhelmed and emotionally stimulated. You will be showered with material possessions and bestowed with love. The Sagittarius woman will watch her relationship rapidly progress to the next level. Passionate lovers might see themselves through a torrid love affair.

 

Scorpio

Knight of Wands: The Knights of Wands is a daring man. One who will go to any extent to protect his woman. He is also spontaneous and rather fun-loving. While he may not be the master of well thought out plans, it is his randomness that will charm you. The card also indicates strength. The strength your relationship is likely to find and grow with. The Scorpion woman will watch her love grow deeper.

 

Capricorn

The Moon: The Moon brings with itself the promise of a charming relationship. One that will drive you insane with its intensity. The Capricorn woman will watch her lover utilise creativity to woo her. Wine, champagne, music, poetry, prose. She will be pleasantly surprised. If nothing else, the Moon promises to bring magic with itself.

Aquarius

Ten of Wands: The ten of wands brings along with itself a lot of baggage. Perhaps the Aquarian woman is unwilling to express herself or is unsatisfied with the state of the relationship. Parts of her are happy and parts of her are not. The latter are likely outweigh the former. Things will change slowly as she decides to unload the sticks. One by one.

 

Pisces

Six of Pentacles: The Six of Pentacles signify mutual benefit. The Piscean woman will watch her relationship grow as she indulges in the process of give and take. There is also a likelihood of a business transaction. Perhaps a partnership. No matter what turn the relationship is going to take, the Piscean woman will find herself in the right place at the right time.

-Karishma Rajani (42)

Happy Birthday Wikipedia!!

‘Imagine a world without…’ is a frequently use term. It was first used in connection with basic necessities like air and water. We then moved on to using it for inventions as and when they were invented; newspapers, radio, television, internet, etc.On the 10th anniversary of what may well be the most visited, trusted and relied upon online information database in the world, let us try to imagine a world without Wikipedia.

Visited more than e-Bay

This unique system has allowed millions of people to create an online encyclopedia went live on January 15th, 2001 with hardly any trumpet blast. No one knew whether people would contribute to such a venture, and if they did, whether the information they submitted would be trustworthy. Although it has suffered its share of inaccuracies and hoaxes, it remains among the Internet’s most visited sites, more visited than eBay.

http://searchengineland.com/wikipedia-enters-top-ten-most-visited-sites-10536

http://www.committedsardine.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=330

Information received with just “one click”

Old school thinkers may frown at the fact that fewer and fewer of the young generation are visiting libraries thanks to websites like Wikipedia, but the truth that cannot be avoided is that websites like these are here to stay. In an age where even our coffee is supposed to be ‘instant’, any tool that cuts down the time taken for information gathering is a welcome one. This site has gathered interest over the years, attracting more and more contributors.

http://www.soyouwanna.com/soyouwanna-learn-use-wikipedia-1638-full.html

Non-profit organization

Wikipedia, run by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation of San Francisco, has developed into the closest obsession to a worldwide mass of all human knowledge (other than, perhaps, the somewhat less efficiently structured Internet itself).

http://www.businessinsider.com/jimmy-wales-wikipedia-non-profit-2010-5 http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202801727

Jimmy Wales:Founder of Wikipedia
Courtesy:http://static.ibnlive.com

Software Engg:Manoj Mane
Courtesy: www.facebook.com

What do Wiki-user’s have to say?

“Wikipedia complies almost everything and what really interest’s me is the fact that, it can influence the globe to seek any form of document or information, “said Manoj Mane, software engineer with Zoom Entertainment Network at Mumbai,who further added, “The site has now become very reflexive thing that sits on the shelves”.

College-goer:Aruna Hariharan
Courtesy:www.facebook.com

Aruna Hariharan, a mass media student considers Wikipedia
to be a boon to students, “Internet in general is a reliable source for information. In addition, it’s much easier to punch a subject into a search engine and use the answer that comes up, than to actually look for a reliable resource and read through it to find the information you need”.

