Arranged Marriage Is Still In Thing

, It is official now. Almost half of the marriagable women prefer arranged marriage to the modern ways. The fact has been bought to fore by the one of the prominent matrimony portals of India BharatMatrimony.com.the portal conducted an interesting survey on ‘Woman & Marriage’ in Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Bangalore and in tier II cities which include Madurai, Mysore, Pune, Trichy, Coimbatore & Jaipur.

According to a press release by the company, the company will conduct more surveys in understanding the trend among the most relevant audience. The survey was conducted among 1058 women in the age group of 20 to 30 yrs.

Some of the results of the survey are:
49% prefer arranged marriage
59% consider parents decision the most important in a marriage
27% prefer to sacrifice their career for marriage
71% opt 21-24 as the ideal age for marriage
75% of the women say that they will refer online matrimony to others
46% consider this an ideal platform that helps one access profiles at their own time of convenience

"Women are scaling great heights in every field. However, one thing, which remains unchanged, is their belief in the institution of marriage. This is evident from our survey to gauge the attitudes and sentiments of Indian women towards marriage," Uma Thenappan, Head Marketing of BharatMatrimony was quoted as saying in the release.
Press release distribution via India PRwire

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The Mangalore Pub attack has now taken a different turn. National Comminssion for Women (NCW) which was at the forefront condemning the incident has developed difference of opinion.

 

The Commission has rejected a report by one its members who had said that the pub owner had not provided enough security. This has angered the Union Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury. She had had dispatched another enquiry team while the Ministry issued a show-cause notice to the NCW member on Thursday evening for not submitting her report on time. The ministry asked also Venkatesh to explain why she had gone public with her opinion on the matter. 

However, the member, Nirmala Venkatesh, retaliated by saying that she stood by her observations and would not step down. She was quoted by PTI as saying, "Who is she (Renuka) to be satisfied (with our report) or not. Let her do her work.Why the resignation, for what? I will be abiding with any my recommendations and observations."

 

NCW on the other hand has rejected the report filed by Venkatesh. "The Commission took stock of the entire report filed by Nirmala Venkatesh and decided not to accept it," NCW Chairperson Girija Vyas said after an early morning meeting on Friday.

Vyas said that the NCW will not send a fresh team to Mangalore on a fact-finding mission as the independent commission from the Women and Child Development Ministry has already visited Mangalore for an on-the-spot assessment of the incident. (The Full Story)

 

In Pune also, there have been attempts to barge pubs by various organisations. But they have been largely unsuccessful perhaps because the pub culture is not active in Pune. The pubs vie for more activity. That is why there has been no sensational incident attached with them.

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The LinuxChix : Spread the word

They are young, they are learning the tricks of the trade but they certainly have a mission. Charmed by the security and easiness, the girls have joined the open source movement. Pune has just woken up to the feminine branch of the Linux Users Group and as there counterparts all over the world, the girl volunteers here also have come together under the banner of LinuxChix.

Linux enthusiastic all over the world carry out their activities under the banner of Linux Users Group. Here in Pune, the group is called Pune Linux Users Group (PLUG). However to spread the message of Linux movement among women and girl students, the LinuxChix was born. Though it is about two decades old in the rest of the world, the Pune Chapter of the organization came into reality just last December. Since then, the group has conducted some four meetings and has managed to attract at least 30 members.

Still in its infancy, the group has most of the members from Symbiosis Institute of Computer Sciences and Research. Smriti Garg, Rashmi Lakhotia, Shweta Rani and Janki Purohit, four students from second year M. Sc. (CA) are the volunteers for the LinuxChix Pune Chapter. Currently they are working on the Fedora project. Besides having regular meets, of which the next is scheduled on next Sunday, they have also given lectures in other colleges.

Smriti said, “The Linux offers a more secure platform because it is very hard to penetrate. Also, there far too less viruses in the system. Therefore it has became a preferred operating system for the students as well as professionals alike. In fact, many large organizations are going for the Linux. So we also wanted to be a part of the movement.”

Curriculum Vitae

When asked why these girls were attracted to LinuxChix, Rashmi said, “Our institute, SICSR itself encourages the open source movement. We are taught about the subject in line with our regular studies. In fact, it has become a kind of a part of our curriculum.”

