VidyutKale's blog

No Jobs Added in Agriculture & Manufacturing Industries Since 1995

Agriculture and Manufacturing Industries that ought to have been Engine of Growth of Indian Economy have not added any jobs since 1995 combining both Public and Private sectors.   Employment in these two Industries is barely 8.8m when it ought to have been 50m at least.   India...
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Female Genital Mutilation

"Mama tied a blindfold over my eyes. The next thing I felt my flesh was being cut away. I heard the blade sawing back and forth through my skin. The pain between my legs was so intense I wished I would die." These haunting words by Waris Dirie, UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador and spokesperson...
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Be Safe, Little Woman

So, a collection of advice for women who must live in a world of men. This collection ought to keep you safe from sexual molestation unless you are really unlucky. Never dress provocatively. Allow for interpretations of provocation, and wear something that covers every inch of your body –...
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How I Got Interested In Farmer Suicides

In 2006, I attended an event of ISABS. I had just returned to Mumbai after spending several years in the mountains, and was still missing rural life. So when the community turned out to have two activists from rural Andhra Pradesh, who also happened to share the room next to mine, I tended to...
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5 Things That Stand Out About Pakistan's Elections

The pundits will soon be out with elaborate analysis and more, but some things that are foremost in my mind as I watch news of Pakistan's Elections are: 1. It is the first time in Pakistan's history that a democratically elected government is being replaced with a democratically elected government...
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Collect Statistics Like No One Is Analyzing

Indian governance has a unique aversion for facts, logic or research. Never mind the countless committees and their ignored reports till one comes up that is convenient, even our statistics seem to be designed to report incidences in a way that disallows further meaningful analysis. We have a...
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Prostitution As A Mirror Of Society

I came across a blogpost rebutting a comment made on a previous blogpost on legitimizing prostitution, and I found that I disagree strongly enough to write this: Go read that post first, because this one will be free flowing and not quote that post here. Then you might as well read my...
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India Should Have A Sex Industry

The collective sexuality of the nation is still very Victorian, and now moving toward worse Victorian. Moral judgments around sex are such that sex is near dead beyond the instinctive “itch” that gets tittered about by frustrated women or blustered about by equally frustrated men. I think we...
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Rinkle Kumari And A Tale Of Two Countries

On the 24th of February this year in Pakistan, a Hindu girl Rinkle Kumari went missing from her home without clothes, money or even footwear. The next her family heard of her was when MNA Mian Abdul Haq called up her family to inform them that she was with him and she had converted to Islam and...
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Reaping Gold Through Cotton, And Newsprint

The same full page appeared twice in three years, the first time as news, the second time as an advertisement “Not a single person from the two villages has committed suicide.” Three and a half years ago, at a time when the controversy over the use of genetically modified seeds was raging across...
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