review of the film The Other Bank by george ovashvili.

George Ovashvili’s The Other Bank follows the journey of a 12-year-old Georgian refugee named Tedo from Navtlugi, a haunting slum on the east side of Tbilisi known to the locals as “Africa,” to Tvarcheli, the village in Abkhazia, where he was born before the war. Tedo and his mother are “Georgian refugees in Georgia,” who fled without Tedo’s father, sick and unable to travel, during the Abkhaz war. Eight years later, they live and “work” on the edge of the Georgian capital, in the old industrial region known for its “secret” production of Soviet MIGs, among petty thieves, criminals, and local cops, who live like parasites off the refugees. Tedo has one severely crossed eye. He doesn’t go to school. He works at a tire repair shop, but becomes increasingly involved in juvenile street crime in an effort to keep his mother off the street. In a society that has always operated on a close “mama-shvili (father-son) relationship, Tedo seems particularly alone. Unable to take care of his mother and increasingly in danger from the local police, he sets off for Tvarcheli in search of his father. His journey, by train, jeep, truck, and foot grows increasingly dangerous, although Ovashvili exhibits great control throughout the film to avoid overstatement, and “calms” the action with a pause at the end of each vignette, or chapter.

film review of iffk,2009 Divine by arturo ripstein

A doomsday cult called New Jerusalem takes its belief system from old biblical epics of the 1950s, particularly Cecil B. DeMille's Ten Commandments. As church elder Papa Basilio explains, "God created the world, movies also create the world . . . it's the same holy act." On an old abandoned soundstage, cult leader Mama Dorito addresses the congregation as Papa Basilio projects 16mm prints of his beloved movies. When Mama Dorito realizes she is dying, a replacement must be named.

Two icons of the silver screen, Katy Jurado (El Bruto; One-Eyed Jacks) and Francisco Rabal (Sorcerer; Nazarin), bring their considerable star power to the roles of Mama Dorito and Papa.Based on true events that took place in Mexico during the '70s, the film is updated to the present. Mama Dorita (Katy Jurado) leads the New Jerusalem cult with film-buff Papa Basilio (Francisco Rabal). Basilio's worship of movies explains the cult's costumes, imitative of Hollywood Biblical epics. When Dorita dies, she chooses teen Tomasa (Edwarda Gurrola) to give birth to the New Messiah. Unable to handle this sudden power, Tomasa instead proclaims herself to be the Whore of Babylon, forcing male cultists to have sex with her.

Review of a Fishing Platform/Jermal, competion film of IFFK ,2009

Ideas of adulthood and childhood/acceptance and rejection are explored in this neo-realist film about a boy forced to grow up quickly by his circumstances. Jaya is an ordinary 12-year-old but, after the death of his mother he finds himself shipped off to a jermal - essentially and isolated fishing platform in the middle of the ocean - to be looked after by the father he has never met. On arrival, however, it turns out that despite receiving many letters from Jaya's mum about his son, his dad Johar has never opened them and has been living in blissful ignorance.

He greets the news in the manner of a teenager, essentially refusing to have anything to do with the youngster. Due to the shadow of his past, however, he can't allow him to leave and so he sets him to work among the other kids on the platform. The situation is Dickensian, with the kids essentially free-range, so Jaya finds he must adapt quickly to survive. Initially he is rejected by the kids as well as his father, so he has to sleep out on the deck, but he quickly learns to live on his wits and it isn't long before he is winning friends and making the sort of adult choices as regards rights and responsibilities that his father shies away from. As he comes to take on the mantle of adulthood, Johar finds he has a lot of growing up to do as well.

Although Jermal has three writers - Rayya Makarim, Orlow Seunke and Ravi L Bharwani - and three directors - Bharwani, Makarim and Utawa Tresno - the tight focus and singularity of vision suggests they are a perfect team. Emotions run high throughout the film, but the action never feels histrionic and the flashes of cruelty are offset by clever use of humour, which stresses Jaya's resilience. The soundscape is also put to good use, with the creak of the jermal helping to stress Jaya's isolation. When it comes to the acting, the fact the children - including Iqbal S Manurung, who plays Jaya - are all non-professionals, fuels the sense of reality that underpins the action.

This is the sort of film which, like last year's Dickens-inspired The Italian, is a family drama you could take older children to and come away knowing they are likely to have learnt something more valuable about relationships and responsibilities than they would get from the average Hollywood teen flick.

Review of Competition film About Elly” – Movie Review of IFFK,2009

“About Elly” is a psychologically penetrating film in which a woman’s disappearance gives rise to all sorts of complex issues of morality (both within an Iranian context and without), and questions of culpability and responsibility for tragedy. The film subtly switches from an observational and lightly comic portrait of Iranian middle-class life to a much darker morality play, and astutely demonstrates how both of these modes can be two sides of the same coin.

(L-R) Golshifteh Farahani (Sepideh) and Taraneh Alidousti (Elly) in Asghar Farhadi's "About Elly."
Photo Credit: 2009 Tribeca Film Festival

The story begins innocently enough: A group of university friends from Tehran goes on vacation at a beach house near the Caspian Sea. Shy kindergarten teacher and stranger to the group Elly (Taraneh Alidousti) is reluctantly dragged on the trip by her friend Sepideh (Golshifteh Farahani), whose child is in Elly’s class. Sepideh’s hidden agenda in bringing Elly on this trip is to set her up with Ahmad (Shahab Hosseini), a divorcee visiting Iran and looking for a new wife. Elly resists for reasons that are revealed only much later. However, after Elly disappears, the deceits and personal agendas of the vacationers come to the surface.

Farhadi proves adept at controlling the tone of his film. By slowly setting up the situation and the complex nexus of relationships between the characters, he lulls the audience into thinking the film will continue in a comic mode until Elly’s disappearance. From then on, the film takes a serious tone. Lies – casual and serious, necessary and unnecessary – come back to haunt the characters, and the consequences of these are unforgiving. Some of these lies were told due to particular proprieties necessary within Iranian society. For example, the group introduces Ahmad and Elly as newlyweds to the old woman who rents them the beach house. Other deceptions are, in many cases, serious breaches of ethics committed in an attempt to save face or avoid problems with the police.

The brilliance of Farhadi’s script and direction (his efforts earned him the Silver Bear for best director at this year’s Berlin Film Festival) becomes most apparent in the latter stages of the film. As one secret after another is revealed, Farhadi deftly maps out the shifts in the perceptions and behavior of the characters toward each other as well as the viewer’s perception of the characters. Farhadi’s cast is uniformly excellent, especially Farahani, who compellingly registers Sepideh’s shock at how her seemingly innocent matchmaking has taken such a tragic turn, as well as the way her character, like others in the film, is revealed to not be what it initially appears.

History of Film festival.

The origin of film festivals can be traced to the rise of film societies and cine-clubs, which sprang up in various countries during the 1920s, often as a reaction to what many regarded as the dominance of the newly powerful Hollywood film industry over the cinemas of less well-endowed nations and over noncommercial movements devoted to such causes as documentary and avant-garde film. Such clubs and societies flourished in countries as different as France, where they fostered the emergence of the historically important impressionist and surrealist cinemas, and Brazil, where they provided the only consistent outlet for domestically produced movies. Although most film clubs and societies were in Western Europe, some were established in Latin America and the United States as well. As such groups grew and spread, they started to arrange international conclaves where their members—many of whom were practicing or aspiring filmmakers—could share ideas and inspirations without regard to national borders. Activities like these were the predecessors and prototypes of film festivals per se.

