Humans emerged from male pig and female chimp, world's top geneticist says 

London, Nov 30, 2013: Humans are actually hybrids, who emerged as an offspring of a male pig and a female chimpanzee, according to one of the world's leading geneticist. 

Turning the theory of human ancestry on its head, Dr Eugene McCarthy — one of the world's leading authorities on hybridization in animals from the University of Georgia has suggested that humans didn't evolve from just apes but was a backcross hybrid of a chimpanzee and pigs. 

His hypothesis is based on the fact that though humans have many features in common with chimps, there are a lot more that don't correspond to any other primates. He then suggests that there is only one animal in the animal kingdom that has all of the traits which distinguish humans from our primate cousins. 

"What is this other animal that has all these traits? The answer is Sus scrofa - the ordinary pig" he says. 

He explains: "Genetically, we're close to chimpanzees, and yet we have many physical traits that distinguish us from chimpanzees. One fact, however, suggests the need for an open mind: as it turns out, many features that distinguish humans from chimpanzees also distinguish them from all other primates. Features found in human beings, but not in other primates, cannot be accounted for by hybridization of a primate with some other primate. If hybridization is to explain such features, the cross will have to be between a chimpanzee and a non-primate - an unusual, distant cross to create an unusual creature." 

Dr McCarthy suggests that Charles Darwin told only half the story of human evolution. 

"We believe that humans are related to chimpanzees because humans share so many traits with chimpanzees. Is it not rational then also, if pigs have all the traits that distinguish humans from other primates, to suppose that humans are also related to pigs? Let us take it as our hypothesis, then, that humans are the product of ancient hybridization between pig and chimpanzee," he said. 

According to Dr McCarthy, if we compare humans with non-mammals or invertebrates like the crocodile, bullfrog, octopus, dragonfly and starfish, pigs and chimpanzees suddenly seem quite similar to humans. 

Pigs and chimpanzees differ in chromosome counts. The opinion is often expressed that when two animals differ in this way, they cannot produce fertile hybrids. This rule is, however, only a generalization. While such differences do tend to have an adverse effect on the fertility of hybrid offspring, it is also true that many different types of crosses in which the parents differ in chromosome counts produce hybrids that capable themselves of producing offspring. 

There is substantial evidence supporting the idea that very distantly related mammals can mate and produce a hybrid. 

Another suggestive fact, Dr McCarthy says is the frequent use of pigs in the surgical treatment of human beings. Pig heart valves are used to replace those of human coronary patients. Pig skin is used in the treatment of human burn victims. "Serious efforts are now underway to transplant kidneys and other organs from pigs into human beings. Why are pigs suited for such purposes? Why not goats, dogs, or bears - animals that, in terms of taxonomic classification, are no more distantly related to human beings than pigs?," he said. 

"It might seem unlikely that a pig and a chimpanzee would choose to mate, but their behaviour patterns and reproductive anatomy does, in fact, make them compatible. It is, of course, a well-established fact that animals sometimes attempt to mate with individuals that are unlike themselves, even in a natural setting, and that many of these crosses successfully produce hybrid offspring," he adds. 

Dr Eugene McCarthy says that the fact that even modern-day humans are relatively infertile may be significant in this connection. 

"If a hybrid population does not die out altogether, it will tend to improve in fertility with each passing generation under the pressure of natural selection. Fossils indicate that we have had at least 200,000 years to recover our fertility since the time that the first modern humans (Homo sapiens) appeared. The earliest creatures generally recognized as human ancestors (Ardipithecus, Orrorin) date to about six million years ago. So our fertility has had a very long time to improve. If we have been recovering for thousands of generations and still show obvious symptoms of sterility, then our earliest human ancestors, if they were hybrids, must have suffered from an infertility that was quite severe. This line of reasoning, too, suggests that the chimpanzee might have produced Homo sapiens by crossing with a genetically incompatible mate, possibly even one outside the primate order," he said.

Courtesy: The Times of India

Meet the Woman Who Is Slowly Calcifying Into a ‘Human Statue’

Ashley Kurpiel, although her movement is becoming
limited with an extremely rare disease, isn’t letting
it debilitate what she wants to do in life.
(Photo credit: Ashley Kurpiel)

Ashley Kurpiel traveled to Russia to meet Olesya,
a woman with FOP who saw her story and was inspired.
(Image source: Ashley Kurpiel/Facebook)

November 28, 2013: When Ashley Kurpiel was 3 years old, doctors amputated her arm thinking she had cancer. A few months later, doctors found out they were wrong, and Kurpiel’s family learned her condition was much worse.

Over the years, the muscles, cartilage, ligaments and tendons in Kurpiel’s body have been slowly turning into bone.

“I am turning into a human statue,” Kurpiel told TheBlaze.

Kurpiel has a condition known as fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), which affects only a few hundred people worldwide. The genetic disorder results from a mutation in the ACVR1 gene. Physically traumatic events, like a fall or other injury, can cause muscle swelling and a speeding up of the ossification process.

But if you think this disease is slowing Kurpiel down, it’s actually doing just the opposite.

At 31 years old, Kurpiel surfs, travels as an inspirational speaker and watches her niece.

“I have energy, so I’m going to go do it,” Kurpiel said. “Tomorrow, I might not have this mobility. Everyday I do what I can while I can.”

In fact, Kurpiel recently got back from a trip to Russia after a woman with FOP contacted her, saying recent media coverage of Kurpiel’s lifestyle inspired her.

The trip to Russia was eyeopening to Kurpiel. Not just traveling to a different country, but traveling to one without the accommodations for disabled persons.

“If you are physically disabled, you are put away,” Kurpiel said of those in Russia.

“Everyone was looking at me like I was a freak show,” she continued.

Kurpiel and the woman she traveled to Russia to meet appeared on “Let Them Talk,” a talk show Krupiel said was like the Russian equivalent of “Oprah.”

