Highly acclaimed Trinidad born PIO and Indian Diaspora novelist
Dr. Lakshmi Persaud launched her latest novel “Daughters of the Empire”
at two events on May 26 – May 27, 2012 in New York following successful
launches in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Toronto, Canada. She is also
author of ‘Raise the Lanterns High’, ‘For the Love of my Name’, ‘Sastra’
& ‘Butterfly in the Wind’. She was born in Trinidad in the
Caribbean, of Indian descent. Her novels explore many ideas using a
combination of high drama, romance and gentle humor. Though her work is
usually set in the Caribbean, her themes appeal to all.
Launch Event of 26th May: This was sponsored by the Association of Artists and Writers in collaboration with the Indo-Caribbean Council, New York. The event, held at the Faith Assembly Hall, 101 Avenue was chaired by Lal Bachan Harricharran and among those attending were District Leader Taj Rajkumar and the NY Consul-General of Trinidad and Tobago, Ms Nan Ramgoolam, who made the welcoming address. In addition to readings by Lakshmi Persaud and reviews of the book by Dr. Lisa Outar, a literature professor, and Rev Seopaul Singh, the program was further enriched by an invocational classical dance by accomplished dancer Natalie Poonam Phagoo, who also introduced Lakshmi Persaud and a rendering of two songs, including the Pledge of Allegiance by school girl Victoria Labban.
A notable feature of the Program was an award ceremony for writers and authors by the Indo-Caribbean council. Those receiving awards were Lakshmi Persaud, Balkrishnan Naipaul, novelist, Gora Singh, (posthumously) for promoting the Indian classical dancing and Kaar Dyal, sculptor and painter; Dr Basdeo Mangru, historian.
Launch Event-27th May: This was sponsored by the Rajkumari Cultural Centre (RCC) in Richmond Hill and associated with the theme 174 years of East Indian women in the Diaspora. It was held at the Queens Museum of Art, in Meadows Corona Park, Queens. The program which was organised by Pritha Singh , chief Executive of the RCC and the associated Jahajee Sisters, culminated in readings by Lakshmi Persaud from “Daughters of Empire” and her other novels around the theme of challenges facing Indo-Caribbean women in the Diaspora, followed by a lively questions and answers session.
The program was moderated by Taij Moteelal and Shivana Joriwar, who also with other Jahajee sisters spoke on the challenges facing Indo-Caribbean women. It started with enriching cultural items such as singing and storytelling, and interpretive dance and music presentation by American Betis.
Lakshmi Persaud resides in the UK and was a speaker at the GOPIO Women’s Conference held on October 24, 2010 in London, UK.
Launch Event of 26th May: This was sponsored by the Association of Artists and Writers in collaboration with the Indo-Caribbean Council, New York. The event, held at the Faith Assembly Hall, 101 Avenue was chaired by Lal Bachan Harricharran and among those attending were District Leader Taj Rajkumar and the NY Consul-General of Trinidad and Tobago, Ms Nan Ramgoolam, who made the welcoming address. In addition to readings by Lakshmi Persaud and reviews of the book by Dr. Lisa Outar, a literature professor, and Rev Seopaul Singh, the program was further enriched by an invocational classical dance by accomplished dancer Natalie Poonam Phagoo, who also introduced Lakshmi Persaud and a rendering of two songs, including the Pledge of Allegiance by school girl Victoria Labban.
A notable feature of the Program was an award ceremony for writers and authors by the Indo-Caribbean council. Those receiving awards were Lakshmi Persaud, Balkrishnan Naipaul, novelist, Gora Singh, (posthumously) for promoting the Indian classical dancing and Kaar Dyal, sculptor and painter; Dr Basdeo Mangru, historian.
Launch Event-27th May: This was sponsored by the Rajkumari Cultural Centre (RCC) in Richmond Hill and associated with the theme 174 years of East Indian women in the Diaspora. It was held at the Queens Museum of Art, in Meadows Corona Park, Queens. The program which was organised by Pritha Singh , chief Executive of the RCC and the associated Jahajee Sisters, culminated in readings by Lakshmi Persaud from “Daughters of Empire” and her other novels around the theme of challenges facing Indo-Caribbean women in the Diaspora, followed by a lively questions and answers session.