According to these volunteers, not many people are aware as how Linux offers more facilities and that it is secure. With most of the users still attracted to an established brand, it is their duty to teach others about the system and their movement. Helping them in their goal is PLUG which also offers technical advice as well as act as a support group.

The volunteers have taken the movement seriously and are working on the Fedora project along with Runa Bhattacharjee, who also volunteers for Fedora-India, KDE-India, Gnome-India, ilug-cal and Ankur Bangla. Fedora is a ?Linux-based operating system that provides users with access to the latest Free and Open Source Softwares (FOSS.)

Reaching to Others

As to the need of forming a separate group of the women, the girls said that it is mainly because Linux has not reached to the majority of girls and women. Citing one of their demonstration experience, they said, “We had a session in Abeda Inamdar College where almost all of the attendees were girls. They will rarely go to any male dominated place for learning about Linux. But when we conducted the session, we got a tremendous response.”

These volunteers are also quick to refuse that they cater only to female audience. “When we conduct meetings or lectures, a part of the audience is men also. In fact, we are witness to some sessions where the male attendees have outnumbered the female audience. Our sessions are open to all and to limit them will defeat our main purpose,” said the volunteers.

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The Chick Organisation

LinuxChix is a community for women who like Linux and for anyone who wants to support women in computing. This is an international group of Free Software users and developers, founded in 1999 by Deb Richardson with the aim of "supporting women in Linux." Richardson described it as an alternative to the "locker room atmosphere" found in some online technical forums and gave LinuxChix two core rules: "be polite" and "be helpful". LinuxChix is now primarily a group for supporting women in computing, specifically in Open Source/Free Software/Software Libre computing.

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Addicted to Orkut? or MySpace instead? There is danger ahead. As the Pune is poised to become a Cyber City, it is also home to most crimes targeted against women in the cyber world. The commonest of all the abuses are posting duplicate or bogus profiles on the social networking sites causing harassment to women.

The fact has been revealed by experts in the field and also police records. According to Vishal Kumar, legal consultant with city based Asian School of Cyber Laws, "This is the most common of cyber crimes found in Pune. Unfortunately not much cases are reported with police and thus escape the public eye. But as a consultant firm and private investigator, we can surely say that this is the biggest problem in the city.

The record available with police says it clearly. Out of the 50-odd crime registered in the city since IT Act came into existence, some 13 offences pertain to harassment of girls and women. In the last six years, one fourth of the registered cyber crimes fall under this category. Remaining two thirds of the crime include all types of offence ranging from credit card theft and misuse to data and source code theft.

These include creating false profiles on orkut, sending obscene mails, text messages and pictures. "Registered crimes are just tip of the iceberg. We sometimes get complaints or just applications to block a particular site. In most of the cases, girls do not come forward for various reasons. They fear their image being maligned," said Chandrakant Thakur, assistant police inspector in the cyber crime branch."

One worrying aspect in cyber crimes pertaining to creating obscene profiles is large number of ‘unidentified’ culprits. Cyber sleuths say they can trace an offending PC’s Internet Protocol number. But if it happens to be from an internet cafe, which usually do not keep detailed records of users, the culprit can not be traced. It lefts victims with the only option of removing the offending site form the cyber world.

Vishal Kumar says since student community is high in the Pune, it is obvious that such types of crimes do happen. But he has a word of solace to the citizens also. "Cyber crimes do happen everywhere, but in Pune the awareness for the same is very high. This is a good factor in all this story."

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Major Cases In Pune

7/10/03
Accused sent many obscene emails to the victim and threatened to send it to police, so that the matter is reported in the press girl’s image gets maligned. The accused also asked Rs. 15,000 to settle the matter.

10/10/03
One identified man posted a bogus profile of one girl on internet with obscene photos and content.

27/03/07
Accused used to call the victim on phone in filthy language. He thereafter posted an obscene profile showing the girl as call girl.

28/06/07
A girl student posted an obscene profile of her friend as a call girl. The profile contained all the details of the friend. The victim who was from a business family in Kothrud, filed a complaint with police. Investigations revealed that the incidence occurred out of love triangle.

6/09/07
One unidentified person sent nude and obscene photos of a woman to her colleagues and relatives so as to malign her.