                                http://static.ibnlive.com/pix/sitepix/01_2011/wikipedia_130111.jpg

If you are a member and decide you don't like the way something is explained you can change it to fit your view. Akshay.Kasurde, a professor from the S.I.E.S College, Mumbai also feels, “The site generally contains accurate information. If you disagree with an entry you can dispute it which shows up on the concerned page.” Kasurde’s view is shared by many across the globe, who regard Wikipedia as not only a source of information but as an online discussion forum of sorts, where information is challenged and proven on a daily basis.

Many stories to tell:Gautam Mengle
Courtesy:www.facebook.com

Gautam S Mengle, a crime reporter with an English daily, adds, “I mostly have Wikipedia running in a separate page while I am working. At a time when deadlines close in by the second and bosses are screaming for either stories or blood, it is helpful to be able to cross check doubtful information by running a quick search.”

Need to improve the quality of articles              

Even though Wikipedia covers a huge swath of information, an endeavor to improve the quality of articles is also under way, including a partnership with 16 universities to have professors assign students to write about unrestricted policies.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/126659/wikipedia_to_strive_for_higher_quality_content.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_development

Future Plans

Wikipedia is also trying to get professionals to contribute better articles and images for the site.Wikipedia is also trying to get professionals to contribute better articles and images for the site. Co-founder Jimmy Wales and Executive Director Sue Gardener had a conference meeting with journalists last month wherein they stated their future endeavors of expanding the content of topics and bringing in diverse voices on the site. They also confirmed upcoming prospects of reaching out to the women genre, the elderly, connoisseur of arts and humanities along with the less-represented geographic areas such as South America.

http://www.techspot.com/news/41994-happy-birthday-wikipedia-turns-10-today.html http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Web-Services-Web-20-and-SOA/Wikipedia-Turns-10-Looks-Forward-to-Next-Decade-673740/

With the amount of difference it has made to a lot of us over the last ten years, one feels that the time has come for Wikipedia to join the list of necessities one cannot imagine the world without. 

http://www.vitaminwatercanada.ca/blog/2011/01/happy-birthday-to-wikipedia.html

Here's wishing Wikipedia...........Happy Birthday!!!

Hope it has many more successful and glorious years to come.

Facebook: The story of 500 million friends

The Social Network combines dark humour with a story of greed betrayal obsession and sex. It has been written by Aaron Sorkin (writer of a few good men) and directed by David Fincher (director of Fight Club). It tells the tale of Mark Zuckerberg’s rise to becoming the world’s youngest billionaire and the founding years of the social networking site Facebook. A truly Shakespearean story the movie has been nominated for 8 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. The music score for the movie was done by Trent Reznor and Aticuss Ross.

The Plot

The movie is an adaptation of the book written by Ben Mezrich “ The Accidental Billionaires”. The film jumps between Zuckerberg’s years in Harvard and the two lawsuits he faced post founding of Facebook. The first lawsuit was at the hands of his onetime best friend  Eduardo Saverin who sues him after outside investors—principally venture capitalists and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and Napster co-founder Sean Parker—took control of the start-up's finances and capital needs and backed Zuckerberg as its CEO, Saverin's role diminished and his influence evaporated. Saverin sued Zuckerberg and Facebook in April 2005, after Zuckerberg dropped Saverin's percentage ownership share of Facebook from 34% to less than 1.0%.

The second at the hands of the Winklevoss twins and Divya Narendra who filed a lawsuit against Facebook alleging that creator Mark Zuckerberg had broken an oral contract with them. The suit alleged that Zuckerberg had copied their idea and illegally used source code intended for the website HarvardConnection (later re-named ConnectU) he was hired to create.

Mark Zuckerberg

Zuckerberg was born in New York to Karen, a psychiatrist, and Edward, a dentist. He began using computers and writing software as a child. By the time he began classes at Harvard, he had already achieved a reputation as a programming prodigy. Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard dormitory room on February 4, 2004 with his college roommates and fellow computer science students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes.