On the show, Kurpiel said she and her friend David, a travel buddy, sang a song called “Beautiful Creature,” which he had written for Kurpiel, to 29-year-old Olesya.

“It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done,” Kurpiel said of signing the song acoustically on stage for the TV show. “(Olesya) loved it though.”

Talking with Kurpiel it is hard to believe that she “was a very shy and reserved little girl.” In her youth, she wasn’t impacted by the symptoms associated with FOP. She was, however, an amputee.

In terms of her current mobility, Kurpiel said she has limited movement in her neck, she can only walk short distances because her hips and thighs are fused and she can’t lift her arm normally, but she can feed herself with anything that’s “fork friendly.”

If you touched Kurpiel’s back, she said it would feel like a rock. But unlike a statue or a person who is paralyzed, even though she can’t move, she can feel.

The calcification process, according to Kurpiel, is horribly painful.

“The pain– I tried every narcotic known to man,” she said when her legs began calcifying in late 2006.

She said she wanted her mobility to be taken away — “let me be rock fused,” she said — as opposed to suffering through it.

Watch Kurpiel talk about herself and her condition:


Last month, Kurpiel traveled to Denver, Colo., to be fitted for a prosthetic arm. Being both a patient with FOP and an amputtee, Kurpiel feels she is in a unique position and works to raise awareness and support both communities.

Her main message?

“Life’s not over. It’s different but it’s not the end of the world.”

Courtesy: The Blaze

Starving Syrians 'forced to eat lion from Damascus zoo'

Picture appears to showing starving rebels
with a slaughtered lion

Friday, 29 November, 2013: An image of Syrians cutting up a lion is being shared widely on social media, with activists pointing to the picture as proof that the nation's besieged citizens are now so hungry they are having to kill zoo animals to survive.

The picture shows three men next to a dead lion, with one man cutting up the animal's hind quarters and another next to the lion, holding up its head.

The image has not been independently verified, but many are reporting they slaughtered the lion from Al-Qarya al-Shama Zoo, in East Ghouta, for food. It is being circulated as an example of the levels of sheer desperation many have reached in the war-torn capital.

The exact circumstances surrounding the animal's death are not known. Some reports claim the men are skinning the dead animal to use its coat for warmth as temperatures drop. Others have suggested the seemingly emancipated animal was already dead. As the Arabic word for lion is 'Assad', there is also conjecture that this a message to the regime.

Last month, a group of Syria clerics issued a fatwa allowing people living in besieged suburbs to eat meat normally forbidden under Islamic law. The Muslim clerics said people could eat cats, dogs and donkeys in a bid to reduce growing hunger in the agricultural belt of Ghouta. They called the move a cry for help to the whole world and warned the living would be forced to eat the dead if the situation were to continue deteriorating.

The eastern Ghouta district has been under siege by the Syrian Army for six months and residents have reported food shortages. The area was among other regions in Damascus affected by a chemical weapons attack in August.

Over 100 people died in the eastern suburbs on Friday after fierce fighting broke out when Syrian rebels tried to break a month long blockade. According to local and international aid workers, President Assad’s forces appeared to be trying to starve out residents. This latest bloodshed comes as the Oxford Research Group – a think tank – says that a total of 11,420 children have now been killed in the conflict.

Courtesy: The Independent

Afghanistan plans stoning adulterers to death

Draft revision of penal code includes public punishment for married adulterers, a move harking back to Taliban rule.

Human rights groups have called on President
Karzai to reject the plan

25 Nov 2013: Afghanistan's government is considering restoring stoning for adultery, a punishment used by the Taliban during its time in power.

"Men and women who commit adultery shall be punished based on the circumstances to one of the following punishments: lashing, stoning [to death]," states article 21 of a draft of the new penal code.

Article 23 of the draft, being drawn up by the ministry of justice, specifies that the stoning should be public.

Unmaried adulterers would face 100 lashes under the changes.

The revision would need to be approved by parliament and the president of Afghanistan for it to become law. Under current laws, adulterers face long prison terms.

Brad Adams, the Asia director for Human Rights Watch, condemned the plan and called on the president, Hamid Karzai, to reject the plan.

"It is absolutely shocking that 12 years after the fall of the Taliban government, the Karzai administration might bring back stoning as a punishment," he said Brad Adams.

"President Karzai needs to demonstrate at least a basic commitment to human rights and reject this proposal out of hand."

HRW said that $16 billion in aid promised to Afghanistan last year was tied to progress on human rights issues.

"Donors need to make clear that international support to Afghanistan's government is not a blank cheque," Adams said.

In Afghanistan, an extremely conservative Muslim country, extramarital sex and sex before marriage are taboo and can lead to bloody conflicts between families.

Stoning was widely practised during the years of Taliban rule, and is used in areas still controlled by the movement. In July last year, a 21-year-old woman was stoned to death in a Taliban-controlled village just 60km north of Kabul.

Courtesy: Aljazeera

Angola accused of 'banning' Islam as mosques closed

Human rights activists condemn crackdown though officials in largely Catholic nation insist reports of ban are exaggerated

Palestinians burn Angola's flag in a protest amid
reports that the country has banned Islam and
destroyed mosques. Photograph: APA/REX

Thursday 28 November 2013: Angola has been accused of "banning" Islam after shutting down most of the country's mosques amid reports of violence and intimidation against women who wear the veil.

The Islamic Community of Angola (ICA) claims that eight mosques have been destroyed in the past two years and anyone who practises Islam risks being found guilty of disobeying Angola's penal code.

Human rights activists have condemned the wide-ranging crackdown. "From what I have heard, Angola is the first country in the world that has decided to ban Islam," said Elias Isaac, country director of the Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa (Osisa). "This is a crazy madness. The government is intolerant of any difference."