The first true film festival came into being as a direct result of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's (1883–1945) enthusiasm for motion pictures as a tool for political public relations and propaganda. Eager to spur the development of state-run Italian cinema in the face of competition from Hollywood and elsewhere, he spent lavishly to build up the native film industry while imposing heavy taxation on the dubbing of foreign-language movies, thus hampering their distribution and exhibition. Among the cultural projects he chose to support through his Ministry of Information was the already existing Venice Biennial Exhibition of Italian Art, which gave birth to the International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art in August 1932 as part of an effort to make the Biennial more varied and multidisciplinary in content. The first cinema program commenced with the premiere of the horror classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Rouben Mamoulian, 1931) and included twenty-four other entries from seven countries. The declared purpose of the exhibition was to allow "the light of art to shine over the world of commerce," but it soon became clear that power politics were a major subtext of the event. In 1935, its first year as an annually scheduled festival, it marked the ongoing rise of European fascism by instituting official prizes in place of the popularity poll and "participation diploma" of the 1932 program. This paved the way not only for a yearly Best Italian Film award but also for productions of Nazi Germany, an Italian ally at that time, to win the Best Foreign Film laurel four times between 1936 and 1942. The arrangement also allowed Leni Riefenstahl's (1902–2003) two-part Olympia (1938), a paean to Aryan supremacy in the 1936 Olympic Games, to share the highest prize (the Mussolini Cup) in 1938 with an Italian drama about a fascist soldier in the Ethiopian campaign. It seemed hardly coincidental that Mussolini's oldest son, Vittorio, appeared in the credits as "supervisor" of the latter film. American and British members of the festival jury resigned as soon as these awards were made public.

French participants in the festival also walked out, protesting the Mussolini Cup decisions and expressing belated anger over the 1937 veto by festival authorities of a top prize for Jean Renoir's great war drama La grande illusion ( The Grand Illusion , 1937), the much-admired French entry. This proved to be an unofficial first step toward the establishment of a French film festival designed to outdo and overshadow its Italian counterpart, which was now politically and morally tainted in the eyes of much of the cultural world. The cinema authority Robert Favre le Bret and the historian Philippe Erlanger, who was chief of an organization called Action Artistique Français, headed the committee charged with creating such a festival, and pioneering filmmaker Louis Lumière (1864–1948) served as the group's president. Overcoming fears that such a move would provoke Mussolini's anger, the French government declared its willingness to provide necessary funding, and a few months later the Riviera city of Cannes—having staved off competition from sundry French, Belgian, and Swiss cities—started planning a state-of-the-art Palais des Festivals to house the new event.

Other, smaller festivals had sprung up in the wake of Venice's early success, but it was the advent of Cannes that established the film festival as a staple of the modern cultural scene. Formally dubbed the Cannes International Film Festival, it debuted in September 1939, a time of year selected so as to extend the traditional tourist season by a couple of weeks. The program included The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Only Angels Have Wings . Gary Cooper, Mae West, Douglas Fairbanks, Norma Shearer, and Tyrone Power were on the "steamship of stars" dispatched to Cannes by Hollywood's mighty MGM studio. A cardboard model of the Cathedral de Nôtre-Dame was erected on the beach, heralding William Dieterle's (1893–1972) version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) as the festival's opening-night attraction. In a shocking twist, however, the opening film was the only film to be screened: Germany's invasion of Poland on the same day (1 September) led the festival's leaders to close its doors only hours after they had opened. The doors would not reopen until September 1946. (Ironically, the Venice festival also reopened in 1946 after three years of suspension due to the chaos of World War II.) Despite technical problems—projection glitches interrupted the opening-night screening, and reels of Alfred Hitchcock's (1899–1980) thriller Notorious (1946) were shown out of order—the Cannes program of 1946 was a great success. Still, the 1947 edition was diminished by the absence of such major countries as England and the Soviet Union, and the 1948 program was canceled. Not until 1951 did Cannes become a dependable yearly event, changing its dates to the spring, when more major movies are available. Since then it has reigned as the world's most prestigious and influential film festival, attracting thousands of journalists to its daylong press screenings and armies of industry professionals to both the festival and the Film Market held concurrently in the Palais and theaters scattered throughout the city.

Festivals proliferated at a growing rate in Europe and elsewhere during the 1950s, affirming the ongoing artistic (and commercial) importance of film at a time when global warfare was becoming a memory and world culture was energetically entering the second half of the twentieth century. Politics played a far smaller role in this phase of festival history than when the Venice and Cannes festivals were founded, but political considerations did not entirely vanish from the scene. The large and ambitious Berlin International Film Festival, for example, was established in 1951, presenting itself as a geographical and artistic meeting ground between East and West as the Cold War climbed into high gear. This was not an easy position to assume, given that socialist nations of the Eastern bloc did not participate officially until 1975, although individual films did represent such countries in the program from time to time.

The most important new festival to emerge in the 1960s was the New York Film Festival, founded in 1963 at Lincoln Center, one of the city's leading cultural venues. Modeled to some extent after the London Film Festival, the New York festival took advantage of Lincoln Center's enormous prestige in the artistic community—as home to such various institutions as the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic, among others—to underwrite the aesthetic pedigree of the art films, avant-garde works, and documentaries that dominated its programs. Such cinema found an enthusiastic (if limited) audience at a time when sophisticated spectators were unusually receptive to innovative foreign movies (from Europe and Japan especially) presented in their original languages with subtitles. Unlike the heavily programmed festivals at Cannes and Berlin, the New York festival showed a limited quantity of films—about two dozen features and a similar number of shorts, chosen by a five-member selection committee—and it declined to give prizes, asserting that its highly selective nature made every work shown there a "winner."

Two key events in film-festival history took place in the 1970s. The first was the 1976 debut of the Toronto International Film Festival, originally known as the Festival of Festivals, a name that underscored its commitment to importing major attractions from other festivals for Canadian audiences. Its first year was marred by the withdrawal of expected contributions from some Hollywood studios, apparently because its Toronto audience base was considered too parochial. Still, in subsequent years it has grown into one of the most all-embracing festivals in the world, with an annual slate ranging from domestic productions to international art films and (ironically) more Hollywood products than are likely to be found at any comparable event. Canada also hosts two other major festivals, the Montreal World Film Festival and the Vancouver International Film Festival.

The other major development of the 1970s was the founding of the United States Film Festival in Salt Lake City in 1978, devised by the Utah Film Commission as a means of spotlighting the state's assets as a site for film production. After concentrating its energies on retrospectives and discussion-centered events for three years, during which it also sponsored a nationwide competition for new independent films, the event moved to the smaller community of Park City in 1981 and began to seek a higher profile. It was acquired in 1985 by actor Robert Redford (b. 1936) and the four-year-old Sundance Institute, which Redford had established to foster the growth of "indie" filmmaking outside the Hollywood system. Renamed the Sundance Film Festival in 1989, it has become an eagerly covered media event as well as a wide-ranging showcase for both independent and international productions.

