MISCELLANY

The United States has 2.3 million criminals behind bars, more than any other nation. China comes next with 1.6 million prisoners.
The US has 751 people in prison for every one lakh population. Russia has 627, England 151, Germany has 88 and Japan has 63 people in prison for every one lakh population.
Americans are harsh against crimes related to drugs and narcotics and hand down long sentences. This explains why so many Americans are behind bars. In 1980, there were 40,000 Americans in prison for drug related crimes. Today the number is around 500,000. The US has harsh laws against property related crimes too. Passing on bouncing cheques attracts incarceration in the US while it is a crime that could be ignored in other countries.
(Source: International Centre for Prison Studies, King George’s College, London, quoted by the New York Times News Service.)

More than 100 members of an extended family are forced to live in the open in front of the Palanpur district collector’s office for the last eight months following caste-based violence in their village. Navsarjan, a voluntary agency, organised interaction of the media with a few of the 102 members of the Manwar family at Ahmedabad recently. Maniben Kohyabhai Manwar, resident of Bukna village , Taluka Vaav in Sabarkantha district has been thrown out of his home in Bukna village by land sharks. Jodhabhai, her brother- in- law says, “My brother was gheroed and killed by nine people from the Rajput community on August 29, last year. They wanted to grab our land. The nine accused are going around scot-free. Today , Maniben is staying with 102 people of her extended family in makeshift tents outside the district collector’s office in Palanpur. Needless to say that the state under the Modi government has failed to ensure the security of citizens ,especially Dalits and Muslims . Dalits families are blatantly victimized by members of higher castes in the villages of Gujarat.

The College for Women under the management of Bismillah Educational Trust held the Graduation Day on May 17, in their premises at Bismillah Nagar in Bangalore for the Arts and Commerce students. Dr. Mumtaz Ahmed Khan, Founder of Al Ameen Movement , Ex -Pro Chancellor Aligarh Muslim University presided over the programme, while Mohammed Ali Khalid , Secretary, Wakf Board was the chief guest. Principal of the college, Syed Ghulam Mohamed welcomed the gathering.

Gujarat has the second highest number of diabetics in the country, after Tamil Nadu, according to noted diabetologist Sanjeev Phatak. Launching SoloStar, a pre-filled disposable insulin pen for diabetics, Phatak said Gujaratis were genetically prone to the disease. Bad eating habits are responsible for the high prevalence of diabetes in the state.

Though no exact figures were available for diabetics in the state, he said, their number might be around 10 per cent of the total population, that is close to 50 lakh. In Ahmedabad alone ,the number could be around four to five lakh. According to him, 14 out of every 100 people are diabetic in the country and their numbers were only increasing. Quoting WHO reports, Phatak said the country is poised to become the diabetic capital of the world, as the number of diabetics is expected to go up from three crore to six crore by 2025.

Stressing on the need for creating awareness among the masses to check this disease, which creates kidney, lever and heart malfunctions, he said that while preventive measures like diet control can be resorted to check the disease, one must immediately consult a specialist in case of detection of the disease. Speaking about the SoloStar disposable insulin pen, he said it is suitable for senior citizens and children for a long-term treatment. (Reported by A.H. Lakhani)

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) has started a programme to invite 10 great ideas that can change the world. This is part of the IIT-Mumbai’s golden jubilee programme. It is open only for the alumni, students, faculty and staff (past and present) of IIT Mumbai. They can send their ideas in the area of science and technology. A special website http://10greatindieas.iitb.ac.in has been created for this purpose. This requires IIT Mumbai members to register and send in their entries by October 30, 2008.

It has several eminent members on the jury of selection including Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India Dr. R. Chidambaram, Prof. Mark Welland, Head of the Nanoscience in Cambridge University and Mr. N. R. Narayanamurthy, chief mentor of the Infosys. The panel will be chaired by former President of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.

Over 200 million children under the age of five do not have access to basic health care facilities. A third of these children i.e., 67 million, live in India. 59 per cent of India’s children lack access to basic health care. Fifty five developing countries, these account for 60 per cent of the world’s under-five population and 83 per cent of all child deaths worldwide were assessed on their life saving health care facilities for children. India stands 27th, along with Ghana and Eriteria.
Girl children are more vulnerable to health risks. Indian girls are 61 per cent more likely than boys to die before they reach the age of five. While India has been able to cut down the child mortality by 34 per cent since 1990, the survival gap between boys and girls is growing. (Source: Save the Children Fund)

Nearly half of the world’s people come under food-insecure category, according to the UN’s update on World Economic situation. Moreover, nearly 18,000 children die daily due to inadequate nutrition. The situation is mainly because the agricultural land is being put to various uses like urbanization, putting up industries, etc. Secondly, several crops such as corn (maize) are being used for producing bio-fuels. Partly the problem also arises because the multinational agro-business organisations (such as Monsanto) had come to dominate the marketing and consumption of the food and agricultural inputs in the world. The World Economic Situation and Prospects report says economic growth is likely to drop to 1.1 per cent by 2009. However, in South and East Asia, the economic growth will come down from current 11 per cent to 8.5 per cent.

In a bid to make women of war-ravaged Afghanistan financially independent, Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), an NGO, is imparting training to 32 Afghan women in Ahmedabad under a Central Government programme.

These women, who are in the age group of 18-25 years, are being trained in the field of garment manufacturing, food processing and horticulture. After their return to Kabul, they will train 1,000 women there. The training programme is going on at the association’s premises since February and will last for 18 months. “The primary objective of this programme is to make these Afghan women self-reliant and provide them economic independence,” said Reema Nanavati, director of Rural and Economic Development, SEWA. The programme, which is the first of its kind, was initiated by the External Affairs Ministry in 2006 in collaboration with the Ministry of Women Affairs of Afghanistan.

Manual scavenging (cleaning the human wastes from toilets) is still prevalent in North East Delhi, says a study by the Delhi University’s Department of Social Work. Delhi has 1,282 scavengers, majority of them living in North East Delhi where people from poorer states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have taken up residence. About 80 per cent of these scavengers are women and majority of them are married. Over 71 per cent are below 40 years of age. Out of 1,282 scavengers, 1,085 live and work in Delhi, while the rest work in the capital, but live in Loni, a Delhi suburb. About 12 per cent of the scavengers told researcher Pamela Singla that they cannot leave their profession as they have no alternative means of livelihood. It may be recalled that India decided to phase out manual scavenging in 1993 when our Parliament passed the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act.

The Muslim Students’ Welfare Organisation (MSWO) invites, for felicitation, applications from students of Bangalore Urban and Rural areas who have secured 75% and more marks in the SSLC/ ICSE /CBSE and PUC exams held in March 2008. The application along with a copy of marks card should have: (1) Name of student (2) Father’s Name (3) Postal Address (4) Contact No. (if any) (5) Name of School / College (6) Total Marks scored and should reach the address given below on or before 20th June 2008.

Muslim Students’ Welfare Organisation ( MSWO ). C/o Image Copies, No, 47, Central Square Complex, Opposite Sangeeth Theatre, Central Street, Shivajinagar, Bangalore-560 001. Asif Ali. A, General Secretary (9916824150)

Bedar-e-Millath Publications, Bangalore has published and released “ Millath Directory 2008”. This updated telephone directory contains telephone numbers and addresses of educational, charitable, social welfare and financial institutions and organisations managed and run by Muslims in Karnataka. For copies, contact, Bedaar-e-Millath Publications, Shah Sultan Complex, No 17, Cunningham Road, Bangalore-52. Ph: 9448067369.