Officials in the largely Catholic southern African nation insist that worldwide media reports of a "ban" on Islam are exaggerated and no places of worship are being targeted.

The UK has just named Angola as one of its five "high-level prosperity partners" in Africa and the two countries have a burgeoning trade relationship. The Angolan president, José Eduardo dos Santos, Africa's second-longest serving head of state at 34 years, has long been accused of corruption and human rights abuses.

Religious organisations are required to apply for legal recognition in Angola, which currently sanctions 83, all of them Christian. Last month the justice ministry rejected the applications of 194 organisations, including one from the Islamic community.

Under Angolan law, a religious group needs more than 100,000 members and to be present in 12 of the 18 provinces to gain legal status, giving them the right to construct schools and places of worship. There are only an estimated 90,000 Muslims among Angola's population of about 18 million.

David Já, president of the Islamic Community of Angola (ICA), said on Thursday: "We can say that Islam has been banned in Angola. You need 100,000 to be recognised as a religion or officially you cannot pray."

There are 78 mosques in the country, according to the ICA, and all have been closed except those in the capital, Luanda, because they are technically unlicensed. "The mosques in Luanda were supposed to be closed yesterday but because of an international furore about reports that Angola had banned Islam, the government decided not to," Já said.

"So, at the moment, mosques in Luanda are open and people are going for prayers."

Já said the government began shutting mosques in 2010, including one that was burned down in Huambo province, "a day after authorities had warned us that we should have not built the mosque where we had and that it had to be built somewhere else. The government justified by saying that it was an invasion of Angolan culture and a threat to Christian values."

Another mosque was destroyed in Luanda earlier this month, Já said, and 120 copies of the Koran burned.

Muslims have been instructed to dismantle mosques themselves, he added. "They usually issue a legal request for us to destroy the building and give us 73 hours to do so. Failure to do so results in government authorities doing it themselves."

Women who wear the traditional veil are also being targeted, Já said. "As things stand, most Muslim women are afraid to wear the veil. A woman was assaulted in hospital in Luanda for wearing a veil, and on another occasion, a young Muslim lady was beaten up and told to leave the country because she was wearing a veil.

"Most recently, young girls were prohibited from wearing the veil in Catholic schools and, when we went there to confront the nuns, they simply said they couldn't allow it. Although there is not an explicit written law prohibiting the use of veil in Angola, government has prohibited the practice of the faith and women are afraid to express their faith in that sense."

The ICA's complaints were supported by Rafael Marques de Morais, a political activist and leading investigative journalist in Angola. "I've seen an order that says Muslims must destroy the mosques themselves and clear away the debris, or they will be charged for the cost of the destruction."

He suggested the government was seeking to find a convenient diversion from growing public hostility towards Chinese and Portuguese workers in Angola. "The government need to deflect attention. They are trying to find a scapegoat for economic pressures and saying Islam is not common to Angolan values and culture.

"They believe a blanket law against Islam will get the sympathy of both Angolans and those in the international community who equate Islam with terrorism."

Asked about the potential for Muslims to protest, Marques replied: "If the Muslims try to show any anger, they will be deported the following day."

But the Angolan government denies any attempt to ban Islam. "There is no war in Angola against Islam or any other religion," Manuel Fernando, director of religious affairs at the culture ministry, . "There is no official position that targets the destruction or closure of places of worship, whichever they are."

A statement from the Angolan embassy in the US concurred: "The republic of Angola ... it's a country that does not interfere in religion. We have a lot of religions there. It is freedom of religion. We have Catholic, Protestants, Baptists, Muslims and evangelical people."

Courtesy: The Guardian

Nigeria sharia police smash 240,000 bottles of beer

Wednesday, 27 November 2013: Police enforcing Islamic law in Nigeria's city of Kano publicly destroyed some 240,000 bottles of beer today, the latest move in a wider crackdown on behaviour deemed "immoral" in the area.

The banned booze had been confiscated from trucks coming into the city in recent weeks, said officials from the Hisbah, the patrol tasked with enforcing the strict Islamic law, known as sharia.

Kano's Hisbah chief Aminu Daurawa said at the bottle-breaking ceremony he had "the ardent hope this will bring an end to the consumption of such prohibited substances".

A large bulldozer smashed the bottles to shouts of "Allahu Ahkbar" (God is Great) from supporters outside the Hisbah headquarters in Kano, the largest city in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north.

Kegs containing more than 8,000 litres of a local alcoholic brew called "burukutu" and 320,000 cigarettes were also destroyed.

"We hope this measure will help restore the tarnished image of Kano," said Daurawa.

Since September, the Hisbah have launched sweeping crackdowns and made hundreds of arrests in Kano following a state-government directive to cleanse the commercial hub of so-called "immoral" practices.

The 9,000-strong moral police force works alongside the civilian police but also has other duties, including community development work and dispute resolution.

Sharia was reintroduced across northern Nigeria in 2001, but the code has been unevenly applied.

Alcohol is typically easy to find in Kano, including at hotels and bars in neighbourhoods like Sabon Gari, inhabited by the city's sizeable Christian minority. But the Hisbah boss vowed that this was set to change.

Courtesy: The Siasat Daily

Assam gangrape: Now, cops say woman wasn't raped

Guwahati, November 27, 2013: Police in Assam Wednesday said a woman whose death sparked widespread protests was not raped.

Superintendent of Police P.K Bhuyan ruled out the "rape" angle and said the woman died due to severe head injuries in Lakhimpur district.

"I am yet to physically receive the post mortem report. However, my officers who are in Guwahati obtained the post mortem report today (Wednesday), which ruled out any rape angle. The woman died due to severe head injuries," Bhuyan said.

Police recovered the woman with multiple injuries from near Boginadi police station in the district Friday. The woman later died at a hospital in Guwahati.

