Child labor in India

Of nearly 218 million children engaged in child labor around the world, the vast majority—69 percent, or some 150 million—are working in agriculture Bonded labor takes place when a family receives an advance payment (sometimes as little as U.S. $15) to hand a child-boy or girl-over to an employer. But the pressure on poor children - often from their own parents - to work remains strong. The use of children as soldiers is an abusive practice. Millions of women and girls around the world turn to domestic work.

Child labor in India is a grave and extensive problem. Children under the age of 14 are forced to work in match factories, cotton fields, fireworks, and in carpet-making factories. India has had laws since the 1930s banning children from working. Lawmakers pass new laws to protect children and ensure that even the most disadvantaged can receive an education. The Government of India reports about 20 million children laborers, whereas other non-governmental organizations estimate the number to be closer to 50 million.

More than 416,000 children under the age of 18, of whom almost 225,000 are younger than 14, are involved in child labor in India’s cottonseed production. Most of them are girls. They work in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, which account for nearly 92 per cent of the cottonseed production in the country.

Total Population: 998,056,000 Child Population: 398,306,000

Indian Laws on Child Labor

• Child (Pledging of labor ) Act, 1933
• Bonded Labor System Abolition Act of 1976
• Tamil Nadu Handloom Workers Act of 1981
• Child Labor (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986

Estimates cite figures of between 60 and 115 million working children in India -- the highest number in the world (Human Rights Watch 1996, 1).

Recent figures from the International Labor Organisation (ILO) show that:

• Globally, 1 in 6 children work
• 218 million children aged 5 - 17 are involved in child labor world wide
• 126 million children work in hazardous conditions
• The highest numbers of child laborers are in the Asia/Pacific region, where there are 122 million working children
• The highest proportion of child laborers is in Sub Saharan Africa, where 26% of children (49 million) are involved in work.

Outsourcing labor to Asia, where wages are cheaper, and labor laws less stringent, is increasingly popular for Western fashion chains. Gap, the international clothing chain, with more than 3,000 shops, including about 200 in India, has called an emergency meeting with suppliers to investigate new allegations of forced child labor being used in the manufacture of their clothes.

The embroidered girl's smock blouse for Gap Kids from the sweatshop in Delhi was made using child labor. The children hand-stitching the beads were not paid, but the garment would have sold for about £20. Dan Henkle, Gap Inc's senior vice-president of social responsibility, called the allegations "deeply upsetting".

In the last fiscal, India’s exports of handmade carpets were around $800 million, with the U.S. market alone accounting for 50 per cent and Germany 20 per cent. India accounts for about 35 per cent of the world trade in handmade carpet.

The Child Labor Deterrence Act of 1993, which is still under consideration, prohibits importing to the U.S. any product made, whole or in part, by children under 15 who are employed in industry. While this aspect of the bill may be effective, the United States needs to take action regarding child labor abuses, specifically targeted at India.

From VOICE OF AMERICA

Vikram Srivastava, manager of development support at CRY says the government activities a token effort. "There's no strategic policy, plan or long-term or short-term intervention plan by the government, so even if there are rescues or ... a few employers who have been prosecuted, these things do not help in the long run."

Child rights activists complain that Indian government is too focused on legislation liberalizing trade and industry. "They get implemented very fast and very effectively," adds Narayanan. "But the policies on social sector - whether it is health, child labor or education - policies don't get implemented."

At the Labor Ministry, the person incharge rejects these complaints that the government is not sincere about the child labor problem. "There has been a lot of political will on the part of the government to eradicate child labor in the country, child labor is a very complex problem and the result of a number of socio-economic factors."

One of the factors is very simple to understand and transparent also. For employers, local as well as outside customers and for the parents there is nothing shameful about a child working at the cost of an education. Child labor remains widespread in India, despite the country's emerging economic power.

Union Minister of State for Women &child Development Renuka Chowdhury wants the ban on Child labor eased. Go to the following site: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/16969.html

Also watch the video on Child labor in India : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R348etaQ4EE

Kidney bazzar -watch it

http://www.everyzing.com/viewMedia.jsp?