Alongside the attention-getting world-class festivals, over a thousand more modest events have cropped up. Some have tried to establish uniqueness by using a word other than "festival" in their names, such as the French-American Film Workshop held in New York and Avignon, France, and the Lake Placid Film Forum in upstate New York, which emphasizes relationships between cinema and the written word. Major festivals also exist outside the United States and Europe, such as the Ouagadougou Festival in the African nation of Burkina Faso and the Shanghai and Tokyo festivals in Asia.

Read more: http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Criticism-Ideology/Festivals-HISTORY-OF-FILM-FESTIVALS.html#

During Last 80 years many Indian films marked history in Word Cinema and International Film Festivals, Though Indian Never came up with an International Film Festival. Directorate of Film Festival (Government of India) organizes a Film Festival which is surrounded by many controversies year by year and many other film Festivals are unable to bring latest acclaimed international cinema.

Indian Cinema contributes more than 70% in asia pacific film market with total share of approx 11 billion USD every year, whereas in India we are still striving for ground to grow. Indian Cinema is like a flower which has Bengali, Assumes, Manipuri, Tamil, Kannada, Malyali, Marathi, Gujrati, Purvanchali, Punjabi and Kashmiri cinema as its petals and Bollywood of course as the nucleus.

Film Festival is emerging trend in PAN-Asian Region , many Regional, National and International Film Festivals are coming up every year. Film Festivals in West are the part of corporate business.

There is huge scope of Film Festival in Indian Cine biz and Special attention must be given to film Market . We must not imitate Western Film Marketing idea and develop film Markets according to our business models.

Role of Media in Investigation

EI investigation: The US media and the attack on Gaza -In the first three days of the Israeli offensive from 28-30 December, editorials and op-eds from five major US papers overwhelmingly adopted the official US and Israeli government talking points on the conflict -- even where this version was clearly contradicted by the legal and historical record, widely available to the public. The editorial pages erroneously put forward the view that Gaza was no longer occupied, ignored Israel's numerous cease fire violations, and blindly asserted Israel's right of self defense regardless of what was happening on the ground. Overall, the commentary presented a disturbingly false and misleading picture of the conflict to the American public. The legal status of Gaza is repeatedly being misrepresented in the op-ed pages and the American mainstream media generally. While the international consensus position at the UN and among human rights organizations is that Gaza remains occupied even after the 2005 Israeli disengagement, the editorials and op-eds collectively refused to acknowledge this view. Instead, the editorial pages chose to adopt and promote the Israeli government view of a 2005 "complete withdrawal" from Gaza so that Israel no longer retains official responsibility there. The issue has important implications for determining accountability in the conflict, the humanitarian situation in the Strip, and even military operations that can be taken. Link:http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10139.shtml.

Media policy

The media plays an important role in disseminating information to the public, and the Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services (NTPFES) policy is to provide timely assistance to the media and to also provide the public with information that supports the mission statement of the NTPFES in: “Work together to reduce crime and protect the community from fires, other emergencies and disasters.”For the media to report accurately it is necessary for police, fire and emergency service personnel to assist them by providing appropriate facts. Indeed, the media can give valuable assistance to the NTPFES.When police, fire and emergency service personnel deal with the media there is, however, a degree of risk that outcomes might be unforeseen and undesirable. Therefore the NTPFES undertakes to support fully any officer acting within the guidelines of this policy.Link:http://www.nt.gov.au/pfes/index.cfm?fuseaction=page&p=369&m=24&sm=58.

The role of the media in constructing and reinforcing fear of crime should not be overlooked. They have a powerful role in reporting criminal behaviour, and reinforcing the anxiety which individuals may have with regard to their potential experience of crime. Furthermore, the media's coverage of crime can contribute to the differences
which exist between the level of crime and the perceived and feared level of crime in
an area.
Role of media in the society- Today television channels and newspapers are making fast money by cashing on the news in wrong sense and wrong way. In the race to become more popular and to make money they have broken all the limits media must follow while serving to build a healthy and progressive society. They have no respect for the sentiments and ethics of the people and land whom they serve to, with their immense power to influence the massses they just make judgment like a true dictator rather than a good advice of a true friend as they previously used to do. If it will be going in the future then we people have to think about the role of media in our life.The media plays a very important role as a source of information,education and entertainment.It accommodates the world in to a single village which is saturated of media-information. Media plays an important role. Its a mirror of the society. It's duty is to inform, educate and entertain the people but nowadays we see that media is not doing its duty honestly. Instead of giving important information and educative programme it is giving emphasis to sensationalize the public. They are only trying to attract people to increase their TRP rating. They raise the matter for 2 or 3 days then they forget that and never try to get the feedback of the cases.Media has a constructive role to play for the society. Today News Channels and even some Newspapers are mouthpiece of some political parties. Their work then limits only to spread the ideology of the party rather than giving the correct news. People have to judge on their own by looking different channels for the same news and then form a conclusion. Link:http://dimdima.com/forumnw/message.asp?Tid=1043& q_title=Role+of+media+in+the+society.

Media in India—initiated since the late 1700s with print media started in 1780, radio broadcasting initiated in 1927, and the screening of Auguste and Louis Lumière moving pictures in Bombay initiated during the July of 1895 —is among the oldest and largest media of the world. Indian media—private media in particular—has been free and independent throughout most of its history. The period of emergency (1975–1977), declared by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was the brief period when India's media was faced with potential government retribution.The country consumed 99 million newspaper copies as of 2007—making it the second largest market in the world for newspapers. By 2008, India had a total of 60,000,000 Internet users—comprising 6.0% of the country's population, and 4,010,000 people in India also had access to broadband Internet as of 2008— making it the 18th largest country in the world in terms of broadband Internet users. also ranks 8th in the list of countries by number of television broadcast stations by 1997 statistics.The first major newspaper in India—The Bengal Gazette—was started in 1780 under the British Raj. Other newspapers such as The India Gazette, The Calcutta Gazette, The Madras Courier (1785), The Bombay Herald (1789) etc. soon followed. These newspapers carried news of the areas under the British rule. The Times of India was founded in 1838 as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce by Bennett, Coleman and Company, a colonial enterprise now owned by an Indian conglomerate.The Times Group publishes The Economic Times (launched in 1961), Navbharat Times (Hindi language), and the Maharashtra Times (Marathi language).During the 1950s 214 daily newspapers were published in the country. of these, 44 were English language dailies while the rest were published in various regional languages. This number rose to 2,856 dailies in 1990 with 209 English dailies. The total number of newspapers published in the country reached 35,595 newspapers by 1993 (3,805 dailies).The main regional newspapers of India include the Malayalam language Malayala Manorama (published from: Kerala, daily circulation: 673,000), the Hindi-language Dainik Jagran (published from: Uttar Pradesh, daily circulation in 2006: 580,000), and the Anandabazar Patrika (published from: Kolkata, daily circulation in 2006: 435,000).The Times of India Group, the Indian Express Group, the Hindustan Times Group, and the Anandabazar Patrika Group are the main print media houses of the country.Newspaper sale in the country increased by 11.22% in 2007. By 2007, 62 of the world's best selling newspaper dailies were published in China, Japan, and India. India consumed 99 million newspaper copies as of 2007—making it the second largest market in the world for newspapers.