Local people and organisations have taken to the streets of Lakhimpur town since Sunday, terming the incident as a rape and murder.

They protested against the failure of police to identify and arrest the culprits.

Some of the agitating organisations have even compared the incident with Dec 16 gang rape in Delhi last year.

Police said they could not record the statement of the victim as she was not in a position to speak.

"It's a incident of crime and we have registered a case in this regard. Investigation is on to find out the culprits. It could be a planned murder or an accident," Bhuyan said.

Courtesy: India Today

Officers scared to appoint women as their PAs: Samajwadi Party leader

NEW DELHI, Nov 27, 2013, : In remarks that could stoke a fresh controversy, Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agrawal on Wednesday said that officers are "scared" to appoint women as their personal assistants after the passage of the bill to prevent sexual harassment of women at workplace.

Agrawal, whose remarks have led to controversies in the past, though refrained from commenting on the rape case against Tarun Tejpal till the probe is completed, he recalled that when the law in favour of women was being brought, he had expressed concern over it.

"I had apprehended that this law may also be misused like the anti-dowry law and may result in a situation in which the women themselves are deprived of justice.

"I have got this information from many people that a number of senior officers are not appointing women as their personal assistant. They are scared of having to face any kind of allegation after this," Agrawal, who is a Rajya Sabha MP, said.

The SP had also opposed the provisions of anti-rape bill this year.

However, on the Tejpal case in specific, Agrawal said that nothing can be said right now when the matter is under investigation of Goa Police and hence one has to wait for the legal process to culminate.

Responding to another question about the incident of a rape incident in UP, Agrawal said that "such incidents are happening in every part of the country...such incidents are happening frequently in Delhi" and wondered why media was "so concerned this time".

Agrawal, at the same time, maintained that he was hopeful that the government will ensure punishment to culprits and that action was being taken.

Courtesy: The Times of India

SIMI planned to strike pilgrim train from Delhi-Bodh Gaya, Shia mosque: Police

Dr Mohammad Ahmadullah Siddiqi, founding president
of the now outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India
Photo: Rediff.com

Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013: Suspected Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) operative Umer Siddhiqui, who was recently nabbed here, had planned to attack a Delhi-Bodh Gaya special train and the Shia mosque at Lucknow, police said today.

Police added that along with the recent Patna blasts accused Haider Ali alias 'Abdulla', Siddhiqui (35), had also trained youth to make bombs and carry out suicide attacks on political leaders.

"During interrogation, Siddhiqui confessed that they had planned to execute blasts on the Delhi-Bodh Gaya VIP special train for pilgrims, targeting people from foreign countries like Japan and Sri Lanka," Additional Director General (ADG) of Police (Intelligence), Mukesh Gupta, told reporters here.

Police also recovered a letter written by former SIMI head Safdar Nagori, who is presently being held at Sabarmati Jail, from Siddhiqui's possession.

Siddhiqui and his associates had also reconnoitred Sirpur, a Buddhist historical site located around 90km from the Chattisgarh state capital, Gupta added.

Siddhiqui, said to be the mastermind of the July 7 blasts at the Bodh Gaya temple complex in Bihar, is one of the 13 alleged SIMI operatives who have been arrested over the last two weeks in Raipur.

Police also claim to have recovered several video clippings and documents from the arrested SIMI operatives which are "anti-Indian" in nature.

"We have seized clippings of hate speeches and attack strategies in the form of CDs. These clippings resemble those used by extremist outfits working in Pakistan," he said.

During his interrogation, Siddhiqui admitted that the Kashmir issue, atrocities against Muslims, co-operation from Laskhar-e-Taiba, Jaish-E-Mohammed and Indian Mujahideen were issues which SIMI would discuss during their weekly meetings in Raipur.

He said that SIMI activists were inspired by terrorist organisations based in Afghanistan.

According to ADG Gupta, SIMI members had planned to leave the country after building a terror network here.

"A Pakistani visa application form was also seized from Siddhiqui," the ADG said.

On November 15, Sidhhiqui, who ran a coaching centre at Raja Talab, and autorickshaw driver Abdul Wahid Khan (54), were arrested for their alleged links to SIMI.

Later 11 others — Sheikh Habibullah (34), Roshan Sheikh (35), Hayat Khan (45), Abdul Aziz (45), Sheikh Azizullah (38), Moinuddin Qureshi (37), Mohd Dawood (38), Mohd Aslam (28), Sheikh Subhan (48), Mohd Saeed Abdul Jaleel (50) and Azharuddin Samshuddin Qureshi (19) — were picked up by police.

According to police, four absconding Patna serial blasts accused — Haider Ali alias Abdulla, Noman Alam alias Feroze, Taufiq alias Asif and Mujibullah — had after the incident reached Raipur from Rourkela.

Siddhiqui and his associates had put them up at a rented house in the Sanjay Nagar area. But by the time police could carry out a raid, the four accused had already fled.

Siddhiqui, who planned the Bodh Gaya temple complex blasts, had also been plotting an attack on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi during one of his rallies at Kanpur, Delhi or Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh, police claimed.

Courtesy: DNA India

New responsibilities: Rajesh Talwar to assist prison's medical team while Nupur to be a teacher

Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013: A day after their conviction, parents of slain Aarushi Talwar were today assigned new roles by the Jail authorities, which alloted dentist Rajesh Talwar the responsibility of assisting prison's medical team while his wife Nupur will don the hat of a teacher.

"Nupur Talwar will now be known as jail teacher while Rajesh will work as an assistant in Dasna Jail hospital. Both are highly educated, and job allotted to them is the best for them as per their qualification. The dentist couple will also be given remuneration according to rules," said Jail Superintendent Vireshraj Sharma.

Sharma said that they started work from today and would be on work from 10 AM to 5 PM every day except Sunday.