The program was moderated by Taij Moteelal and Shivana Joriwar, who also with other Jahajee sisters spoke on the challenges facing Indo-Caribbean women. It started with enriching cultural items such as singing and storytelling, and interpretive dance and music presentation by American Betis.
Lakshmi Persaud resides in the UK and was a speaker at the GOPIO Women’s Conference held on October 24, 2010 in London, UK.
An advocacy campaign was launched after La Salle Minor Soccer
Association decided not to allow Sikhs with turban and patka to
participate in soccer games in Canada.
”We have written to the president of the Soccer Club Authority Sofio Pagliaro, and also to the technical director. The response received from their secretary clearly indicates that they do not have jurisdiction in offering exemptions to FSQ, CSA & FIFA regulations,” said Sukhwinder Singh, Director of United Sikhs, which launched the campaign. “We have made it clear to the president that this decision is against the basic principles of human rights and is hence a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights.”
The decision was taken a few weeks ago and they have not only banned these aspiring players to play but also went a step further and canceled their registration and returned their registration money. Feedback from the local community of Quebec indicated that there haven’t been any such issues in the past.
”We have written to the president of the Soccer Club Authority Sofio Pagliaro, and also to the technical director. The response received from their secretary clearly indicates that they do not have jurisdiction in offering exemptions to FSQ, CSA & FIFA regulations,” said Sukhwinder Singh, Director of United Sikhs, which launched the campaign. “We have made it clear to the president that this decision is against the basic principles of human rights and is hence a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights.”
The decision was taken a few weeks ago and they have not only banned these aspiring players to play but also went a step further and canceled their registration and returned their registration money. Feedback from the local community of Quebec indicated that there haven’t been any such issues in the past.
Australia has decided to offer additional work options for
Indian students to help them tide over impact of depreciation of rupee
against dollar. As value of rupee has fallen to a record low against
dollar, Indian students are forced to shell out more money to meet
living cost abroad.
Indian students enrolled in postgraduate and doctoral research programs at Australian universities will now be able to work as faculty, assist research programs, work in the libraries, laboratories and other avenues in the universities itself. Graduate students will also be permitted to work more hours so that they can earn money to support their living expenses.
Earlier, students could work only limited number of hours because the accepted policy was to allow them to focus more on studies. David Holly, consul general for South India, Australian Consulate told, “We are going to provide flexible work options for postgraduate and research students. They will be able to work for an unlimited number of hours per week during their studies.”
According to visa statistics, depreciation of rupee against dollar has not impacted the flow of students to Australia. There are 70,000 Indian students in Australia. There is a 10 per cent increase in the number of Indian students who have enrolled in universities in Victoria where nine top universities of Australia is located.
Indian students enrolled in postgraduate and doctoral research programs at Australian universities will now be able to work as faculty, assist research programs, work in the libraries, laboratories and other avenues in the universities itself. Graduate students will also be permitted to work more hours so that they can earn money to support their living expenses.
Earlier, students could work only limited number of hours because the accepted policy was to allow them to focus more on studies. David Holly, consul general for South India, Australian Consulate told, “We are going to provide flexible work options for postgraduate and research students. They will be able to work for an unlimited number of hours per week during their studies.”
According to visa statistics, depreciation of rupee against dollar has not impacted the flow of students to Australia. There are 70,000 Indian students in Australia. There is a 10 per cent increase in the number of Indian students who have enrolled in universities in Victoria where nine top universities of Australia is located.
Subject: Demand to Government to ROLL BACK Marriage Law (Amendment) Bill 2010, which proposes to introduce a policy of “automatic property annexation” from men in the name of “No Fault Divorce”
The Marriage Law (Amendment) Bill, 2010 Bill proposes to introduce “Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage”,
as a ground for divorce, in the Hindu Marriage Act. The most salient
features of this bill are that spouses do not have to prove reasons like
cruelty or adultery etc to get a divorce. Men and women can apply
divorce citing Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage. The husband however
cannot oppose the divorce, if filed by wife and would be forced to give
his wife, half of husband’s residential property acquired before or after marriage. The Marriage Law (Amendment) Bill, 2010 Bill, is comparable to the infamous British “Doctrine of Lapse”
as it proposes to introduce a policy of ‘automatic property
annexation’, this time from Indian men under the innocent guise of
“Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage”.
What will happen if?
- Husband purchases a property just 6 months before marriage out of his hard-earned savings, and his marriage breaks and he loses half of the property. In that case the husband, his mother and his unmarried sisters will be doomed.