Facebook is a social network service and website launched in February 2004 As of January 2011, Facebook has more than 600 million active users. 

Awards

The film won the award for Best Motion Picture – Drama at the 68th Golden Globe Awards on January 16, 2011. The film also won the awards for Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Original Score, making it the film with the most wins of the night. It has won 49 other awards and been nominated for 55 awards.

Aditya Nair

Roll No: 35

Happy Birthday Wikipedia!!! 

       ‘Imagine a world without…’ is a frequently used term. It was first used in connection with basic necessities like air and water. We then moved on to using it for inventions as and when they were invented; newspapers, radio, television, internet, etc.
        On the 10^th anniversary of what may well be the most visited, trusted and relied upon online information database in the world, let us try to imagine a world without Wikipedia.

Visited more than e-Bay
      This unique system has allowed millions of people to create an online encyclopedia that went live on January 15th, 2001 with little fanfare. No one knew whether people would contribute to such a project, and if they did, whether the information they submitted would be reliable. Fast forward to today, and that ‘upstart’ Web site is an important source of information for millions of topics. Although it has suffered its share of inaccuracies and hoaxes, it remains among the Internet’s most visited sites, more visited than eBay.

http://searchengineland.com/wikipedia-enters-top-ten-most-visited-sites-10536 http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2007/04/wiki-traffic-what-gets-visited-on.html

Information received with just “one click”

       Old school thinkers may frown at the fact that fewer and fewer of the young generation are visiting libraries thanks to websites like Wikipedia, but the truth that cannot be avoided is that websites like these are here to stay. In an age where even our coffee is supposed to be ‘instant’, any tool that cuts down the time taken for information gathering is a welcome one.

http://www.soyouwanna.com/soyouwanna-learn-use-wikipedia-1638-full.html

Non-profit organization
       The site is run by a non-profit Wikimedia Foundation of San Francisco, it has now slowly developed itself into a universal mass of human knowledge compared to Internet itself which is less efficiently organized.

 http://www.businessinsider.com/jimmy-wales-wikipedia-non-profit-2010-5 http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202801727

                                                                   Jimmy Wales : Founder of Wikipedia                                                                                                                                                                

                                                                     Courtesy:http://static.ibnlive.com

Software Engg: Manoj Mane 
Courtesy: www. Facebook.com

     “Wikipedia complies almost everything and what really interest’s me is the fact that, it can influence the globe to seek any form of document or information, “said Manoj Mane, software engineer with Zoom Entertainment Network at Mumbai,who further added, “The site has now become very reflexive thing that sits on the shelves”.
       This site has gathered interest over the years, attracting more and more contributors. Today, it has more than 3 million articles in the English version alone. In total, the site accounts for 1.74 billion words in 9.25 million articles in approximately 250 languages.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2011/01/14/technology-wikipedia-anniversary.html

College-goer:Aruna 
Courtesy:www.facebook.com

      Aruna Hariharan considers Wikipedia to be a boon to students, “Internet in general is a reliable source for information. Also, it’s much easier to punch a subject into a search engine and use the answer that comes up, than to actually look for a reliable   resource and read through it to find the information you need”.

                        http://static.ibnlive.com/pix/sitepix/01_2011/wikipedia_130111.jpg

            If you are a member and decide you don't like the way something is explained you can change it to fit your view. Akshay.Kasurde, a professor from the S.I.E.S College, Mumbai also feels, “The site generally contains accurate information. If you disagree with an entry you can dispute it which shows up on the concerned page.” Kasurde’s view is shared by many across the globe, who regard Wikipedia as not only a source of information but as an online discussion forum of sorts, where information is challenged and proven on a daily basis.

Many stories to tell:Gautam
Courtesy:www. Facebook.com

      Gautam S Mengle, a crime reporter with an English daily, adds, “I mostly have Wikipedia running in a separate page while I am working. At a time when deadlines close in by the second and bosses are screaming for either stories or blood, it is helpful to be able to cross check doubtful information by running a quick search.”