The officer said that Rajesh and Nupur Talwar have been lodged in barrack number 11 and 13 with other 11 inmates and 35 prisoners respectively.

Rajesh Talwar was allotted prisoner number 9342 while Nupur got prisoner number 9343, he said.

"The will not be given VIP treatment inside the jail," he said.

"Nupur and Rajesh are reading novels. When Nupur reached the jail, she took three novels with her. They are now spending most of their times in their barracks. They did not read today's newspapers," said Sharma.

Nupur has given a list of some books which jail authorities are trying to provide her from the jail's library.

The dentist couple were yesterday sentenced to life term by a CBI court after they were convicted of killing their daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj five-and-a-half years ago.

Courtesy: DNA India

Shrine discovery pushes back Buddha's birth date

Tuesday Nov 26, 2013: The discovery of a 2,600-year-old simple wooden shrine surrounding the ancient tree in Nepal to which the Buddha's mother clung as she gave birth looks set to revolutionise the understanding of the origins of one of the world's major religions.

Archaeologists digging beneath the sacred Maya Devi Temple at Lumbini have uncovered the first physical evidence to enable them to accurately date the nativity of Prince Siddhartha Gautama whose teachings are now followed by half a billion believers.

The extraordinary find suggests that the very earliest devotees - some 600 years before Christ - were vegetarian and eschewed material wealth in favour of spirituality as laid down by the prince who abandoned his high rank to seek out the path to Enlightenment

A vast brick temple, which also predates the earliest known Buddhist structures, found at the same place suggests that the emerging religion enjoyed a wealthy and powerful benefactor before its adoption by the Emperor Asoka whose empire spread across most of the Indian sub-continent and who is traditionally considered the most important figure in its transformation from a local cult.

Professor Robin Coningham of Durham University, who co-led the international investigation with Kosh Prasad Acharya of the Pashupati Area Development Trust in Nepal, said until now Buddhist scholars had been forced to rely on oral and scriptural traditions which suggested the Buddha's birth date was either in the third or the sixth century BC.

"This find completely resets what we are dealing with in terms of early Buddhist practice," he said. Academic disagreement is the result of the differing histories held by the various Buddhist populations across Asia.

The failure to discover any physical evidence prior to a sandstone pillar laid by Asoka in 249BC marking the birth spot during his visit has long sown doubt in some scholars' minds over the chronology.

Professor Coningham said it is believed the wooden shrine - built by local villagers - encased the tree where the Buddha's mother Queen Maya Devi gave birth in a beautiful garden in the foothills of the Himalayas as she travelled from her husband's capital to her parent's home in Devadaha.

This was later overbuilt with a stone shrine measuring 26m by 20m constructed out of 20kg blocks which also had the tree at its carefully preserved centre. Fragments of charcoal and grains of sand were tested whilst the presence of ancient tree roots within the temple's void was detected by scientists at the University of Stirling in Scotland.

The failure to discover items of wealth or cut animal bones at the site suggests that the principles of non-meat eating and renunciation of material items as well as animal sacrifice were already established from the earliest moments of the religion.

"This was a time of huge economic and social transformation - the growth of states and cities and great population increase. The teachings of the Buddha said that you didn't need to be a Brahmin to be reborn and that there was more to life than materialism. This was attractive to the growing numbers of merchants who were not Brahmins," said Professor Coningham.

Lumbini, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of the four holy places of Buddhism alongside Bodh Gaya, where he achieved enlightened, Sarnath, where he first preached, and Kusinagara, where he died.

Today it is visited by one million pilgrims a year. UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, called for "more archaeological research, intensified conservation work and strengthened site management" to ensure Lumbini's protection. Academics believe the discovery could herald a new era in Buddhism scholarship.

Kumar Shrestha, Nepal's minister of culture, tourism and civil aviation said: "These discoveries are very important to better understand the birthplace of the Buddha. The government of Nepal will spare no effort to preserve this significant site."

The tree at the centre of the shrine was no longer there by 400AD however Chinese pilgrims did report the presence of another the following century suggesting it has been repeatedly planted over time. However it ceased to be a place of pilgrimage by the 15th century and was largely abandoned until it was discovered by the German archaeologist Alois Anton Fuhrer in 1896 amid the jungle.

Courtesy: The New Zealand Herald

Caste factor, not development, poll plank for most candidates in Rajasthan

In Nagaur, BJP’s Muslim face Habib-ur-Rehman, banks on Brahmins and Muslims to outwit Jats, who are supporting Congress rebel Harendra Mirdha, contesting as an Independent candidate.

Jodhpur, Monday, Nov 25, 2013:  Irrespective of candidate’s performance, merit, age and integrity, the success in the electoral battle lies in his genes. In a whirlwind tour of eight key districts of Rajasthan, from eastern Sawai Madhopur to the western border district of Jaisalmer, comprising 58 Assembly segments, dna found candidates’ caste and his personal strength, emerging as two primary criteria uppermost in electoral equations deciding their fate. 

Despite Allahabad High Court having banned caste-based rallies, almost all candidates and their aides in their election offices are busy with counting castes and communities to vote in their favour. Since there has been no caste-bases census after 1931, most of the calculations are speculative. 

A government official told dna in Sawai Madhopur that the figures dished out by the media often go uncontested and political greenhorns start believing in them.

At another election office in Sur Sagar Assembly segment near Jodhpur, aides of a sitting BJP MLA 75-year old Suryakanta Vyas try to explain how they are attempting to rope in Brahmins, Vaishyas, Sindhi Hindus, Mathurs, Kanchis and Bishnois to neutralise 42,000 Muslim votes, who they fear may vote for Saeed Ansari of the Congress.