- Men start fearing this law and stop buying real estate which adversely affects the economy of the country.
- Husband has dependent parents and owns a single property and if 50% of that goes to wife post-divorce, how will the husband take care of his old parents and unmarried sisters? Is the concept of family restricted to only husband-wife in the Indian context?
- What, if the family is a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) owning a single joint property? Will the wife get 50% of that? What about other sibling’s share in it?
In short, this amendment if passed will exponentially increase
divorce rates of young people. To make the matters worse, men will still
be made to pay maintenance to wives from their monthly income even
after he is ripped off all his savings, assets and property. He will
lose whatever left in running around courts paying lawyer fees.
Ironically, this law will not help any poor woman and the planning
commission’s women’s empowerment group wants Government to pay money to
poor women, who get divorced due to this law!!
Save Family Foundation (SFF) and its partner NGOs have more than
30,000 members and they are the fronts of over 20 lakh men and women in
India and NRIs, who are suffering from enactment of undemocratic badly
drafted laws. SFF DEMANDS the government to ROLL BACK the Marriage Law
(Amendment) Bill 2010. The bill is being “forced” under pressure to be
made law “without” taking into consideration the public opinion or the
recommendations of either the Men’s NGOs or even the Advisory committee.
The reasons why Save Family Foundation demands the Roll-back of these proposed amendments is for the following reasons:
1. India does not need “No Fault Divorce” Law. This law is
appropriate for Western Societies, not for Indian society. Rollback
Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage Bill.
2. If this “No Fault Divorce law” is passed, then it will
rapidly increase divorces in India, because it will enrich women, who
marry men having property/assets and divorce them soon after marriage.
If a woman gets half of husband’s owned property within a month of her
marriage, then a large majority of marriages will break soon after
honeymoon. Please note, according to this disgusting proposed law,
husband’s property will be divided whether purchased before or after marriage.
3. The wife can claim 50% of the residential property of the husbands, unopposed,
leaving the aged Hindu mother, father, unmarried sister of the husband
in the lurch, irrespective of whether the property was acquired before
or after the marriage. This Bill also preaches that it is more
profitable to break a marriage early, as unlike in other civilized
countries, in India, the duration of Hindu marriage will have no link to
the wife’s share, as in any case, she can claim 50% of the property,
even if the duration of marriage was only one month. 50% of any person’s
property cannot be automatically annexed by the government just because
two people cannot cohabit with each other and remain married.
4. The wife can also claim, unopposed a major share of the
husband’s other movable property too, whether acquired before or after
the marriage, ignoring the basic fact that a Hindu Man, also has the
duty to take care of his aged parents and unmarried sisters. Strangely
this Bill preaches that, it would be more profitable for women to break
their family, rather than staying in it, as the married lady who stays
in marriage, will not get share of property of her husband. She would
get the share ONLY if she breaks her family. Such Laws will increase in
family disharmony, and corresponding increase in crime rate including
spousal murders
Such women activists claim, that the wife should get that share,
against which she had contributed, during the subsistence of marriage.
However, these very women fail to justify, what is the contribution of a wife on the property of husband, which was acquired BEFORE the marriage?
5. The Bill is being “forced” into becoming a law in an
“unknown” haste keeping aside the Public View or Advises of the Advisory
Committee or that of the recommendations of the Men’s NGOs.
6. The proposed structure of the Bill is totally Anti-Husband, Anti Mother-Sister and Anti-Family.
7. As, per the proposed bill, the husband CANNOT challenge the
divorce petition filed by his wife, based on ground of grave financial
hardship which is a gross violation against the principal of natural
justice.
8. Media reports also talk about division of ONLY Husband’s
property being treated as Marital property. Public is failing to
understand why is Wife’s Assets not part of Marital Property. The
proposed bill does not cover the Assets made by a wife either before or
during marriage. Women’s assets build happens more in personal use items
like Gold / Jewellery etc. while Men invest more into the family assets
like House / Car etc. So with the proposed bill, the one who thinks for
complete family is being penalized while the assets built from family
earning into personal items like gold / jewellery go untouched.
9. Media’s reports on inclusion of the Moveable or Immoveable
assets of the Husband irrespective of being bought / created during or
before marriage are being forced into the division. This is spreading a
wide-spread emergency panic into the hearts of Indian men who are now
thinking of not getting married at all.
