Source: Agence France-Presse NEW DELHI, INDIA, MAY 5, 2001: With the population count showing a dramatic drop in the male-female ratio among children in many parts of the country, India’s Supreme Court has directed the government to enforce the ban on procedures to determine the sex of unborn children. Such procedures have led to abortions of female fetuses and an…
GO TO SOURCE AGARTALA, INDIA, April 10, 2001: A Buddhist temple and several huts of the Chakma community were ransacked and torched by All Tripura Tiger Force insurgents in Dhalai district of Tripura, police said on April 10. A group of ATTF insurgents raided Taichakma village on Sunday night and ransacked and set ablaze a thatched Buddhist temple, police said…
Source: The Guardian NEW DELHI, INDIA, May 9, 2001: This heart-wrenching article exposing the injustices against Dalit (“untouchable”) women in the feudal states of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, is based on a study done by Amnesty International. Reportedly women from the untouchable class are routinely raped and harassed by upper caste villagers and landlords. To make matters worse, if rape…
GO TO SOURCE COLOMBO, SRI LANKA, May 10, 2001: A senior US official has criticized Sri Lanka’s sweeping ban on genetically modified (GM) food imports, according to this report in India Abroad, describing it as “totally unwarranted” and without any “credible scientific evidence” to support it. Weyland Beeghly, the agricultural counselor at the US mission in New Delhi, said Thursday…
GO TO SOURCE MUMBAI, INDIA, May 7, 2001: Hiro Shroff’s project, “Sindhi Jottings,” covers the worldwide migration of Sindhis from Pakistan following the partition of India in 1947. He would appreciate input from HPI readers for his project. Contact him at “source” above.
GO TO SOURCE PENANG, MALAYSIA, May 7, 2001: The Malaysia Hindu Sangam has demanded an apology of Idris Omar, a member of PAS, the Pan-Malaysia Islamic political party. This report in The Star newspaper states, “The Malaysia Hindu Sangam demanded a public apology from Idris for his statement that PAS would destroy all statues in non-Muslim places of worship if…
GO TO SOURCE CHINA, May 6, 2001: China has announced plans to build the world’s largest statue, a 509-ft Buddha. The statue of Bodhisattva is to be built at Jiuhua Mountain, one of the four major Buddhist shrines in China. It is will be the largest statue of Bodhisattva, the Buddha of Compassion, in the world. When completed, the statue…
GO TO SOURCE PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA, May 9, 2001: Phnom Penh’s National Museum of Art, forgotten for many years, is once again showing the world its true colors. The extraordinary collection of bronze and stone statues on display here is unmatched elsewhere in the world. Tragically, looting and war have removed most of the decorative statues and reliefs from Angkor’s…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, April 27, 2001: Many American schoolchildren now have the right to dissect a virtual frog or a plastic model rather than the real thing. Now American Medical schools are catching up and recommending others do the same. Dr Jerry Vlasak, a trauma surgeon, is in India to introduce methods that replace animals. Computer simulators…
GO TO SOURCE May 9, 2001: The first three chapters of the Ganesha Purana in English translation are now available at “source.”