Human Rights on Pitara Kids Network

Answering Nature's Call in Peace

Tue, 30 Oct 2001 12:48:31 +0000

August 5: If the children feel like relieving themselves, they go to the nearby drain or the fields beyond. For their mothers and sisters, matters are even worse. They have
to wait for night to fall. They can attend nature’s call only under the cover of darkness. As if they were committing a crime.

But now things are changing for the 1000 odd residents of Karuvettupatai in Tiruchi district, Tamil Nadu.

Answering Nature’s Call in Peace [Illustration by Shiju George]

Gramalaya, a local nongovernment organisation, has constructed toilets for them. And there are special models for children. These are perhaps the first child-friendly
toilets in the country, says a report in ‘The Indian Express’.

The Slum Hero

Mon, 22 Jan 2001 11:11:25 +0000

August 5: Last week, we had written about social worker Aruna Roy who has been tirelessly working to promote the rights of villagers in Rajasthan. And for her work, she has been awarded the Magsaysay Award for the year 2000. Keeping her company is 53-year-old Arputham Jockin.

Arputham has only one objective in his life — to ensure the rights of slum dwellers in Mumbai. For this purpose, he has also founded the National Slum Dwellers’ Federation (NSDF), says a report in ‘The Hindu’.

Dalai Lama Calls for End of Oppression in Tibet

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:16:50 +0000

Where: Dharamsala, India, and Beijing, China

March 13, 2009 : The Dalai Lama, leader of the Tibetan people, has said that Tibetan culture and identity are “nearing extinction”. He accused the Chinese government of bringing “hell on Earth” to Tibet. He was addressing thousands of supporters in India on 10 March, 2009, the 50th anniversary of the failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule.

China invaded Tibet in 1950 and made it a province of the People’s Republic of China. In 1959, the Tibetan rebellion against the Chinese occupation was crushed. The Dalai Lama, who is the religious as well as political head of the Tibetan people, fled the country and took asylum in Dharamsala in India. Here he set up the Government of Tibet in Exile. The Indian government at the time, led by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, urged the Dalai Lama not to press for independence but to work on Tibet’s Seventeen Point Agreement with China.