10. The proposed bill leaves question of Custody of the Children
un-answered leaving their future of Parenting in COMPLETE DARK.
11. With the proposed bill, in name of use of Section 15(3) of the
Constitution of India, Section 15(1) is under complete violation when
it does not allow one gender (male) to contest his own case. The Bill
curtails the fundamental Rights to Equality before Law as granted by
Constitution to every Citizen.
“Doctrine of Lapse” act has already led to panic in the nation
· Since the time the newspapers have been filled by the
stories of automatic property annexation under the guise of
Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage, panic calls from families have
stated to flood in. Young professionals, who have taken huge loans to
buy property, are the hardest hit, if 50% of their property goes to wife
during divorce that also purchased before marriage. Most of them are on
a “Cancellation Spree” after the cabinet decision to give property of
husbands to wives.
· Lenders and Banks are also worried with sudden increase
on their funded properties which are under home loan to married men as
their loan amount will be at risk if the couple is going through
divorce, directly affecting the GDP because of the increase in NPA and
hence, the economy of our country.
This Bill is also against the principle of natural justice and is against the basis of Supreme Court Judgment of “Naveen Kohli Vs Neelu Kohli” which is the basis of Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage. In
that case the wife had filed 14 cases against husband. Husband also
filed 3 cases one of which was adultery. Supreme Court saw that for last
10 years cases is going on & there is no chance that the husband
& wife are going to live together & passed a divorce decree. If
this present Bill becomes a law, then people like Naveen Kohli won’t get
any justice even in Supreme Court as this law overrules the SC judgment
saying if the wife objects, then the husband can’t get divorce, even
under such circumstances.
Demands
· Our foremost demand is for the government to immediately STOP AND REPEAL THE PROCESSING OF THIS PROPERTY ANNEXATION BILL.
· Save Family Foundation along with other NGOs are
unanimously answering the public outrage and the fear of basic human
rights of men, with a nation-wide protest against the Marriage Law
(Amendment) Bill 2010 to put our demands to the government for immediate
roll-back of this amendment bill.
To support our legitimate demands, Save Family Foundation and other
allied NGOs are currently lobbying with the various MPs and have sent
protest letters, to the Prime Minister, Law Minister and all other MPs
highlighting our concerns. We are also sending letters to FICCI,
AASOCHAM, various banks and real estate companies highlighting our
concern. With this Press Conference, we would request our media friends
to take our voice to the various authorities, so that appropriate
justice is meted to the husband, wife, children and the family.
INDIA WILL BE PROTESTING AGAINST THIS BILL ON 18th AUGUST 2012
Supported By:
1. Save Indian Family Foundation, Bangalore
2. Protect Indian Family(PIF), Mumbai
3. Gender Human Rights Society, Delhi
4. Mothers and Sisters Initiative (MASI), Delhi
5. “Pati Pariwar”-Kalyan Samiti, Lucknow
6. All India Forgotten Women, Hyderabad
7. Child Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting, Bangalore (CRISP)
8. Indian Family Foundation, Mumbai
9. Confidare Consultancy, Bangalore
10. Men’s Rights Association(MRA), Pune
11. All India Men’s Welfare Association(AIMWA)
12. Mothers and Sisters of Husband Against Abuse of Law (MASHAAL)
13. Centre for Men’s Rights, Bangalore
14. Indian Social Welfare And Activism Forum (INSAAF), USA
15. Bhavya Foundation, Rae Barielly
16. Hridaya-Nest of Family Harmony, Kolkata
17. All India Mother’s-in Law Protection Forum
18. National Family Harmony Society (NFHS), Bangalore
Article By Shruti Mishra, B.Tech, Associate Journalist Technology,
rimism2003@gmail.com,
Shruti Mishra is an electronics and communications engineer. She got her B. Tech. degree from SRM University, Chennai and worked in Tata Consultancy Services as a software engineer for a brief period. At present, she is working as Associate Journalist Technology. She has filed three India patents and authors. ‘Grooming India’ is her maiden book.
rimism2003@gmail.com,
Shruti Mishra is an electronics and communications engineer. She got her B. Tech. degree from SRM University, Chennai and worked in Tata Consultancy Services as a software engineer for a brief period. At present, she is working as Associate Journalist Technology. She has filed three India patents and authors. ‘Grooming India’ is her maiden book.
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