The Role of the Media in a Democratic India--Media plays a mediator role between the people of the nation and the government; it is highlighting the people’s problem in front of the government and taking feedback from the government upon social and safety issues of the nation in terms of national welfare.In a democratic India, media is a fourth pillar of the democracy due to its social responsibilities, but at the age of 60 years of independence and the economical growth towards no.1 power of the world by 2020, the role of the media is very uncertain and putting question mark on Indian journalism. Before going ahead, we have to stop and think: Is Indian media plays a role for that it is been known - fourth pillar of the nation? If not, then what role it should play? And the answer is fair, impartial, reliable reporting and accurate news analyzation. As far as news concern, media should take a very rigid stand to analyze the news, how it happens and how it came into the existence to know the root cause of the problem. But, rather going deep into the problem, journalists are blindly accepting the truth which is formulated by the police or some social evil elements and proliferate the same publicly. In many cases innocent people have been charged and guilty enjoy their sin with the contentment to commit it again.India is a multi-cultural country, thus, we have very sensitive social structure, once someone caught or labeled as guilty, he will never be able to re-start his life again. Instead he will be welcomed by taunts and social grouses, so that he detains himself in a dark life. We are proud to be Indian because of our multi-cultural and value system of India, which gives every Indian an equal opportunity to live and grow in a national stream-line upon his capabilities and skills to be a part of modern develop India. Thus, this is the responsibility of every Indian to play a part of his role to facilitate others in terms of fair living, equal opportunity, communal harmony and social welfare ness.As it is an established fact that everyone is responsible for his own deeds or sins, therefore, it is not wise to target a community or a religion for a sin of one person or few people. Similarly, entire community of journalists should not be fall under suspicious category for the misdeeds or inappropriate reporting of few journalists. Everybody knows police plays a partial role during riots or investigation on terrorism; we have several examples like Sri Krishna Commission Report, Godhra and Gujrat Riot Reports, etc.Recently Banglore and Ahmed are witness of terrorist attacks, here, the question is: are terrorist more organized and smart than our security agencies. Center had the information and they have also informed state government to be ready to tackle such situation. Amazing! Terrorist are attacking one after another, but we are unable to trace them. If we had the information of attacks then why attacks are not averted? Why terrorists are not caught before the attacks?We all know that some organizations are distributing weapons among their community; what happens to this issue? Nothing; neither reported nor propagated so precisely. We can consider the double standard of police and politicians, but how could we expect the same standard from the journalism! Which is the fourth pillar of the Indian democracy? We know better, when one pillar collapse, whole building tumble on the ground.Many sensational, burning, social and national issues need the concentration of journalism to break the ice and bring them back in the news to explore, discuss and analyze to make the truth distinct from ambiguous or falsehood, only then social evil die and people of the state and the nation will live in peace and harmony in this charismatic and multi cultural nation.When this will happen, indeed, this would be the first step towards the healthy society and a step to fulfill our dream towards number one power of the world. Now, this is the responsibility of the Indian journalism, how they are going to shape and direct the new generation of the nation towards prosperity, communal harmony, equality, tolerance, and national-integrity or towards communal hatred and inequality. Link: http://content.msn.co.in/MSNContribute/Story.aspx?PageID=953e1a5a-7031-4228-9214-5b1bcc3d7f73.

Trial by media

Trial by Media is a phrase popular in the late 20th century and early 21st century to describe the impact of television and newspaper coverage on a person's reputation by creating a widespread perception of guilt regardless of any verdict in a court of law.In the United Kingdom there is a heated debate between those who support a free press which is largely uncensored and those who place a higher priority on an individual's right to privacy and right to a fair trial.During high publicity court cases, the media are often accused of provoking an atmosphere of public hysteria akin to a lynch mob which not only makes a fair trial nearly impossible but means that regardless of the result of the trial the accused will not be able to live the rest of their life without intense public scrutiny.The counter-argument is that the mob mentality exists independently of the media which merely voices the opinions which the public already has.There are different reasons why the media attention is particularly intense surrounding a legal case: the first is that the crime itself is in some way sensational, by being horrific or involving children; the second is that it involves a celebrity either as victim or accused.

History- Although a recently coined phrase, the idea that popular media can have a strong influence on the legal process goes back certainly to the advent of the printing press and probably much further. This is not including the use of a state controlled press to criminalize political opponents, but in its commonly understood meaning covers all occasions where the reputation of a person has been drastically affected by ostensibly non-political publications.

Trial by Media in India- n India, trial by media has assumed significant proportions. Some famous criminal cases that would have gone unpunished but for the intervention of media are Priyadarshini Mattoo case, Jessica Lal case, Nitish Katara murder case and Bijal Joshi rape case. The media however drew flak in the reporting of murder of Aarushi Talwar, when it preempted the court and reported that her own father Dr. Rajesh Talwar, and possibly her mother Nupur Talwar were involved in her murder, thus reviving memories of JonBenet Ramsey murder, which was hauntingly similar. The CBI later declared that Rajesh was not the killer.Between September 2004 and March 2005, the media - print, audio and visual all wrote about His Holiness Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal, a Hindu religious leader, suggesting his guilt in a murder case, but the High Courts of Madras and Andhra Pradesh and the Supreme Court of India repeatedly found that there was no material evidence to find him guilty and came down heavily on the media and the Government of Tamilnadu for misuse of government machinery.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_by_media.

Arushi case: A trial by media or a trial of media?

New Delhi: The Arushi Talwar case has raised several troubling questions for the media and the police, questions that strike at the heart of the process of investigation and news reporting.When the CBI finally conceded it could not find any evidence against Talwar, many thought it was all over.But a day later - on Saturday - when Rajesh Talwar walked out of Dasna jail, there was more of the same.Fifty days on, and there's no sign of fatigue, no end in sight to the media frenzy.“Please let me spend some time with my family, in the past 50 days I have not been able to share my grief with anyone,” Talwar said.The murder was a classic whodunit for the media. But it was the UP police that provided fodder for speculation.A press conference addressed by IG Meerut Zone, Gurdarshan Singh, days after the murder added fuel to fire. “Arushi and Hemraj were aware of the extra-marital relationship of Doctor Talwar. And slowly they both developed intimate relationships,” he said.Friends of the Talwar Family, ordinary citizens as well as the Women & Child Development Minister expressed outrage.Renuka Chowdhary demanded Singh be suspended and charged for character assassination of the victim.Faced with a bungling police force, the media, in a way, decided to play cop. The two families - Talwars and Durranis - continued to be taunted and harassed the moment they stepped out of their house, by an army of reporter.After the CBI took over the case on June 1, it added two other suspects. But it was still Rajesh Talwar who was hounded by the media. When his bail application was rejected, most of the media and their viewers felt vindicated.Warnings from CBI Director Vijay Shankar – “We will keep reminding the media what its limits are,” he said – did not help.New versions kept doing the rounds. Media critics say techniques such as reconstructions run the risk of distorting facts.“Any case that is still under investigation, I am not sure if you have the ethical right to do reconstructions and make a crime show out of it,” says media critic, Shohini Ghosh.India records over 30,000 cases of homicide every year and going by that figure, there must have been at least 4,000 cases in the past 50 days. There have been floods, terror attacks and political developments of national significance. But none of these has been able to distract media's attention from the Noida double murders.In fact according to a study conducted by the CMS, special programmes on the case hogged almost 40 hours out of a total 92 hours of prime time between May 16 and June 7.Just how much is too much? Going by the media's continued obsession with the case, it seems even too much is too little.Link:http://ibnlive.in.com/news/arushi-case-a-trial-by-media-or-a-trial-of-media/68748-3.html.

