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A few days back, Mangalore, India witnessed an incident which has brought shame and utter disrespect for the so called Indian fundamentalists. Workers of the Shri Ram Sena (Lord Ram's Army) entered a pub and started beating up women who were partying. According to the Sena, all these activities, when done by women are unethical and against moral grounds of Indian culture. Women must not drink, smoke, dance in public places, and must be dressed in ethnic wear only, is what the Indian Fundamentalists, like the Sena think. When asked about the incident, women from metropolitan cities condemned it as an act of Hooliganism and Terrorism. Should we, the Youth take such acts quietly? No where in the culture does it specify that women should not be allowed to indulge in such social activities. Director Pooja Bhatt said that the act was akin to what the Taliban or a hardline group from Pakistan would do. More often than not, attacks on women are backed by so called cultural and religious re...

A nine-year-old tribal girl in eastern India has married a stray dog as part of a ritual to ward off an "evil spell" on her, Indian newspapers have reported. An Indian villager poses with his dog and Karnamoni Handsa The girl promised to "take care of the dog" The girl, Karnamoni Handsa, had to be married quickly because she had a tooth rooted to her upper gum, which is considered a bad omen by her Santhal tribe in the remote village of Khanyhan, about 60 kilometres (37 miles) from Calcutta. "Members of the village jury asked us to get her married to a dog or to face the bad omen," the girl's father was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency. The tribe elders said the marriage would not affect the girl's life, and that she would be free to marry again later and did not need to divorce the dog. "It will not spoil her future. We will marry her off to eligible bachelor when she grows up," the girl's mother told AFP. 'No regret...

WHO CAN UNITE THE NATION ? Terrorist attacks in our bazaars, the violence against Biharis in Mumbai, the Naxalite uprisings, religious strife in Orissa, the list goes on: India is being torn apart . We need strong leadership to bring Indians together to protect our collective national interests. But our political system is dysfunctional and our most important institutions are failing . Our best hope is that a great political leader emerges to build trust across various interest groups and knits our country together. India is a deeply fractured country today . We are divided by state, religion, caste, community, language, forwards vs. backwards, left vs. right, secular vs. communal, promoters vs. workers, and on and on. Tossed about among all these divisive interest groups, the Indian state is floundering . Each interest group seeks to capture the state apparatus to serve its narrow demands ranging from getting hundreds of SEZs approved to reserving seats at higher educational instituti...