4/01/2008
A woman’s cell no. was posted in the RediffBol chat tool in the Pune group. The woman was mentioned as a call girl and another no. was given as her pimp who was actually her father-in-law. The culprit remains unidentified.

1/02/2008
One unidentified person sent obscene and threatening mails to a student of MIT college. When the girl blocked his mails, the person posted some derogatory scraps on two of her friend’s Orkut account. The person also threatened to beat the two guys also.

March 2008
A girl was sent obscene emails and her duplicate profile was created on Orkut. Even numbers from the family members of the girl were given on the profile who in turn began received obscene calls.

(Published in Pune Mirror on 30 April)

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A Drive to the Discipline

"The employees of the call centres indulge in sexual acts in their premise and we have no objection to it. But they should behave properly in our cabs. That is why we have made this code of conduct to be followed in all BPO employees," says Nana Kshirsagar, heading Maharashtra Call Centre Chalak Malak Sanghtana (association of owners and drivers of call centres.) The organisation, which was formed some two months ago, has called for a strike on 19 May which means on Monday most of the call centre vehicles will remain off the road.

While Kshirsagar has attributed various reasons for the strike, including getting raw treatment in terms of payment and facilities, his organisation has finalised a code of conduct for the call centre employees who travel by the cabs. The code is meant to bring ‘discipline’ in the employees of the BPOs and according to Kshirasagar, "to avoid untoward incidences which have taken place in the past."

"The conduct of these employees should be scrutinized on the lines of Rajneesh followers. Our drivers suffer most because of their behaviour. We have been witness to hugging, kissing and all sorts of acts. That’s why we are demanding this code," said Kshirsagar.

Some drivers attested Kshirsagar’s claims. Namdeo Ghorpade, whose cab is running for IBM domestic BPO on Fursungi road said that drivers get raw deal in BPOs. While maltreatment at the hands of company and employees is rampant, it is the behaviour in the cab itself that is a cause of concern. "We do not get enough sleep. Still employees insist on going. They do act in such a manner that we get distracted. We are witness to such acts."

Salim Khan, who plies cab in Vishrantwadi area has another story. He said, "Companies does not provide us a lateral list of pick up and drops. Areas in different directions are given to us. When two or thre men-women employees are in vehicle, they talk obscenity with intention. But we are not supposed to see their acts or hear their conversations. Glasses of Tavera cabs are being covered with cloth, that is a regular practise."

Still, some like Santosh Jain, who plies cab in Hinjwadi area seem not encountered this behaviour. He said, "I am in this strike for payment rise. I have no problem with behaviours of BPO employees."
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Code of Conduct for employees

n Employees should not idulge in obscene behaviour in cabs.

n Ganja, hard drink, beer, cigarete, Hukka should not be consumed in the cabs.
n Women employees sitting in the cabs should wear clothes according to Indian culture.
n They should not use mobiles in running vehicles.
n Co-passengers and friends should not be taken in in vehicles.
n The vehicle should be used only for plying between home and office.
n Driver should not be pursued to drive to other locations.
n Insistence on playing music in the vehicle should be allowed.
n Conversation with drivers should be done only in Marathi and Hindi.

n Personal task should not be given to drivers.
n Driver should not be made to wait anywhere without reason.
n Friendship with drivers should be avoided and conversation with him should be minimum.
n Employees should not sleep in cabs.
n Vehicle should be cleaned by employees in case of vomitting, urinating and spitting.
n Employees should carry an identy card with him.