Some 400 kms away in Sikar, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate Wahid Chuhan, a successful entrepreneur and an educationist banks on consolidation of Muslims and luring a section of a Jat vote to dish out a winning combination. In Nagaur, BJP’s Muslim face Habib-ur-Rehman, banks on Brahmins and Muslims to outwit Jats, who are supporting Congress rebel Harendra Mirdha, contesting as an Independent candidate. Even the BJP’s local influential Jat leaders are quietly switching loyalties to their caste, rather than supporting their party’s official candidate. And this makes a surprise combination of Muslims consolidating in favour of the BJP candidate, in a sharp contrast to other places, where they combine to defeat the saffron party.

While listing chief minister Ashok Ghelot’s achievements, his election manager Ajay Trivedi agrees that on the election day, everything boils down to caste preferences. “It is a reality. Political parties may deny backing any particular caste, but they decide candidates on the basis of their caste and influence on their communities,” he says. “It is like making a dish,  instead of putting in rice, pepper and salt, you decide in terms of Muslims, Brahmins, Malis, SC/STs etc to make a perfect winning dish, which may be appalling in the 21st century India. But it is a fact,” adds Trivedi.

The Congress was forced to give tickets to Leela Maderna, wife of accused ex-minister Mahipal Maderna in Bhanwari Devi case to please the Jats in Marwar region. To please the Bishnois, the party fielded 82-year Amri Devi, mother of another accused in Bhanwari Devi case Malkhan Singh.

She is barely able to walk and sometimes even unable to recognise her aides due to her old age.

The BJP leaders also agree that while they have been raising issues like inflation, corruption and governance, the caste factor was difficult to ignore.

A look at the candidate list shows, the BJP has fielded 12 Brahmins, 32 Jats, 27 Rajputs, 9 Gurjars and 4 Muslims. The ruling Congress list includes 18 Brahmins, 36 Jats, 14 Rajputs, 17 Muslims and 12 Gurjars.

Courtesy: DNA India

CM announces welfare boards for Rajputs, Brahmins

Kangra, November 24, 2013: Chief minister Virbhadra Singh on Sunday announced to constitute the Rajput Kalyan Board and the Brahmin Kalyan Board in the state.

A separate welfare board would also be constituted for the remaining castes. The chief minister would be the chairman of the boards to be constituted.

The chief minister made the announcement after unveiling the statue of Maharana Pratap at Maharana Pratap Complex in Kangra town. The function was organised by the Rajput Kalyan Sabha and Trust.

The statue has been built by Shri Faqir Charan Farida, a renowned sculpturist.

The chief minister lauded the work of Farida, who had also sculptured the statue of Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi, in the state capital.

Appreciating the efforts of the Rajput Kalyan Sabha and Trust for setting up the statue of the great warrior, Virbhadra said Maharana Pratap was a great patriot and warrior who bravely fought against the invaders.

Interacting with the media on the sidelines of the function, Virbhadra denied any personal spite against anyone. He said he was doing his duty, but opposition leaders were calling it vendetta.

He said all investigations into the HPCA affairs and others were being done on the basis of the Congress chargesheet against the previous government, which was included in the policy document of the government.

Referring to the case of land purchase by prominent lawyer Prashant Bhushan, he said the matter was under investigation and the guilty would be punished.

Later, the chief minister laid the foundation stone of Government Industrial Training Institute (IIT) at Daulatpur in Kangra tehsil. The project will be completed within two years at a cost of `381.46 lakh.

He also approved to start science classes at Daulatpur Senior Secondary School and said separate blocks would be constructed to facilitate science students.

Virbhadra announced to set up 25 hand pumps in Changer area. Addressing the public on the occasion, Virbhadra said roads, education and health sectors were top priorities of the state government for which there would be no financial constraints.

“The Congress government has opened schools and colleges to facilitate the students of the state in getting education near to their homes,” the chief minister said, adding that unemployment was a major concern and efforts were being made to create more employment avenues.

He was accompanied by state Vidhan Sabha speaker BB Butail, food and civil supply minister GS Bali, agriculture minister Sujan Singh Pathania, chief parliamentary secretary Jagjivan Pal, MLAs Sanjay Rattan, Ajay Mahajan, Pawan Kajal and Manohar Dhiman, chairman of the HP State Pollution Control Board Kuldeep Singh Pathania, chairman of the Kangra Central Cooperative Bank Jagdish Sipahiya and vice-chairman, State Forest Corporation, Kewal Singh Pathania.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times

The Campa Cola Reprieve Raises Uncomfortable Questions

18 November, 2013: Relief for the 107 fla owners of Mumbai’s Campa Cola compound, condemned to the hammer, came from where it was least expected. The Supreme Court Bench, which had steadfastly refused to condone the illegal floors added by the builder in the Campa Cola buildings, stepped in on 13 November at the last minute. Just as the demolition squads were moving in, the court stayed the demolition till 31 May 2014 on ‘humanitarian grounds’. Granted a new lease of life, it was party time for the flat owners. However, the reprieve has divided public opinion and raised serious questions of law and discrimination.

There has never been any doubt about the illegality of the construction. The developer had been permitted to construct five-storey buildings. He went on to build two additional floors. In the case of two buildings, he went up to the 20th and 17th floors. The violation was brazen. Significantly, it wasn’t as if the flat buyers were innocents duped by a wily builder. When the home buyers moved in 1987, they were aware that the builder had deviated from the sanctioned plan; and for that reason, the buildings did not get Occupation Certificates (OC). They had been promised that the illegal floors would be ‘regularised’; and as all good citizens, they put their trust in the builder and believed that is how the system works. 

In the city of Mumbai, there are 54,000 illegal buildings without OCs. Nobody is pulling them down; nobody is asking questions. Unfortunately, for the Campa Cola residents, they extended their hand, and went to court to seek regularisation. If they had just kept quiet, perhaps life would have been simpler. 