The media in India is one of the freest in the world in terms
of legal constraints. Freedom of expression incorporated in
her Constitution in Article 19(1) remains an important
facilitator for widespread engagement within a democratic
atmosphere. As beautifully remarked by the first Prime
Minister of independent India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru - “I
would rather have a completely free press with all the
dangers involved in the wrong use of that freedom than a suppressed or regulated press.” But
that great man could not foresee the danger involved in the ‘administration of justice’ which is
the very essence of the natural justice and the rule of law or rather he would not have
expected the press to get involved into something which is beyond its limit and ethics too. To
realize the vision of Mr. Nehru, the media has been provided with many freedoms and
immunities so that this fourth pillar of democracy stands tall and strong. But what Lord Atkin
relates with power is also well placed with the notion of liberty. Liberty does corrupt into
license and is prone to be abused. Every institution is liable to be abused, and every liberty, if
left unbridled, has the tendency to become a license which would lead to disorder and
anarchy1. It has to be remembered that freedom of expression is not absolute, unlimited or
unfettered and in all circumstances, as giving on an unrestricted freedom of the speech and
expression, would amount to uncontrolled license.
Media has now reincarnated itself into a ‘public court’ (Janta Adalat) and has
started interfering into court proceedings. It completely overlooks the vital gap between an
accused and a convict keeping at stake the golden principles of ‘presumption of innocence
until proven guilty’ and ‘guilt beyond reasonable doubt’. Now, what we observe is media trial
where the media itself does a separate investigation, builds a public opinion against the
accused even before the court takes cognizance of the case. By this way, it prejudices the
public and sometimes even judges and as a result the accused, that should be assumed
innocent, is presumed as a criminal leaving all his rights and liberty unredressed. If excessive
publicity in the media about a suspect or an accused before trial prejudices a fair trial or results in characterizing him as a person who had indeed committed the crime, it amounts to
undue interference with the “administration of justice”, calling for proceedings for contempt
of court against the media. Unfortunately, rules designed to regulate journalistic conduct are
inadequate to prevent the encroachment of civil rights. The print and electronic media have gone into fierce and ruthless competition, as we
call them ‘aggressive journalism’ that a multitude of cameras are flashed at the suspects or
the accused and the police are not even allowed to take the suspects or accused from their
transport vehicles into the courts or vice versa. The Press Council of India issues guidelines
from time to time and in some cases, it does take action. But, even if ‘apologies’ are directed
to be published; they are published in such a way that either they are not apologies or the
apologies are published in the papers at places which are not very prominent. The most
objectionable part, and unfortunate too, of the recently incarnated role of media is that the
coverage of a sensational crime and its adducing of ‘evidence’ begins very early, mostly even
before the person who will eventually preside over the trial even takes cognizance of the
offence, and secondly that the media is not bound by the traditional rules of evidence which
regulate what material can, and cannot be used to convict an accused. In fact, the Right to
Justice of a victim can often be compromised in other ways as well, especially in Rape and
Sexual Assault cases, in which often, the past sexual history of a prosecutrix may find its way
into newspapers. Secondly, the media treats seasoned criminal and the ordinary one,
sometimes even the innocents, alike without any reasonable discrimination. They are treated
as a ‘television item’ keeping at stake the reputation and image. Even if they are acquitted by
the court on the grounds of proof beyond reasonable doubt, they cannot resurrect their previous image. Such kind of exposure provided to them is likely to jeopardize all these
cherished rights accompanying liberty.2
Earlier, journalism was not under pressure to push up TRP ratings or sales. So the
journalists did their work with serious intent and conviction, with courage and integrity. They
did not pronounce people guilty without making a serious attempt to study the charges,
investigate them, and come to their own independent conclusions, without fear or favor. They
did not blindly print what law enforcers claimed, what the bureaucracy said or what
politicians planted on to them. That is why people trusted them. But now we are seeing a
different self-acquired role of media in form of ‘media trial’. Everyone manipulates the media
to serve their own interests or hurt their rivals. The problem does not lie in media’s exposing
the lacuna of a bad investigation by cops, or mal-performance of the duties ordained to the
civil servants but the eye-brows start to raise when the media ultra vires its legitimate
jurisdiction and does what it must not do. Be it highlighting the sub-judice issues into public
keeping at stake the sanctity of judicial procedures and ‘right to life with dignity’ of accused
and suspects. The media trial has now moved on to media verdict and media punishment
which is no doubt an illegitimate use of freedom and transgressing the prudent demarcation
of legal boundaries. It is necessary to check prejudicial publicity of the subject matter
pending before a court. It should be legally permissible to pass restraint order on the media. Link:http://www.rmlnlu.ac.in/content/devesh_article.pdf.

Lawyers also guilty for trial by media: SC -The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed reservations on the increasing trend of lawyers giving out bites to news channels and media organisations in an attempt to capture their moment in the spotlight, even in cases pending trial.During the hearing of arguments by amicus curiae Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium in the BMW case, the three-judge bench of Justices B N Aggrawal, G S Singhvi and Aftab Alam observed, “Even counsels with 30 to 40 years’ experience make open remarks on the credibility of X, Y or Z on television. It is shocking. Have we gone so low? (It is) shameful for all of us. They must desist from the suppression of legal principles,” the Bench remarked.Subramaniam, during his submission, also slammed the media for doing “incalculable” damage to the reputation of individuals, including judges, by reporting and telecasting slanderous news without cross-checking facts.Link: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/lawyers-also-guilty-for-trial-by-media-sc/427652/.

Trial By Media: A Legal Dilemma Resolved With Reference To Jessica Lal

Media is regarded as one of the pillars of democracy. Media has wide ranging roles in the society. Media plays a vital role in moulding the opinion of the society and it is capable of changing the whole viewpoint through which people perceive various events. The media can be commended for starting a trend where the media plays an active role in bringing the accused to hook.

Freedom of media is the freedom of people as they should be informed of public matters.[1] It is thus needless to emphasis that a free and a healthy press is indispensable to the functioning of democracy. In a democratic set up there has to be active participation of people in all affairs of their community and the state. It is their right to be kept informed about the current political social , economic and cultural life as well as the burning topics and important issues of the day in order to enable them to consider to form broad opinion in which they are being managed, tackled and administered by the government and their functionaries. To achieve this objective people need a clear and truthful account of events, so that they may form their own opinion and offer their own comments and viewpoints on such matters and issues and select their future course of action. The right to freedom of speech and expression in contained in article 19 of the constitution. However the freedom is not absolute as it is bound by the sub clause (2) of the same article. However the right it freedom and speech and expression does not embrace the freedom to commit contempt of court. [2]

The media has again come in focus in its role in the trial of Jessica lal murder case. The concept of media trial is not a new concept. The role of media was debated in the Priyadarshini Mattoo case and likewise many other high profile cases. There have been numerous instances in which media has been accused of conducting the trial of the accused and passing the ‘verdict’ even before the court passes its judgment. Trial is essentially a process to be carried out by the courts. The trial by media is definitely an undue interference in the process of justice delivery. Before delving into the issue of justifiability of media trial it would be pertinent to first try to define what actually the ‘trial by media’ means. Trial is a word which is associated with the process of justice. It is the essential component on any judicial system that the accused should receive a fair trial. Link:http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l237-Trial-By-Media.html.

India Vision 2020: Best-case Scenario for India 2020

A look into the future of India!