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A walk in distaste

Yesterday evening. As I finished my daily work in the newspaper office, we readied ourselves for the things to come. It was me and my friend, Ashish, who were set for the tiny adventure that was to be unfolded. As decided before, our crime reporter Mangesh has arranged the tour with the help of a policeman. We were to take stock of the situation existing in the historical and inarguably the most infamous part of the Pune city, Budhwar Peth.
We did not reach to the galli, as it is called locally, and decided to have the dinner first. It was a wise decision as the view unfolded within half an hour was nothing less than unsavory. Once done in hotel, we were out on the street that lead us to the main place where various hues of flesh trade take place day in and night out. The policeman aided us and quelled each and every querry posed by us, and they were plentiful. There was no shade of emotion on his face and he betrayed no awkwardness of the situation as we made our way through the constant in and out rush of the people condemned to quench their lust here. The curiosity was not limited to us either.
‘‘Kuch nahin, hamare dost aaye hai,’’ the policeman would tell everyone in the brothel as they scanned our faces. Is it a raid? Round? The girls and women in the dark and tiny rooms looked at us questioningly. There was not a word from their mouth but the air spoke more loudly than one could hear.
‘‘Namaskaar, Namaste," the hapless females greeted us each time we entered a room. We were so not a position to answer that gesture in the manner that we would normally.
"These women demand at least Rs. 100 for once," informed our police guide. On one of question, he showed us even those women who settle for twenty or thirty Rs. Those women were past their prime. With number of men ready to sleep with them fastly depleted, they are sometimes even can’t have their meal or breakfast. This being so, they sell themselves for any meagre amount they can get. "Anyone sleeping with these women and here in these rooms, will that person have any wish to have sex later in his life?" quiped Ashish. Yes, it is an open question. But the fact remains that women with some flesh on their bodies do thrive here and men who go for them has remained, if not increased, intact for at least two centuries.
We were there for some one and two hours only. But that little amount of time itself opened our eyes to many facets of this world which hitherto woukd have never come to us in our mediocre life. Many myths were broken and many new thing known. Take for examle, the underaged girls relived from the brothels.
Our policeman told us this way, "Some girls take money from the middlemen. Then they come here and are enaged in prostitution. When all their money is spent, they convey their whereabouts to police or other institutions or better still some NGO. If they are thus freed from the prostitution home, they go to their native village and stay there for some time. After that, they again contact some middleman and come here through them."

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Nancy Pelosi: Sky is the limit

That the American polity in general and American politics in particular is more mature than many other parts of the world is a fact few can deny. This maturity manifests itself time and again. The occasion of Nancy Pelosi taking the speakership of the U.S. House of Representatives was such an occasion.

Nancy Pelosi became the first female speaker of the House who grabbed the gavel yesterday. She opened the 110th Congress with a beaming smile and a crowd of grandkids at her feet. I was more amazed at the way she spoke at the occasion and the outgoing leader of the house congratulating her and promising her the full cooperation. As the one who is accustomed to see bickering and heartburn each time there is a change in guard in the government or some unexpected results in elections, this smooth flow of political common sense left me amazed to say the least.

Everyone knew how Republicans tested defeat in the recent Congressional elections and forced President George W. Bush and his ilk to rethink their aggressive endeavors towards Irak. So it was widely expected that this tussle would reflect in the proceedings of the house. Though it is too early to guess whether that anticipation will come true or not, the start of the proceedings did not betray any inclination of that sort of the thing. The message Pelosi gave to her countrymen was more worthwhile enough.

"For these children, our children, and for all of America's children, the House will come to order," she said, "For our daughters and our granddaughters, today we have broken the marble ceiling," said Pelosi (D-California.) "For our daughters and our granddaughters now, the sky is the limit," was her statement.

The promised era of bipartisanship began warmly, with former Majority Leader John Boehner calling the moment "historic" as he gave Pelosi the gavel and a hug. "My fellow Americans, whether you're a Republican, a Democrat or an independent, today is a cause for celebration," said Boehner (R-Ohio).

The new session also marked the first day back for Sen. Hillary Clinton, who is set to to push the limit Pelosi mentioned all the way to the White House. Glowing at the Democrats' takeover, the New York senator said her priority was making sure they do a good job. Mrs. Clinton also said it's up to the new Congress to show America it can work together. "We'll see now whether we can do it," she said.
Pelosi, even as she committed again to the most-open Congress in history, emphasized she'll move ahead swiftly on the Democrats' agenda - in the first 100 hours. That means there would be little time to involve Republicans. "Congress doesn't have two years or 200 days," Pelosi said.