YouTube.com: ndtv - Shortage fuels illegal organ trade

Kidneys on sale

Kidneys on sale!!!

Today police enquiries have revealed that Chennai-based nephrologists Dr. Palani Ravichandran, who was arrested on the charge of running an illegal kidney trade involving over 600 transplants, had amassed over Rs 100 crore. In the inquiry, Mumbai police found out that since 2001 he was into this fraudulent act. He confessed to have done over 600 surgeries and charged between Rs. 15 lakh and Rs. 25 lakh per surgery.

Since the Transplantation of Human Organs Act was adopted by the State in 1995, making trade in human organs illegal but there is fresh evidence to show that kidney commerce is thriving in some Indian states.
The Rs 100 crore kidney business in Punjab came to the notice of the press but, some people points out, it was an open secret for many years.


Indian slum-dwellers who are desperate to pay off their debts are ready to sell their organs and the items for sale are mainly kidneys. Ninty percent of the organ donors live below the poverty line. The kidney donors are often poor young women and for them, selling kidneys is like disposing a piece of jewel to meet an emergency expenditure. After the tsunami, the poverty - striken fisher women from Chennai have started selling their kidneys. According to a press report, about 100,000 Indians require a kidney transplant every year and some two million suffer from serious kidney problems. Globally , the number of individuals on a waiting list to receive a kidney currently exceeds 100,000. The demand is so huge and the kidneys reaches the fatty hands with more money.

The kidneys are in ample supply in India: A single kidney can fetch a sum between USD 700 -1300, and there is a large number of people willing to sell a kidney. The Indian government already tried to pass a law regulating the removal and donation of kidneys as early as 1994. Theoretically, every transplant needs to be approved by a hand-picked panel of doctors and other experts. But the dramatic increase in demand for kidneys leads to more and more organ donations being approved and to the illegal trade. Actually, the organ trade has developed into a veritable export industry. Every year more than 1,000 kidneys from India go abroad -- most of them to Arab countries and attracts many patients from the other countries who needs a renal transplant.


To date, Chennai is a thriving kidney market thus continues to be one of the main centres for live unrelated renal transplantation in India. With an active doctor-broker-patient nexus, has been brought out time and again in the media and by independent investigators since the Transplantation of Human Organs Act was adopted by the State in 1995, making trade in human organs illegal.

The kidney racket had been going on a large scale with a complex network of brokers, doctors and hospitals and many had been cheated and paid less for their kidneys. One G Mittal from Mumbai was promised Rs 4 lakh for his kidney but was given just Rs 25,000. He had lodged a complaint with Mumbai police and on that basis, the police arrested four brokers. Following this, the police came over to Chennai and arrested Dr.Ravichandran. and also with the Income Tax sleuths conducted raids at the doctor's Subasri Nagar residence at Mugaliwakkam, Chennai. They seized important documents pertaining to kidney transplant treatment.

Simultaneously, the Bharathiraja Hospital in places such as T. Nagar and St. Thomas Hospital where the doctor performed the surgeries had been sealed. The Tamilnadu Health Department has also revoked the licence of these hospitals to perform kidney transplant. Health professionals and activists must raise public awareness to promote cadaveric transplant programmes, and prevent the illegal organ trade.

"The major issue as far as India is concerned is getting rid of the brokers. This would mean government regulation or administration of any compensation policy that would be developed,"- transplant News - editor Jim Warren

A fabulous archeological treasure-house

The Silk Route

Multiculturalism, globalism and globalization are not a new phenomenon. History shows that religions, arts, cultures and people themselves have interacted to create remarkable blends that distinguish each country from the other. The historical Silk Road which is an example of "thin globalization," provided an economic and cultural link between ancient Europe and Asia. The Chinese silk trade increased the arrival of foreign traders to the “Middle Kingdom” or the “Centre of the world”. During the time of the Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE), 5000-mile stretch of Silk trade route linked Asia to Europe and Africa exposing both the Chinese and visitors to their country to different cultures and religions. Because of trade along the Silk Route, Buddhism spread from India to China by the Han Dynasty, Islam, Nestorian Christianity and Zoroastrianism. and by the Tang Dynasty.