While the strict stand of the Supreme Court decreeing the demolition of the illegally constructed floors in commendable, it is unfortunate the municipal officials who orchestrated all this have gone scot free. It is widely known that the Buildings Proposal Department of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation is the most corrupt among government agencies. Heavy bribes are a matter of routine. The illegal buildings were not erected in a day. The municipal engineers had ample time to assess the violations and stop construction work months before the developer could begin marketing his stock to gullible customers. They never did. 

Gurbir SinghCampa Cola is not a new story. Across the road at the Campa Cola Worli junction, is a huge 65-story tower ‘Palais Royale’ being developed by the promoters of Sriram Mills. A PIL filed in the Bombay High Court has proved that the developers have added floors far in excess of the sanctioned plan by showing large dollops of refuge space. Refuge floors are a security requirement in all high-rise towers and are not calculated when computing how much floor-space the builder can construct. However, the refuge area, where residents assemble in the case of a fire, cannot exceed 4 per cent of the total sanctioned built-up area. In the case of ‘Palais Royale’, the developer had added on as much as 70 per cent as refuge floors; and had planned to enclose them as part of the residential flats. After an inquiry, the Municipal Commissioner has stopped the work; but not before Rs 300 crore worth of flats have already been sold!

Far more serious is the attempt by politicians and corrupt bureaucrats to ‘regularise’ illegal construction. It brings votes and money to this political class; but for cities groaning under excessive construction, these ‘regularisation’ schemes have become an environmental nightmare. Most states have created laws enabling governments to convert the ‘illegal’ into ‘legal’ by paying what is called a ‘compounding’ fee. 

For instance, the Gujarat Regularisation of Unauthorised Development Act, 2011 was enacted to regularise around 20 lakh unauthorised constructions across the state, of which five lakh are estimated to be in Ahmedabad alone. Under this provision, the Ahmedabad municipality has received over a lakh of applications, and has regularised over 20,000 cases. 

In Karnataka, a new state law has been brought into force called the Karnataka Town and Country Planning and Certain Other Laws (Amendment) Act, 2009. Popularly known as Akrama Sakrama scheme, the law seeks to regularise constructions that have violated rules pertaining to the setback area and floor-area ratio for buildings constructed before 3 December 2009. The state cabinet has now approved an ordinance to further extend the cut-off date. Tamil Nadu too has not lagged behind and, in June, the state government issued guidelines under Section 113-C of Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971 for condoning violations and unauthorised construction. 

Maharashtra does not have such a condoning-of-illegal-acts law; but with the Campa Cola case, the state government may now fall in line. 

As a precedent, the reprieve for the flat owners of Campa Cola has serious implications. While the ‘human’ hand of the Supreme Court for a middle class housing society must be commended, will slum dwellers, who are far worse off in income and living standards, be similarly spared from the bulldozer? 

In 2000-01, the Maharashtra government, in pursuit of a Bombay High Court order, had demolished over 50,000 shanties on the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Several lives were lost too; but no court came to the rescue of these squatters. The eviction of thousands of jhuggis in the Trans-Yamuna and Ridge area of Delhi has also gone unwept and unsung. 

Or, is it because of the media glare that the taps of sympathy were turned on? Law must not only be equal, but be seen to be equal. Otherwise, the charge of class discrimination against the judiciary is bound to stick. 

Courtesy: Business World

Harassed At The Workplace!

The Tarun Tejpal case has really rocked the workplace, and how. Everybody is harassed - er, not sexually, but stressed out about it

“Hey Handsome,”  a colleague wished a young male co-worker,  in her usual breezy way this morning, as she walked into office. Suddenly she stopped in her tracks and bit her tongue and said “Oh dear, I better be careful – don’t misconstrue please. ”

The Tarun Tejpal case has really rocked the workplace, and how. Everybody is  harassed - er, not sexually, but stressed out about it.

In fact, I am going to stick my neck out and predict that we are going to see a fair bit of awkwardness creep into day to day workplace activities.  Bosses who forward those x-rated jokes without thinking twice, colleagues who josh around and put arms around each other, are all going to start worrying that their innocent actions might be misunderstood. Everyone’s now going to have to mind their language and their wandering hands.

Of course, not so innocent stuff too happens at the workplace. It's quite prevalent. Indeed, this morning the entire discussion around the watercooler and tea breaks revolved around all the episodes – rumoured and verified - of ogling, bottom pinching, lewd remarks one has heard at various workplaces we have worked in.  Each one of us knows of cases of senior men in the profession who like to hire only women, or those who will pass a copy faster if brought to them by a young pretty intern versus the bearded intellectual deskie, who will be growled at.  

But the common tendency has been to whisper about it, titter over it, make schoolboy jokes  about and generally treat it with levity rather than the seriousness it deserves.  We haven’t done much to scotch these things in the bud so to speak.  Managers totally skirt the issue - I certainly have not heard of any manager reprimanding anyone over sexual harassment, rather he often joins in the levity.

Perhaps that’s why it has existed for so long.  Just read a book by Julie Berebetisky titled Sexual Tension and Power and Sex Games. Despite the titillating title, it’s a rather academic tome, that gets into the history of sexual harassment at the workplace, and you will see how it has been going on for centuries. Since the time women entered the workplace, in fact.

Although it’s not a management book, but a historical look (view it here ), it’s still a book that managers should read as it will give them clues to tackle the issue at the workplace, how the forms of harassment have transformed.

Oh yes, several companies are already beginning to tackle the subject.  Friends in consulting firms have  described how at induction sessions the topic is discussed and gentle warnings issued. Also, they make it a point to stress that it’s not just women who need to be on guard, but men too.  But media companies have not begun discussing it yet.

Meanwhile, with the kind of amplification power that Twitter and other social platforms have, I think it’s goodbye to trust at the workplace. It reminds me rather of my first trip to the US, where relatives over there warned me not to pinch the cheeks of babies in prams – however cute and cuddly, as there was a big deal going on about strangers touching little babies.  

