People's Democracy

on file

IT’S a perfect plot for a potboiler with loads of sleaze, threats, baits and politicians. And the Sena is bang in the middle of it.

A former Shiv Sena MLA from Amravati and a BJP councillor have been linked to a sex scandal busted by the Amravati police recently. Reports reaching here (Nagpur) on Friday (October 14) said the police had booked MLA Dyaneshwar Dhane-Patil and councillor Lalit Vedmutha on charges of molestation, rape, abduction, intimidation and destroying evidence.

--- Hindustan Times, October 15

A MAJORITY of farmers in most states across the country spend almost all their money on food, leaving a pittance for education and healthcare.

The findings of the latest National Sample Survey Organisation survey show that farmers in sates like Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim spend 60 per cent and more of their total expenditure on food, while a maximum of 40 per cent – usually less – is spent on education, healthcare, clothing, toiletries, conveyance, personal transport equipment and other durables.

Only in Kerala, which has the highest literacy figures, and in Punjab are farmers spending more on non-food items – including education and health – than on food.

The dismal findings of the survey indicate why poverty continues to be the bane of the Indian countryside.

--- The Indian Express, October 14

AMERICA has broken international law by jailing 2,225 children for life, human rights campaigners have claimed. A study found that offenders as young as 13 face spending the rest of their lives in adult jails with no chance of parole.

Only 12 other juveniles have been jailed for life in the rest of the world. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which complied the 157-page report, urged President George W Bush to abolish a practice that violates the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

--- The Times of India, October 14

IN contrast to world economic growth of 5 per cent, global employment grew only by 1.67 per cent in 2004, a situation that is not politically, socially and economically sustainable, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Though global trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) have increased, they have failed to produce the employment and intensive growth needed to reduce unemployment and poverty, director of the ILO office for the UN Djankou Ndjonkou told the Second Committee of the General Assembly dealing with economic and financial matters. “This demands a global response, but it is essential that acute attention be given nationally,” he added.  

--- National Herald, October 14