Buddhism

Buddhism is the fourth largest religion in the world, after Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Buddhism in India began with the life of Siddhartha Gautama (ca. 563-483 B.C.), a prince from the small Shakya Kingdom located in the foothills of the Himalayas in Nepal. Lived in opulence and splendor, one day he came to know the sorrows of the real world and abandoned his home and his family, wandered forth searching for the meaning of existence. Eventually, under the Bodhi tree in the forests of Gaya (in modern Bihar), he solved the mystery of existence and found the Four Noble Truths. By the third century B.C., through the effort of the Mauryan Empire the religion based on the Buddha's teachings was being spread throughout South Asia and by the seventh century A.D., had been spread throughout East and Southeast Asia. For centuries Indian kings and merchants patronized Buddhist monasteries and raised stone structures called stupas over the relics of the Buddha in reverence to his memory.

Buddhism in China

During Emperor Ming of HAN’s reign Buddhism began to spread into China. The Emperor then sent a delegation to India for Buddhist texts. Back home along with the two Indian Bodhisattvas, Kashyapa Matanga and Dharmaratna they brought a picture of Sakayamuni Buddha and some sutras, on a white horse. There they started to translate the sutra in a temple, later called White Horse Temple. They translated 5 sutras, but only one still exists, i.e. "Sutra in 42 sections". In fact, that time China had three main streams of thought: Confucianism, Taoism, and folk religion. These various thoughts sometimes competed with each other and with Buddhism. The Mahayana of India became the Mahayana of China and, later, of Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

Dunhuang : a city on the old silk route

Dunhuang means to flourish and prosper, was founded by Emperor Wudi of the Han dynasty in 111 BC is a city in Jiuguan, Gansu province in China. It has a special place in history because of its location close to the parting of the northern and southern silk routes. Many priests who traveled from China seeking Buddhist teachings and monks from India and Central Asia stopped in Dunhuang en route to India and Central Asia. In Dunhuang stands the "White Horse Pagoda," which, according to legend, commemorates the horse that accompanied the important monastic translator Kumarajiva. The best known of these travelers who passed through Dunhuang was Xuanzang in the seventh century. He returned from India with hundreds of manuscripts and he devoted his last years translating them at Chang’an the capital of Tang dynasty (present-day Xi’an). In the late seventh century a pagoda was erected in his honor. The monk Dharmaraksha, was called the Bodhisattva of Dunhuang lived in the third and fourth centuries and translated the Lotus and other sutras into Chinese, came from this area. In the fifth century, the Indian monks Dharmamitra (356-442) came to this area and stayed for some time to preach.

Dunhuang: Outstanding achievement of world art

In Dunhuang there are more than 500 caves, 492 of which shelter a total of 45,000 square meters of wall paintings and 2,415 colour statues of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. They had been created from the 4th to 14th century and preserved for about seventeen centuries in fairly good condition. It is an extravaganza of Buddhist art with an unrivalled magnitude and historiography. This nonpareil temple propagating a religion of Indian origin away from it’s own land. Mogao caves is one of the historical names of Dunhuang. It’s another world famous historical name is Qian Fo Dong - the "Thousand Buddha caves". In addition, a few other sites of Buddhist caves are located in the Dunhuang region, including the Yulin (42 caves), Eastern Thousand Buddhas (23 caves ), and Shuixiakou (8 caves) in Anxi county, the Western Thousand Buddhas (22 caves) and the Five-temple (6 caves) and One-temple Cave (2 caves) in Subei county.