I was more perplexed with the words while she issued a guised warning to President Bush on Iraq. Though in a low note voice that message was clear for Mr. Bush: Stay away from Iraq.
"It is the responsibility of the President to articulate a new plan for Iraq that makes it clear to the Iraqis that they must defend their own streets," were her exact words.
Ms Pelosi is one of 86 women set to serve in this Congress - the highest number in US history - although the institution remains overwhelmingly male. This is what BBC has to say in her profile : Mrs Pelosi succeeded Richard Gephardt, who stepped down after 13 years as House leader following his party's setbacks in the mid-term elections. A congresswoman from San Francisco, Mrs Pelosi had public commitments of support from more than half the House Democrats to beat off the challenges from Harold Ford and Marcy Kaptur. Her election brings a leading liberal voice to the leadership of the Democrats in the House.
She has pledged to take a more aggressive line in stressing her party's differences with the Republicans. During the mid-term elections and the congressional vote on the Iraqi war powers resolution, she opposed President Bush's policy, unlike many of her Democratic colleagues.
She fought the battle to become House leader from the strong position of Democratic whip in the House of Representatives, and enjoyed strong support from women members, liberals and the large number of representatives from her home state of California.

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Figuring out the beauty ...

It was in the month of September that the issue of skinny models first cropped up. As an Indian, who is brought on the ‘Aestheticism’ of Kamasutra, I always abhored these models. I always liked the models who have on their body right curves at the right place. That’s why when a buxom actress like Kate Winslet speaks against such models, it must assume some significance.
Oscar-nominated Kate Winslet has said that she refused to have magazines in her house because she was worried about her six-year-old daughter Mia reading them.‘’It’s only a matter of time before she becomes aware of it and it frightens the life out of me,’’ she told the BBC at the weekend.Winslet is not the only one to worry about the dietary craziness of teen girls who want to make it big in modelling.
Sometime ago, the mother of a Brazilian fashion model who died from complications of anorexia made an emotional appeal for parents to take better care of aspiring young models. The death of Ana Carolina Reston (21) followed the death in August of Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos of heart failure during a fashion show in Montevideo. Reston died in November from a generalised infection caused by anorexia, an eating disorder in which sufferers obsessively deprive themselves of food in pursuit of an ultra-slim look. Reston weighed only 40 kg and was about 5 feet 8 inches tall.
"Take care of your children ... no money is worth the life of your child, not even the most famous (fashion) brand is worth this," Miriam, mother of Ana Carolina Reston told to a Brazillian newspaper. She said her daughter had been trying to help her family with the money she made as a model. Miriam spoke on national television and to local media to highlight the tragedy. She said she had pleaded with her daughter to eat more and to see a doctor.
Spain barred models below a certain weight from a September fashion show in Madrid. Italian government and its fashion chiefs are working on a manifesto to crack down on the use of ultra-thin teenagers on the catwalk.Britain’s culture minister called for ‘’stick-thin’’ models to be banned from the catwalk during London Fashion Week and the Indian health minister has warned that the number of young girls ‘starving’ themselves to be thin is ‘rocketing’. But these attempte bore no apparent fruits . The issye remains hanged even today even so it was two months ago.This debate is going for a long time and the fashion world is divided over the issue, with many designers and models shrugging off concerns that ultra-thin models may encourage eating disorders in girls and young women.
Joining Winslet in this issue is Billie Piper, who starred in the hit British television series Doctor Who. ‘’What I resent is that there is an image of perfection that is getting thinner and thinner.’’ Piper has said. She also said that her 13-year-old sister was already worried about her figure.‘’I think the whole size zero debate is disgusting,’’ she said in the upcoming edition of Glamour magazine, referring to the clothes size for the very thin.
Why aspiring models take to starving themselves is an open question. It is true that a large chunk of the media, especially ad-world gives preference to ultra-thin models, but anyone with a sense would wouch that nothing proves a treat to the eye than a well bestowed human figure. A well sized woman’s body tops the list of the beatiful sights. If commercialization snatches, or tries to santch away this age old treat of the mankind, it is bound to fail. But the success hungry models fall prey to false notions and instead of a bountiful figure, ‘Round Figure’ assumes more importance for them.
This brings to anvil a major question : Do we succumb to the lure and hype created by commercial mediamen, who have access to the instruments that create an unnecessary hype around the people who deserve least. Do we need someone to tell us who or what looks beautiful? These skinny models apart, even 36-24-36 type standardizaiton of the beautiful women that has been kinda accepted by all and sundry all over the world appears to be one more way of the American way of categorization.
It is heartning to see that eminent women of all types are coming forward to protest against this categorization. Beauty, as we see it, must come out of the figures.

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