Bhopal in 2020

Calcutta in 2020

Cochin in 2020

Delhi (Metro Rail)

Goa in 2020

Hebbal Flyover, Bangalore

Mumbai in 2020

Mysore in 2020

New Indian City

New Indian City

link: http://www.funonthenet.in/content/view/276/31/

Identifying potentials and anticipating the challenges to our future progress in different sectors of the national economy does not constitute a vision of the country’s future. These disparate threads need to be woven together to reflect the integrated nature of our national life. Then, there still remains the question of whether to be preoccupied by the negative possibilities or to throw our full weight behind efforts to fully realise the positive potentials revealed by this analysis. That will determine whether we regard the following statement as a promising glimpse of what India can become in 2020, or as mere fantasy and wishful thinking.

India 2020 will be bustling with energy, entrepreneurship and innovation. The country’s 1.35 billion people will be better fed, dressed and housed, taller and healthier, more educated and longer living than any generation in the country’s long history. Illiteracy and all major contagious diseases will have disappeared. School enrolment from age 6 to 14 will near 100 per cent and drop out rates will fall to less than one in twenty.

A second productivity revolution in Indian agriculture, coupled with diversification to commercial crops, agri-business, processing industries, agro-exports and massive efforts towards afforestation and wasteland development will generate abundant farm and non-farm employment opportunities for the rural workforce. These in turn will stimulate demand for consumer goods and services, giving a fillip to the urban economy and the informal sector as well as rapid expansion of the services sector.

India’s claim to the title Silicon Valley of Asia will be followed by the diversification from IT to biotechnology, medical sciences and other emerging fields of technology, widening the field of India’s international competitiveness and generating a large number of employment opportunities for the educated youth. These developments, driven by the firm commitment of the government and a quantum expansion of vocational training programmes, will ensure jobs for all by 2020.

Inequalities between different age groups, the sexes, income groups, communities and regions will come down dramatically. The old disparities between the very rich and the poor will not have disappeared, but the nature of poverty in 2020 will not be nearly as harsh and oppressive as it was at the turn of the millennium. Regional disparities will remain visible, though all regions will have advanced significantly in two decades. India’s achievements have been fuelled by the realisation that the progress of the whole ultimately depends on the progress of its weakest links; India 2020 must be one in which all levels and sections of the population and all parts of the country march forward together towards a more secure and prosperous future.

The increasingly congested urban traffic will be motorised as never before. Two wheelers will be ubiquitous and cars will be considered essential for most middle class families. City roads and rural highways will improve substantially in number, capacity and quality, but a four-fold multiplication in the number of vehicles will tax the urban infrastructure to the limit. Urban congestion will accelerate the movement of business, middle class families and even government offices into new self-contained suburban centres. Cell phones, computers and the Internet will permeate every aspect of life and every corner of the country.

Computerisation of education will dramatically improve the quality of instruction and the pace of learning, so that many students will complete the first twelve years of school curriculum in as little as eight. Computerised distance education will catch on in a big way and enable tens of thousands more students to opt for affordable higher education. Computerisation in government will streamline procedures and response times to a degree unimaginable now. Perceptive observers will find that India is leapfrogging directly into a predominantly service economy.

Environmental issues will remain a serious concern. Urban air pollution will come under control by strict enforcement of motor vehicle emission standards and widespread use of ethanolblended motor fuels, but water shortages in major metropolitan areas will continue despite a national programme to popularise water harvesting techniques in both urban and rural areas. A massive afforestation programme will reverse the depletion of forest areas, raise the nation’s Green cover to 33 per cent of area, generate millions of rural employment opportunities, and provide abundant renewable energy from biomass power production.

India will be much more integrated with the global economy and will be a major player in terms of trade, technology and investment.

Rising levels of education, employment and income will help stabilise India’s internal security and social environment. A united and prosperous India will be far less vulnerable to external security threats.

A more prosperous India in 2020 will be characterised by a better-educated electorate and more transparent, accountable, efficient and decentralised government.

Some may regard this vision as an anxious attempt to imitate and catch up with the West. But there is an important distinction to be made between blind imitation and intelligent emulation that draws upon the discoveries and experiences of others to address universal needs common to all human beings and all societies. India, with its rich cultural heritage and thousands of years of history of civilisation, need not aspire to become like country A or B. For India, realising the vision for 2020 is not an end in itself, but rather an essential condition for allowing the spirit of this country to emerge and flourish.

Decision Points

There is a natural temptation to attempt to reduce two decades of future progress to a concise formula and prepare a manifesto of policies or strategies that will enable the country to realise its full potential during that period. But a list of such policies or strategies will always remain unsatisfactory unless it is made comprehensive, and a comprehensive list needs to include hundreds of necessary and desirable initiatives.

However, in addition to these policy and strategy prescriptions, or rather underlying and supporting them, there are some nodal points of action which, when touched, can release the enormous pent-up energy of the society and throw it into constructive action. It is well that we conclude our summary by identifying those nodal points which will be most powerful for propelling forward the development of Indian society over the next two decades.

These nine nodes are not independent powers. Each draws upon and contributes to the power of the other seven. They are mutually supportive and reinforcing. They are not a hierarchy of powers that can be developed sequentially, but rather eight essential forces that need to be developed simultaneously. As peace and education are essential for growth of employment and living standards, so are food security and employment opportunities essential for peace and social stability, and so forth.

But beyond these physical, social and mental powers, this country possesses something even more powerful and essential to its existence. India is a nation with a soul and a great spiritual tradition founded upon faith in the power of the spirit to create and manifest in the world. It is our spiritual values, our psychic essence, which is the core strength of Indian civilisation that has sustained it for millenniums and will elevate the quality of our national life in future. These values possess the ultimate power both for national prosperity and to propel India to be a proud member of the world community. True spirituality will not make us less tolerant. Though our spiritual tradition takes on an infinite variety of forms, they all share a common faith in our capacity as human beings to realise whatever we aspire for.

Our future depends not on what will happen to us, but on what we decide to become, and on the will to create it.

NODAL POINTS OF INDIAN PROSPERITY

1. PEACE, SECURITY & NATIONAL UNITY – Physical security both from external and internal threats—strong national defence, domestic law enforcement and social harmony.
2. FOOD & NUTRITIONAL SECURITY – A vibrant, highly productive commercial farm sector that can ensure food & nutritional security, generate employment opportunities, stimulate industrialisation, and produce renewable energy from biomass and fuel crops.
3. JOBS FOR ALL – A constitutional commitment to ensure the right of all citizens to a sustainable livelihood that will provide them with the purchasing power needed to freely cast their economic votes in the market place.
   
4. KNOWLEDGE – 100 per cent literacy & school education, and vocational training for all new entrants to the workforce, to equip youth with the knowledge and skills needed to thrive in an increasingly competitive world: adult education programmes to compensate working age school drop-outs for the lack of education, and continued investment in science and technology to improve productivity, quality of life and the environment.
   
5. HEALTH – Expansion of the infrastructure for public health and medical care to ensure health for all.
   
6. TECHNOLOGY & INFRASTRUCTURE – Continuous expansion of the physical infrastructure for rapid low-cost transportation and communication that is required for rapid economic growth and international competitiveness. Application of computers to improve access to knowledge and information, and increase in the speed, efficiency and convenience of activities in all fields of life.
   
