Author Archives: vinod

Support the Poor, Smoke a Beedi

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Financial woes of the Tamil Nadu tobacco workers –

Mukkudal (Tamil Nadu), Sept 15 : The beedi workers in Tamil Nadu are in a pathetic condition these days. These under-paid workers are facing tough time eevn as they have to borrow loans to meet their daily expenditure. The workers are paid a meagre 50.25 rupees per 1000 beedis. They seek loans from their pension fund to meet their urgent monetary needs, but often they are denied the right…

Am I the only one who’s surprised that they’ve got a pension fund to draw upon? Wild stuff….

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Globalization Saves Lives…

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Muy interesante – India-made scooters help bring down Lanka suicide rate : HindustanTimes.com.

Three wheelers made in India have played a silent but a very critical role in bringing down the appallingly high suicide rate in Sri Lanka, experts say.
But this has steadily come down over the years, with 2002 recording 23.8 suicides per 100,000 people, the lowest so far.
“Almost every fair sized habitation in Sri Lanka now has four or five Bajaj three wheelers which enable quick and timely transfer of the suicide cases to the nearest hospital,” said Manisha Wickramanayake, a staffer at the suicide prevention organisation Sumithrayo.

Unintended consequences rule. Continue reading →

Old White Male Cultural Establishment Discovers Desi’s

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One of my favorite culture blogs – 2Blowhards – throws a nice hat tip in the direction of Sepia Mutiny – 2blowhards.com: Desiblogs.

I’m getting used to the term “Desi,” which — if I understand it right — is a term for anyone of South Asian descent. Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshis — they’re all Desis. Corrections appreciated if I’ve got this wrong, of course, as long as everyone understands that I’m just a passe old man who’s doing his valiant best to keep up with a bewildering new world.

Make sure you check out the comments left by various folks including a couple of the mutineers. Continue reading →

We’re all Dravidians ;-)

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GNXP isn’t everyone’s cup of tea (the material there attracts controversy like flies to cow theetum) but Razib’s got some interesting material on the mtDNA of Desi’s – Gene Expression –

There is a important new paper (you can view the full PDF if you follow the link) out that surveys the genetics of South Asians viewed from the angle of mtDNA, that is, the direct female lineage. If you follow this stuff, you won’t be surprised to find out that the authors conclude that

Continue reading →

We don’t die, we multiply

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No comment – MSNBC – Hindus Worry Over Christian, Muslim Growth.

BANGALORE, India – The leader of India’s Hindu-nationalist opposition on Tuesday voiced concern over the growth rate among minority Muslims and Christians, urging them to practice family planning to preserve the nation’s
The data released Monday showed the share of Hindus in the country’s 1.028 billion population fell from 82 percent in 1991 to 80.5 percent in 2001. The portion of Muslims increased from 12.2 percent to 13.4 percent and Christians rose from 2.32 percent to 2.34 percent.

“This imbalance is not good for the country,” Naidu said. “Family planning is the need of the hour for all people.”

Could the non-Hindu brown folks engage in a bit more “Family Planning”, please?!?!?!

GC – How Asians Became White

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Frequent SM commentor Godless Capitalist / “GC” posts over @ GNXP – How the Asians became White.

I first noticed this effect 10 years ago, at a party where a friend of mine commented that the guests were all white. I responded by mentioning about a dozen Asians; oh, she said, that’s right, but you know what I mean. At a recent UCLA conference I attended, two speakers complained that everyone on the panel was white, without even realizing that one of the speakers was ethnically Chinese, and another was an Asian Indian with skin darker than that of many American blacks…

If true, it would leave many an aspiring desi race/ethnic activist unemployed….

Uncle Montezuma’s Revenge

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Good news from the science front – MSNBC – Montezuma’s curse gets reversed.

September issue, Budget Travel magazine – Traveler’s diarrhea, or T.D., has ruined many a vacation, especially to high-risk destinations such as Mexico and India.

Changing the approach to treating the common ailment is an antibiotic that’ss newly approved in the U.S., but one that’s been prescribed in Europe for years. Rifaximin was given the official OK by the FDA this past spring, and as of August it’ll be sold under the name Xifaxan (the first x is pronounced like a z).

India’s leading global brand…

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vstory.aishwarya.raiafp.jpgWe’re always looking for a gratuitous reason to put up a pict of Ms. Rai – CNN.com – Ash leads the Bollywood brand – Sep 1, 2004

MUMBAI, India (CNN) — Think global brands and the first names to come to mind might be Microsoft, McDonald’s, Toyota or Samsung.

For India, that global brand is Bollywood, the massive film and entertainment industry that has its heart in the city of Mumbai.

And its best-known brand ambassador is former Miss World Aishwarya Rai, an actress who is proving adept at a multilingual and multinational approach to picking scripts.

Continue reading →

The Acorn on Indian Hostage Drama

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Great Post – The Acorn: Indian hostages released

A collective sigh of relief masks the grave damage done

Antaryami, Tilak Raj and Sukhdev Singh have been set free in one hostage drama that comes with a happy ending, and without recourse to Asha Parekh after all.

…The Indian government has already paid too high a price for their release, allowing a bunch of armed thugs to dictate its emigration policy. For the time being every Indian passport will carry a stamp of shame – making them invalid for travel to Iraq…