Indians sold milk mixed with sewage water: police

MUMBAI, May 29, 2012 (AFP) 

Indian police said Tuesday they had arrested and charged four men in Mumbai who are accused of selling milk mixed with sewage water in plastic packets scavenged from garbage bins. 

 

The four vendors, arrested on Monday, are suspected of adulterating milk for the last six months and are accused of putting their customers' health at risk by selling it in a western suburb of the city.

"Cops caught four milk vendors red-handed selling milk packets mixed with sewage water to customers," the Mid Day newspaper reported.

"They were playing with the lives of their customers, especially children. It is not just adulteration but a slow poison for consumers," a police officer told the newspaper from Vile Parle, where the men were caught.

They appeared before magistrates charged with several counts, including the sale of noxious food or drink, and were remanded in custody until May 31, Mumbai police spokesman Nisar Tamboli told AFP, confirming the Mid Day report.

Police, who seized 181 adulterated milk packets and 160 litres of adulterated milk from the vendors, are now investigating if the men were part of a larger racket.

They said one of the vendors' methods was to rummage through garbage bins and collect empty milk packets, which they would fill with 60 percent milk and 40 percent gutter water, before sealing the packet with a burning candle.

The raid comes after a meeting of Indian dairy farmers this month called for strong legislation to curb the malpractice of adulterated milk being sold to consumers.

A study by an Indian government watchdog published in January showed that more than two-thirds of milk in the country was contaminated with substances including salt, detergent, skimmed milk powder, fat, glucose and water.

The survey across 33 states by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India found that 68.4 percent of 1,791 milk samples contained adulterants.

The sale of fake products in branded packaging collected from rubbish dumps is believed to be widespread in India.

In 2010, police busted a gang in New Delhi believed to be making thousands of dollars a month by selling local Indian whisky in the bottles of premium brands such as Johnnie Walker and Glenfiddich.

TO DO OR NOT TO DO, THAT IS THE LAW

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The Telegraph - May 15

By changing the age of consent from 16 to 18, a proposed law has exposed its hypocrisies and raised questions about child marriage and teenage sexuality

Child marriage in rural areas

You are not old enough for this, and then, in the same breath, don’t behave like a child — everyone has heard this at some point of time in their adolescent years. Who decides the right time when a child evolves into an adult? Recently, the Union cabinet had given its assent to a bill that raised the age of legal sex in India from 16 to 18. It gave the go-ahead to the protection of children from sexual offences bill, 2011, which deems that sex under the age of 18 would be considered rape, even if it was between two consenting individuals. It is interesting to note that the legal age of marriage is 18 years. Does that mean that our legal system, ensconced in morality, now wants to propagate that consensual sex before marriage is not only immoral but also illegal in India?

One wonders how the law would analyse the implications of such moral policing on the widely prevalent practice of child marriage, which is still rampant in India. When juvenile couples have sex with the consent of not only each other but also of the parents and in-laws, who should be convicted for rape? Surely not the 30 per cent of adolescent males, roughly around 72 lakh young boys, who are married to pre-adolescent and teenage girls according to a recent Unicef study? The main reason for concern is the fact that in many villages, marriages are not registered until the bride has attained 18 years of age even though the marriage has taken place much earlier. Thus the girls are kept out of health monitoring programmes, and now, with sex likely to become a crime until the girl and her young husband both turn 18 — especially the bride — would imply that they would be kept out of health and birth-control programmes too. This means further difficulties with teenage pregnancies. They would also be kept away from hospitals during pregnancy and childbirth, making them far more vulnerable than they already are.

The age of puberty has come down all over the world and it is a medically accepted fact. Studies have found that boys tend to achieve puberty at 13 years and girls at 10 years. Youngsters start to feel the effects of sex hormones well before they get to the age of 16, let alone 18. Is it expected that none of these youngsters would want to experiment till they are 18 when they are living, as we do, in a sexually aware environment? With the internet, sexual content on television and in movies, sexually explicit advertisements, youngsters are surely not expected to remain immune to their surroundings?

It is interesting to see that the law indirectly supports sexual activity only after marriage. So it can be inferred that if youngsters wanted to experiment with sexuality, they would have to get married. Thus it can lead to a spurt in marriages at a young age, but does being 18 also mean being mature enough to make serious decisions for life? If there is a sudden spurt in marriages, wouldn’t there be a sudden rise in divorces as well?

In a society where matrimony is ‘holy’ and sex a taboo, the new law teaches young people to lie a little more.

Miracle ou plomberie? Un calvaire oppose catholiques et scientistes en Inde

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BOMBAY, 27 mai 2012 (AFP)

La main de Dieu ou la clé du plombier? Un Christ crucifié dont sort de l'eau sème la discorde en Inde, entre catholiques qui y voient un miracle divin et un militant scientiste qui encourt la prison pour blasphème après avoir évoqué un simple problème de tuyauterie.

Des milliers de chrétiens fervents ont afflué en mars dans une banlieue de Bombay pour s'abreuver à la source gouttant des pieds de Jésus sur la croix, convaincus qu'elle libérait une eau lustrale.

Sceptique de nature, Sanal Edamaruku, président de l'Association rationaliste indienne, a affirmé, après inspection, que le suintement provenait d'une évacuation d'eaux de ménage défectueuse et qu'il représentait un danger pour ses consommateurs.

Ses propos ont immédiatement suscité l'ire de groupes religieux et une plainte de police l'accusant de propager "le venin anti-catholique" a été déposée à Bombay, qui pourrait lui valoir trois ans de prison pour blasphème.