7. GLOBALISATION – Successful integration of India with world economy.
   
8. GOOD GOVERNANCE – Farsighted and dynamic leadership to maximise national prosperity, individual freedom and social equity through responsive, transparent and accountable administration that removes all the bottlenecks to economic development.
9. WORK VALUES - Activation of all these nodal points requires firm and determined adherence to high values, including prompt decision-making, disciplined execution, systematic implementation, finely tuned co-ordination, unceasing effort and endurance.
   

link:http://www.akhilesh.in/life/india/vision2020.php.

Different Crimes in India and Kerala.

ILLEGAL WIDLIFE TRAFFICKING IN NEPAL.


More than 250 experts, scientists and government delegates from Tiger range States and elsewhere have called for immediate action to save wild Tigers, citing the urgent need for increased protection against Tiger poaching and trafficking in Tiger parts.There are only about 3,200 tigers left in the wild, and Tiger populations are declining in the face of massive poaching for illegal wildlife trade, habitat loss and fragmentation, and conflict with people.The recommendationsfor implementing a resolution relating to Tigers in the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), and to avoid financing development projects that adversely affect critical Tiger habitats.
Two Tibetans and one Nepali have been convicted in a case involving a landmark seizure of a huge number of leopard and otter skins in Delhi. The trio were arrested in April 2005 with 45 leopard and 15 otter skins. They are the first Tibetans in Exile to be convicted of a wildlife crime in India.

The Delhi police, working on information provided by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), started watching the Tibetan Camp at Majnu Ka Tilla in old Delhi and were able to apprehend the trio red-handed.

Coincidentally, this happened on the very day His Holiness the Dalai Lama launched the anti-wildlife trade campaign of the Care for the Wild International and WTI with the statement that 'the law of the land has to prevail'.

During the investigation the accused had disclosed that they were working for a person called Tchhwang Tashi Tsering, a notorious wildlife trader from Nepal. He paid them 1,000 Rps. each to store the skins and transport them to Nepal. This seizure is one of the largest in recent past hopefully will go a long way in dissuading trafficking in illegal wildlife articles. The link to this site is http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/india-crime971.html.

VIOLENT CRIME IN AGRA.
People set a truck on fire during a protest in the northern Indian city of Agra in this August 29, 2007 file photo. A spate of riots involving arson, beatings and even the Taj Mahal's brief closure has led to worries a globalising India is struggling to cope with its underbelly of police graft, economic disparity and caste tension. Even for a nation hardened to a daily media diet of graphic crimes and scandals, India has been awash in the last month with reports of mob violence that has spawned headlines, editorials and warnings from police, politicians and sociologists. Link to this site is http://www.daylife.com/photo.com

‘Save Darfur’ campaign GENOCIDAL CRIME.


the International Criminal Court (ICC), issued an arrest warrant for current President of Sudan, Omer Hassan Al-Bashir. Al-Bashir has been charged with five counts of crimes against humanity: murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture and rape. He also faces two counts of war crimes. The ICC may be growing its first tooth.

Behind the warrant were the many groups that have tirelessly worked to bring global attention to the matter. The ‘Save Darfur’ campaign has been extremely successful example in rallying public support, beginning in churches and university campuses, to influence the public dialogue and bring pressure upon public officials. Through organizing local events, but aiming to influence public opinion on a global level, the campaign is a model in their use of new media, internet, and public rallies and theatre to bring attention to the genocide and plight of a people. While I am in admiration of the campaigns strategies and efforts, it is still worthwhile to ponder on global culpability in allowing such genocides to continue to occur. India has long supported its economic interests despite worldwide attention about the ongoing genocide in Darfur. India’s oil flagship ONGC Videsh Limited is operation a producing oil field in Southern Sudan and is seeking to expand its efforts. It is these oil fields that are part of the reasoning that fuels the ethnic cleansing of Darfur and it is largely oil revenues that are used to purchase the weapons used for the extermination.Just as the ‘Save Darfur’ campaign has a special section calling for an end to China’s support, we should press them for something similar on India. Ending and bringing accountability of India’s support to the Darfur genocide could be an umbrella bringing various South Asian human rights activists in greater contact with one anotehr and with other global human rights movements. Link to see more http://thelangarhall.com/india/indias-role-in-darfur-not-just-china-and-al-bashir-in-sudan/.

EVE TEASING - A BANE FOR WOMEN, A CRIME AGANIST WOMEN.

Increasing number of eve teasing in urban places in India compelled the local authorities to take a serious look into the problem. The growing instances of the murders, of women for rejecting the love of the man had rocked the nation and now the serious thought is given on the reasons for these crimes.

The expression “eve teasing” is Indian origin, the word is not found in the dictionaries.

As per the popular idea the expression eve teasing is a euphemistic in post-colonial India and refers largely to sexual harassment of women in public places, where a women is an “eve “ temptress who provoke men into states of sexual titillation. This popular perception of sexual harassment posits the phenomena as a joke where women are both a tease and deserve to be teased.

Growing incidents like a bike pulling up at college bus stop and the man on the bike shouting lewdly at a college girl, come with me –Rs 300 for night; a car loaded with men pulls out of a driveway of a market shouts at a woman- do you need a ride-we will take you where ever you want and pay for it; the woman gets humiliated and outraged. The laughing and passing lewd remarks of an eve teaser can leave a permanent psychological mark on a woman.

Studies show that 32 percent of the eve teasers are students, 35 percent are anti-socials while the 33 percent are middle-aged men.

An increasingly large number of college going girls and other women taking public transportation in all metropolitan cities in India have resorted to carrying pins, pen-knives and even daggers as a deterrent. Others have taken self-defense classes and don’t hesitate to hit.

In India, every 51minutes a woman is sexually harassed; every 21 minutes one woman is molested. Eve teasing is something that a woman has to contend with everyday. So what is it with Indian men and eve teasing? Is it the frustration of sex or just another mode of fun?. It’s a real shame that in spite of the amount of development happening all around the world, the so called “civilized world” behaves in an “uncivilized manner” with the fairer sex. Cannot the Government or the law makers take real stringent steps against these crimes? Just penning down rules will not help. What is required is real action.Link to this site http://somshuvra.instablogs.com/entry/eve-teasing-a-bane-for-women-a-crime-against-women.

SOCIAL CRIMES/ EVILS PRELEVENT IN INDIA.

The top list are as follows:

1.Dowry
2. Poverty
3. Gender Inequality
4. Drugs
5. Human Inequality
6. Child Labour
7. Prostitution

CHILD LABOUR


Child labour, or child labor, is the employment of children at regular and sustained labour. This practice is considered exploitative by many countries and international organizations. Child labour was utilized to varying extents through most of history, but entered public dispute with the beginning of universal schooling, with changes in working conditions during industrialization, and with the emergence of the concepts of workers' and children's rights. Child labour is still common in some places where the school leaving age is lower.

Child labour is common in some parts of the world, and can be factory work, mining, prostitution, quarrying, agriculture, helping in the parents' business, having one's own small business (for example selling food), or doing odd jobs. Some children work as guides for tourists, sometimes combined with bringing in business for shops and restaurants (where they may also work as waiters). Other children are forced to do tedious and repetitive jobs such as: assembling boxes, polishing shoes, stocking a store's products, or cleaning. However, rather than in factories and sweatshops, most child labour occurs in the informal sector, "selling many things on the streets, at work in agriculture or hidden away in houses—far from the reach of official labour inspectors and from media scrutiny." And all the work that they did was done in all types of weather; and was also done for minimal pay.
According to UNICEF, there are an estimated 158 million children aged 5 to 14 in child labour worldwide, excluding child domestic labour.