Discovery of the Sutra Cave

The “Cave for Preserving Scriptures” was discovered by a Taoist monk Wang Yuanlu in 1900. A large number of ancient manuscripts and documents as well as paintings and other pieces of artwork were found in the caves. Among them were numerous manuscripts of Buddhist scriptures, dating from the fifth to the eleventh century. Other items included Taoist, Confucian, Manichaean, and Nestorian scriptures. The scriptures and documents were written in Chinese, Brahmi script, Tibetan, Khotanese, Kuchean, Sogdian, Turkish, Uighur, and the writing system of the kingdom of Hsi-hsia.
In 1906, Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1942), a Hungarian-born Jewish employee of the British Government in India, came to China and was finally allowed into the cave, There he found the ancient sutra scrolls heaped up in piles several meters high. His expeditions, published in full in the 1920s, made him a celebrity. The manuscripts from the cave are now largely housed in four major institutions: the National Library of China, the British Library, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and the Institute of Oriental Studies, St Petersburg, with smaller holdings elsewhere. At present there is no complete catalogue and none of these institutions can offer full access to its collection. Although microfilms and other facsimile forms of the manuscripts exist, these are still incomplete and often of poor quality.

The International Dunhuang Project, IDP, was founded in 1994 to create a virtual library of all the cave documents in high-quality digital format. It is an international collaborative effort based at the British Library in London, to catalogue, conserve, and encourage research of Silk Road artifacts. For more information click the following link: http://idp.bl.uk/. which currently displays around 20,000 digitized images of these artifacts, is one product of this larger effort.

The misconception about Shiva Lingam

God is not an idea, it is a consciousness.

Linga represents the Lord of the Universe.

Shiva is represented by the Lingam or Mark, which is manifestly the Creative power of Divinity.
Shiva-lingam is a sign by which Shiva is symbolized. The word Linga means an emblem, symbol or a mark that points to an inference.
The Sanskrit-English Dictionary edited by P. K. Gode and C. G. Karve is widely regarded as an authoritative work and it gives a wide range of meanings for lingam:"The primary meaning given is: “A mark, sign, token, an emblem, a badge, symbol, distinguishing mark, characteristic.”
Linga Purana states, 'The foremost Linga which is devoid of smell, color, taste, hearing, touch, etc, is spoken of as prakriti (nature).
In the Upanishads , Linga is invariably used in the sense of a mark or a symbol.

Avyakteshu parah purusho vyapako Linga yeva cha

Na cheshita naiva cha tasya Lingam

Mahadadyam Vishesantam Lingam

Many a time the word Yoni is found in the Upanishads, but it is taken to mean not as a female genital organ but merely as the source or prima causa of the Universe.

The Linga is only the outward symbol of the formless being, Lord Siva — who is the indivisible, eternal, auspicious, ever-pure, immortal essence of this vast universe. He is an indweller, the undying soul seated in one's heart, innermost Self or Atman and who is identical with the Supreme Brahman.

It is an amorphous icon of Shiva represents the being which is beyond the 36 tattvas, where as an anthropomorphic Nataraja that represents creation, an icon representing Siva within all 36 tattvas.

Why to misunderstand the Lingam ?

To some people it is difficult to grasp the meaning of a Shiva Linga.The worship of this shaft horrified many early Western visitors to India and still misunderstood by others.

The Linga is certainly a bisexual symbol but not a phallic symbol alone. The shaft of the Linga of Shiva is set in a circular base, called a "seat" - Aaavudai in Tamil . It represents the female divine energy – Shakti, personified as Shiva's female half . The eternal union of Shiva and Shakti gives birth to the whole Macrocosm, represents the human being and the universe with its physical and also invisible aspects

In classical Hinduism, the lingam of Shiva is the center of worship, the male aspect represents pure consciousness, which is inactive; the female aspect symbolizes the primal force, which is active. Shiva is the masculine energy, the supreme lord, the great ascetic and meditator. The Shiva Lingam , stands for an eternal column of light, the purest form of Shiva.

In Tantric Hinduism, the yoni of Shakti is added to the Lingam of Shiva to form a symbol incorporating the genitals of both sexes, thereby symbolizing the creation of the universe.

Many ancient civilizations recognized the wonder of this concept. In the oriental philosophy /in the Eastern thought, the solar, positive male aspect is called Yang, and the lunar, negative female aspect is called Yin. Yin and Yang are inseparable and makes up the very life of the Universe.