The Sad State of our Democracy(amreekandesi.com)
amreekandesi.com
The Sad State of our Democracy
http://amreekandesi.com/2012/12/23/what-happened-to-democracy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+amreekandesi+%28amreekandesi.com%29
5 comments
I'll be traveling in India from Jan - April with my girlfriend.
With all this news I've been having second thoughts about our safety.
With all this news I've been having second thoughts about our safety.
Sounds like something to reconsider. Sorry about the botched travel plans, but I'd feel uncomfortable with it, too.
If nothing else, there's always the 'ol, "Vote with your wallet", e.g. in this case visit somewhere more progressive and spend your time/money there.
Definitely. Make sure it's not [Egypt](http://www.juancole.com/2012/12/fundamentalist-constitution-...).
Europe is fine, I guess, but you go there for a different reason than you would to a place like India. There's probably little quite like it - for better or worse.
Europe is fine, I guess, but you go there for a different reason than you would to a place like India. There's probably little quite like it - for better or worse.
A few words of advice:
Go with a very specific plan - Book all your hotels, taxis, trains/flights even before you reach there (check makemytrip.com). Avoid pilgrimage centers. Don't trust anyone who offers help; politely say no, even (esp) if they insist. Don't roam around in the night.
Go with a very specific plan - Book all your hotels, taxis, trains/flights even before you reach there (check makemytrip.com). Avoid pilgrimage centers. Don't trust anyone who offers help; politely say no, even (esp) if they insist. Don't roam around in the night.
May be its not fair to call it an isolated incident since similar events have occurred in the past, but its generally better to follow common safety guidelines whenever you're travelling. Such events can happen anywhere, but it always helps to be extra careful.
regarding rapes , yes it does happen everywhere , but there is a cultural problem in India too. My girlfriend spent time both in Bangladesh and India. In Bangladesh, which is not the safest place on earth for women and not an exemple for women's rights, she never had a problem, most people were kind and respectfull. In India people in the street were trying to grop her all the time and she clearly felt like she was not welcome there. And she was dressed in a decent fashion ...
I agree. Its a shame since things were not like that a few decades ago. Its getting worse, but I guess the entire country is in a cultural transition, so I hope these issues go away in the coming generations.
You need not worry about your safety. I stay in India and feel pretty secure.
It's just that the government is a bit blunt at times.
The discussion completely hacked by the security and tourist point of view, though the view of the article was to say about the current condition of Governance in India. I am also a Indian. Most of the time, when I see any western tourist, I feel very embarrassed. I always think that why they have come here, what is special in India, that they come here?
This is not the first time that such incident has occurred. There are many examples that many international tourists have suffered of the same shameful thing. No one cares, no one is serious, and the government is still being a long sleeping mode. This is the result of what happen when most of the officials, who investigates, the media who cover, the politician who don't know the seriousness are just trying to have a tv bite and they don't understand anything beyond vote bank.
The protesters were trying to enter the Rashtrapati Bhawan, that's when tear gas and water cannons were used, not just because there were protesting.
Just to be fair.
Just to be fair.
Not to sound cynical, but this is what happens when the majority of the electorate votes on the basis of meaningless things like caste, religion and dynasties.
The Ming Dynasty would like to have a few words with you about "meaningless"
A week back, a twenty-one year old woman was gang raped by six other men in a private bus in New Delhi. The rape involved the use of an iron rod, which totally messed up with her digestive system. Her guy friend, who tried to protect her, was hit on the head, and both of them were thrown out of the bus in the middle of the night. Though they're in terrible condition in a hospital now, they've survived. The perpetrators have been arrested.
This harrowing incident led to nationwide anti-rape protests in India. In particular, against the evidently rampant men-are-superior and short-clothes-cause-rape classes of beliefs in India. The government has been totally mum on the issue and has not issued any concrete steps to prevent such incidents in the future. Peaceful protests in Delhi were met with merciless beatings and water cannons and tear gas.
India is indeed in a sad state of gender inequality, lack of freedom of speech and a never ending vicious cycle of illiteracy->demagoguery->poverty->corruption