POVERTY.
The World Bank further estimates that a third of the global poor now reside in India.Income inequality in India is increasing. On the other hand, the Planning Commission of India uses its own criteria and has estimated that 27.5% of the population was living below the poverty line in 2004–2005, down from 51.3% in 1977–1978, and 36% in 1993-1994. The source for this was the 61st round of the National Sample Survey (NSS) and the criterion used was monthly per capita consumption expenditure below Rs. 356.35 for rural areas and Rs. 538.60 for urban areas. 75% of the poor are in rural areas, most of them are daily wagers, self-employed householders and landless laborers.

Although Indian economy has grown steadily over the last two decades, its growth has been uneven when comparing different social groups, economic groups, geographic regions, and rural and urban areas. Between 1999 and 2008, the annualized growth rates for Gujarat (8.8%), Haryana (8.7%), or Delhi (7.4%) were much higher than for Bihar (5.1%), Uttar Pradesh (4.4%), or Madhya Pradesh (3.5%). Poverty rates in rural Orissa (43%) and rural Bihar (41%) are among the world's most extreme.

India has a higher rate of malnutrition among children under the age of three (46% in year 2007) than any other country in the world.


Despite significant economic progress, 1/4 of the nation's population earns less than the government-specified poverty threshold of $0.40/day. Official figures estimate that 27.5% of Indians lived below the national poverty line in 2004-2005. A 2007 report by the state-run National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) found that 25% of Indians, or 236 million people, lived on less than 20 rupees per day with most working in "informal labour sector with no job or social security, living in abject poverty.


DOWRY.
A dowry (also known as trousseau or torture) is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings to her new husband. Compare bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both dowry and bride price. The dowry is an ancient custom, and its existence may well predate records of it.

It is described in the oldest records, such as the Code of Hammurabi as a pre-existing custom, prescribing only regulations for how it was to be handled and also included regulations for a bride price. If a woman died without sons, her husband had to refund the dowry but could deduct the value of the bride price; the dowry would normally have been the larger of the sums. It marks the first record of long-lasting customs, such as the wife being entitled to her dowry at her husband's death as part of her dower, her dowry being inheritable only by her own children, not by her husband's children by other women, and a woman not being entitled to a (subsequent) inheritance if her father had provided her dowry in marriage.


One of the basic functions of a dowry has been to serve as a form of protection for the wife against the very real possibility of ill treatment by her husband and his family.[citation needed] In other words, the dowry provides an incentive to the husband not to harm the wife.

It is one of the major Social Crime prevalent in India. Sometimes due to lack of dowry the woman becomes a victim of dire consequence. Different cases related to dowry comes up every day in the news and papers. We must all strive to put an end to these evils. These acts always comes in between social progress and development. Though dowry is prevalent in other countries too, the influence is very little compared to India.

Link to this site is:http://socialcrimeinindia.blogspot.com.


India's crimes of 1984 began with its assault on, and the massacres at, the Golden Temple and dozens of other gurdwaras across India in the first week of June 1984, and continued with the nationwide government-sponsored pogroms of November 1984. In many ways, the crimes still continue, not just in the cover-up and the sheltering of the criminals, but in actual outrages by the government and its minions to date.

CYBER LAW AND CYBER CRIMES IN INDIA.


CYBER LAW is seen as an essential component of criminal justice system all over the world. The same applies to cyber law of India as well. In the Indian context, the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act, 2000) is the cyber law of India. It is the exclusive law in this regard and is under the process of amendments.

India has done a good job by enacting a cyber law. It is the 12th country of the world having a cyber law. It covers areas like e-governance, e-commerce, cyber contraventions and cyber offences. However, some critics and cyber law experts have questioned the strength of IT Act, 2000. It would be prudent to analyse the exact position that applies to the Indian cyber law.A crucial truth that India failed to appreciate is that e-governance in India is useless till we are capable of securing it as well. Without the crucial capabilities in the fields of cyber security and cyber forensics, India is heading towards a big trouble. Even the basic ’e-mail tracking’ procedures sometimes pose as a big challenge before the law enforcement agencies in India. Interestingly, some of the legal experts have shown their support for prosecuting owners of e-mail addresses and Internet Protocol addresses relying upon ’common law principles’ not knowing exactly the nature of the Internet. Link :http://www.merinews.com/article/cyber-law-and-cyber-crimes-in-india/139448.shtml.



The number of crimes committed against children is on the increase in Kerala, a trend which Social Welfare Department (SWD) officials now consider as "alarming."

The department is trying to combat the trend by putting in place a system for giving adequate care and protection to children who find themselves in crime-related distress. According to Police Department figures, as many as 361 children became victims of crime in the State last year. Of this 102 children were murdered, 159 raped and 74 reported kidnapped or abducted. There were 20 cases of procurement of minor girls, two cases of infanticide and one case registered under the Child Marriage Restraint Act.

In 2002, 240 cases of crime against children were reported. Between 2002 and 2004 there has been a nearly 50 per cent increase in crimes committed against children in the State. The highest increase was seen in rape cases. There were 64 rape cases in 2001, 148 in 2003 and 159 in 2004. The number of cases registered on the charge of procuring minor girls increased from four in 2001 to 20 in 2004. Link : www.hindu.com.

Take a look at the photo of the street fight between BJP and Marxist party in Trivandrum yesterday. This goonda (from the marxist side obviously) is openly challenging law and order and see what our policemen are doing! They are helping him to throw stones at the BJP guys on the other side.

The primary job of police is to ensure law and order. If anyone violates law, police is supposed to take action. Hell, even when police have the suspicion of violation of law, they are supposed to take action. But when police become so openly biased, everyone looses trust and it is the straight route to hell.

Courageous and independent police officers are becoming extinct in Kerala. Now if someone tries to be a good police officer, we have the human rights commission to harass them.

Kerala to ban mobile phones in schools.
Cyber crimes using mobile phones are on a rise in the state. Most of the cases pertained to threatening women, sending obscene messages and MMS, and clicking photographs of women without their permission.A FEW days back, the Kerala government had said that it would ban the use of the mobile phones in all schools throughout the state. The government gave this statement as a result of increasing instances of misuse of mobile phones in classrooms.

Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, state Home minister, told the assembly that what they had till date was just a government order, which said that mobile phones can’t be used in schools. But now they will introduce new laws to this effect, which would ban the use of mobile phones in all schools across the state. He further added that the decision of banning the mobile phones was taken keeping in mind the rise in complaints of misuse of mobile phones by children. He also said that cyber crimes using mobile phones were also on a rise in the state. Most of the cases pertained to threatening women, sending obscene messages and MMS, and clicking photographs of women without their permission. The ban would not be limited but would be extended to higher secondary schools as well.Earlier, a girl student studying in plus two had tried to commit suicide after she was allegedly stripped and searched by a woman teacher to recover a mobile phone. However, the school authorities denied the allegations. The search was carried out after a junior student complained to the headmistress that the girl was seen talking on the mobile phone in the school. Link :

http://www.merinews.com/article/kerala-to-ban-mobile-phones-in-schools/137371.shtml.