                                                 

That’s what Tejpal and the series of assaulters before him have now gone and done to the workplace. Now, there is a layer of doubt, suspicion attached to every action.  Bosses have gotten paranoid – to the extent I know some who will not sit behind closed doors if female co-workers are there.  Make sure, that there are others in elevators (ah, the infamous elevator), if getting in with female colleagues and so on.

And the paranoia is shared by women workers.  One  colleague who was invited by a long standing source to meet him over coffee suddenly got hysterical. Reading a larger meaning into it.  “Why is he inviting me to coffee? Is it above board?” she asked  around suspiciously.  Eh? Isn’t modern day reporting also about networking over coffee?  Perhaps, no more. Unless a brawny colleague comes along as bodyguard!

                                                 
chitra.narayanan@gmail.com
@ndcnn

Courtesy: Business World

Death Row is Not a "Constitution-Free Zone"

~By Brian Stull

15th November, 2013: Alfredo Prieto sits alone 23 hours a day in a locked, seventy-square-feet box. The lights never go out.

According to trial records, Prieto grew up in tough circumstances in war-torn El Salvador, escaped with his family to California. He became involved in gangs and violent crime, culminating ultimately in his conviction for rape, larceny and double murder in Virginia. But during his eight-year incarceration, Prieto has been by all accounts a model prisoner. He is one of eight men who await execution on Virginia's death row.

Virginia locks its death-row prisoners in solitary confinement and throws away the key, no questions asked, until they are released due to successful appeal or executed. And Virginia is not alone. For many, a death sentence means a double punishment. As we documented extensively in our report A Death Before Dying, people on death row can spend decades locked alone in a tiny, cement room before they are ever strapped to an execution gurney, dying a slow and painful psychological death in solitary confinement before the state executes them.

No other class of prisoners is automatically locked alone with no end in sight.

But this week, a Virginia federal court looked past the murder convictions and death sentence Prieto is still challenging (in the lengthy capital appellate process), and held that the U.S. Constitution still affords him rights. In a case brought by Prieto, District Court Judge Leona Brinkema has ruled that Virginia's automatic placement of death-row prisoners in solitary confinement – without any process in which the prisoner could challenge the placement, and certainly without respect to their dangerousness, misconduct, or any other individualized reason – violates the right to due process guaranteed by the Constitution.

This is the first time any court in this country has made such a ruling.

We know that the death penalty system is broken. Racial bias, junk science, underfunded public defense, and other serious breakdowns in our legal system can mean that people – sometimes innocent people – will languish on death rows for years while pursuing appeals. With a nod to the possibility of change, redemption, and that an innocent person has been wrongly sentenced to death, Judge Brinkema noted that death-row prisoners "have obvious incentives to behave well and take rehabilitation seriously, including the possibility that new forensic evidence might undercut a conviction, a habeas petition might be granted, or that good behavior might improve the prospects of a commuted sentence."

This means that, at least in Virginia, there's a hope that people on death row will no longer be automatically barred from the company of other prisoners. There's a chance their human contact will no longer be limited to the occasional visits of prison officials or medical personnel to their cell. Perhaps they'll no longer spend years alone in cells that have no real window, only a narrow mesh slot to let in natural light. Maybe they will be allowed more than five recreation hours per week, and will no longer be limited to a recreation cell that is at best slightly larger than the one in which they spend the rest of their time.

Judge Brinkema's opinion, as required under due-process analysis, also asked whether the prison afforded death-row prisoners any process to rebut the state's supposed need to impose this "atypical and significant hardship." She found, as is true of virtually all other death rows, that there is absolutely no such process.

According to Judge Brinkema's ruling, something must change in Virginia. The state must mitigate the living conditions on death row, or place Prieto and the other men in conditions according to ordinary prison classification procedures (which base restrictions, such as solitary confinement, on behavior).

With courage, Judge Brinkema has held that the Constitution continues to apply, even for people sentenced to death. They remain people, and the Constitution remains in force. If justice is truly blind, this ground-breaking ruling will eventually become the law of the land.

Courtesy: American Civil Liberties Union

Govt knew Yong could escape death penalty

Mr Yong Yun Leong (centre), brother of convicted
Malaysian drug trafficker Yong Vui Kong, presents
a petition to a policeman at the Istana on Aug 24,
2010, calling on President SR Nathan to spare
Yong's life after he was sentenced to death for
trafficking heroin in 2008.
Photo: SingaPolitics






 

Saturday November 16, 2013: THE Singaporean government was aware that drug mule Yong Vui Kong could escape the gallows when it proposed lifting the mandatory drug penalty, said Law Minister K. Shanmugam.

But it went ahead with the changes for the benefit of the wider society, he told reporters on the sidelines of a gathering of Common­wealth foreign ministers here on Thursday.

“We were certainly aware of the possibility that he could be one of those to benefit from the changes because we know that he had given some information which led to the arrest of someone else more senior in the hierarchy,” Shanmugam said.

“It was a case that seemed to fit with the changes we were making, but we made those changes as they were in the interest of society as a whole.”

The minister was responding to a question on whether the high-profile nature of the Malaysian’s fight against the death penalty was a factor in his resentencing.

Earlier on Thursday, Yong, 25, became the first convicted drug trafficker to be given a chance under the new law. He was resentenced to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane by the High Court.

Judges now have the discretion to impose life terms and caning on drug couriers who substantively assist the Central Narcotics Bureau.

Shanmugam said that the lifting of the mandatory drug penalty would provide an incentive for drug couriers to help the authorities nab bigger fish.

“If they know that the more they tell us, the more certainty they will face the death penalty, they will not cooperate,” he noted. 

 — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Courtesy: The Star Online