 Need to improve the quality of articles              Even though Wikipedia covers a huge swath of information, an endeavor to improve the quality of articles is also under way, including a partnership with 16 universities to have professors assign students to write about unrestricted policies.

Future Plans

Wikipedia is also trying to get professionals to contribute better articles and images for the site.Wikipedia is also trying to get professionals to contribute better articles and images for the site. Co-founder Jimmy Wales and Executive Director Sue Gardener had a conference meeting with journalists last month wherein they stated their future endeavors of expanding the content of topics and bringing in diverse voices on the site. They also confirmed upcoming prospects of reaching out to the women genre, the elderly, connoisseur of arts and humanities along with the less-represented geographic areas such as South America.                                                     http://www.techspot.com/news/41994-happy-birthday-wikipedia-turns-10-today.html http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Web-Services-Web-20-and-SOA/Wikipedia-Turns-10-Looks-Forward-to-Next-Decade-673740/

With the amount of difference it has made to a lot of us over the last ten years, one feels that the time has come for Wikipedia to join the list of necessities one cannot imagine the world without. 

http://www.vitaminwatercanada.ca/blog/2011/01/happy-birthday-to-wikipedia.html

Here's wishing Wikipedia...........Happy Birthday!!!

Hope it has  many more successful and glorious years to come.

Queer Azaadi March 2011!

 January 29^th, Bombay saw the third annual Queer Azaadi March (QAM) in history, an event which has only gotten bigger and better over the last three years. It was a perfect union of political activism and social mingling.

Pride Week:
The march was preceded by a whole week of festivities and this week (January 23^rd-29^th) was rightly declared as the Pride Week through the city of Mumbai. The events included queer themed music concerts, open mic nights, paint your own T-shirt for the march workshops, panel discussions, book readings, folk dance & graffiti wall, documentary and film screenings, play nights, fund-raisers and several parties. This allowed people to be a part of QAM through the week even if they couldn’t make it to the final march.

A Walk For Azaadi:

The march commenced from Gowalia Tank at 04:00 PM and thousands of people marched in vigour up to Chowpatty beach. Filmstar and Gay Rights activist Celina Jaitley was present to flag off the march and also in order to show her immense support and interest in the cause.

The march showed the coming together of members of the LGBT community and supporters of Gay Rights, thus representing the harmonious union of all colours in the rainbow flag. This beautiful display of unity in diversity was endearing to watch. Another thing to be noted was the creative outburst that was seen in the banners, posters, painted t-shirts that people carried in order to make a statement. The attire of a lot of people was incredibly unique and it would be correct to say that these were definitely some of the most fashionably dressed people of the city (see pictures below).

The most striking part about this year’s Queer Azaadi March was that only a handful of people wore masks. This is a sign of great things to come and only good ones for the queer folk and libertarians of the country.

History:

Gay pride marches have been an annual affair in the city since 2005. But it began to be called the Queer Azaadi March only from 2008. This year, the parade attracted record participation. One of the groups that stationed volunteers at the gate of Gowalia Tank Maidan, the starting point of the march, counted over 3,000 participants, the biggest number so far.

The QAM After Party:

The Queer Azaadi March was followed by even more celebration owing to the success of the week’s events and another reason to celebrate was the massive show that the Queer Azaadi March saw this year. It can safely be said that it was the biggest turn out yet and organisers are positive that the supporters and activists would only grow in number every year. “I have not seen these many out and proud women before!” exclaimed Shivani Rao  (26,  copywriter) who has been to all the Queer Azaadi Marches in Mumbai.

Cafe Ideal and Liquid Lounge near Chowpatty played hosts to the parties that lasted till the wee hours of the morning.

Photography by Karishma Rajani
Other Links:
Photography from Queer Azaadi March 2011
Video from Queer Azaadi March 2011

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Esha Rihal, 59, TY Journalism