"Ne tentez pas de faire revenir les temps obscurs en Inde", a lancé Sanal Edamaruku à ses détracteurs lors d'un débat télévisé.

L'un d'eux est Joseph Dias, secrétaire général du Forum séculaire catholique-chrétien, qui lui reproche "un préjugé farouchement anti-chrétien".

Dans un communiqué transmis à l'AFP, il dément que la fuite du calvaire ait été présentée comme un miracle divin --statut requérant un édit religieux-- tout en réfutant la théorie d'Edamaruku. "Il n'y a toujours pas d'explication crédible".

Joseph Dias juge "inutile" d'envoyer Edamaruku en prison: "plutôt dans un asile d'aliénés, pour qu'il se soigne".

L'Inde est officiellement séculière mais le blasphème reste un délit puni par la loi dans cet immense pays à majorité hindou, composé d'importantes minorités ethniques et religieuses (bouddhistes, chrétiens, musulmans), où piété et superstition ne sont pas des motifs de plaisanterie.

La loi indienne proscrit "les actes délibérés et malveillants destinés à faire outrage aux sentiments religieux d'une communauté en insultant sa religion ou ses croyances".

Au nom de la liberté d'expression, les avocats de Sanal Edamaruku veulent saisir la Cour suprême de la plus grande démocratie du monde afin qu'elle statue contre cette disposition du code pénal datant de l'ère coloniale.

Sanal Edamaruku compare la réaction des catholiques indiens "aux fondamentalistes islamiques" qui avaient émis une fatwa condamnant à mort l'écrivain Salman Rushdie après la publication des "Versets Sataniques" en 1988.

Salman Rushdie, dont le livre reste interdit en Inde pour insulte envers l'Islam, a récemment dénoncé à New Delhi le "fanatisme religieux" qui l'avait empêché de participer en janvier au plus grand salon du livre indien, à Jaïpur, dans l'ouest du pays.

"J'ai toujours dit qu'il y avait deux Indes", confie Sanal Edamaruku. "Celle du 21ème siècle, qui est progressiste, moderne, scientifique" et "l'Inde du 17ème, qui nous ramène aux époques obscures de l'intolérance, de la bigoterie et de la superstition".

Sanal Edamaruku, 56 ans, est familier des polémiques. Son association, qui revendique plus de 100.000 membres --sur 1,2 milliard d'habitants-- a été créée en 1949 pour promouvoir le raisonnement scientifique.

Depuis trente ans, l'homme se fait fort de démasquer les "gourous" autoproclamés qui sévissent à travers le pays en amassant une fortune sur le dos de leurs fidèles.

Il s'en est notamment pris au célèbre Sai Baba, considéré par des millions d'Indiens comme un dieu vivant, doué de pouvoirs surnaturels, chez qui près de cent kilos d'or, 307 kilos d'argent et 115 millions de roupies (1,6 million d'euros) en liquide ont été retrouvés à sa mort l'an dernier.

De la capacité des Français à parler Anglais...

The Mocktail Circuit

The Indian Express Fahad Samar : Fri May 11 2012, 01:02 hrs

Vacationing in Paris these past couple of weeks, it has been gratifying to note that the notoriously parochial French are now rather amenable to speaking in English to the hordes of tourists who swarm their city. Perhaps it has dawned upon them that in the midst of this economic downturn, it is wiser to speak lingua franca rather than alienate linguistically challenged but liberally spending foreigners.
Make no mistake — the infamously obnoxious Parisian waiters can still be quite snotty as their 15 per cent tip is already built into the bill and they don’t really need to please customers to earn their gratuity. But across the board in taxis, cafes, brasseries, boutiques and museums, the locals are willing to reply to a tourist’s hesitant, “Parlez vous Anglais?” with a nod and perhaps even a smile. It has been a great regret I never learnt to speak French fluently but I am always entertained by the Indian chatteratti who mispronounce everyday English words by adopting a fake French accent while nattering on the local cocktail circuit.
Here is a ready reckoner of the most mispronounced words overheard in our social circles:
EPITOME: It amazes me how many members of the beau monde brazenly enunciate this word as if it were an epic tome. It’s pronounced ‘i-pit-uh-mee’. Given that most of our glitterati are obsessed with themselves, it is all the more ironic that the ‘me’ is silent in their flagrant mispronunciation of this word.
DUPLEX: Most social snobs I encounter insist on pronouncing this word as ‘dew- play’, thinking it is a French word that rhymes with Camembert soufflé. Do they also watch films at a ‘multiplay’ or rather go to a multiplex? It’s pronounced ‘dew-plex’ and if you aspire to live in one, then at least learn to pronounce it correctly. Touché?
CHUTZPAH: Another favourite word employed with impunity by our social climbers and enunciated with the sheer audacity of the truly ignorant! It’s a Yiddish word meaning ‘unbelievable gall or insolence’ and it’s pronounced ‘hoot-spuh’ and not like some local slang.
MOET ET CHANDON: The champagne set who so like to snigger at those less fortunate do not realise the joke is on them when they go about quaffing bottles of bubbly and ask for their favourite ‘Mo-yay e Chandon’. They openly make fun of some poor waiter who proffers a glass of ‘Mo-wett’ and feel oh-so-superior with their French enunciation. Guess what dahlings — the waiter is pronouncing it correctly and you are openly flaunting your ignorance along with that oversized Birkin.
I am always amused when society arrivistes order ‘Bordox’ wine at ‘restraunz’and talk loudly about their new ‘Yatch’ and ‘Hermeez’ bags.
Do please write in with any ‘fox passes’ you might have encountered.
Till then, au revoir, mon cherries!
samarofdiscontent@gmail.com