Jatin Gandhi
Agra, August 31, 2007
Had it not been for a few good men, Wednesday’s violence in Agra would have spiralled out of control. The police said these men acted just as things were threatening to take a communal turn, and saved the city from shame.
While a group of people in the Hindu-dominated Dhakran area prevented a mosque from being damaged, Muslim elders a few hundred yards away ensured that a temple was not harmed.
Violence erupted in the Dhakran crossing area in the morning after word spread that a temple had been attacked. A group of young men who had gathered outside their homes began throwing stones at the Nai Ki Mandi mosque. Then someone tried to set it on fire. “When someone hurled a burning bottle at the mosque gate, we quickly got together and stopped the boys from causing any more damage,” said Man Singh Dhakar, a businessman in Subhash Park.
The mosque gate and outer wall are now being repaired and painted. Water for the repairs is being supplied from the Chamunda Devi Temple that stands next to the mosque. Hari Ram Sharma, SSP Agra, told HT: “Just as the Hindus saved the mosque, Muslim elders prevented a temple in the Subash Park area from being attacked. These men on both sides have set an example without which the violence could have taken a communal turn.”
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=2a8e3322-8972-457d-9e12-86dec79d97c2
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Your bread may just have got costlier
Jatin Gandhi
September 4, 2007
The chapatti on your plate and the jam sandwich in your child's lunch box are set to cost more. With prices of wheat soaring and the government deciding to import nearly eight lakh tonnes of wheat at a whopping Rs 16 a kilo, wheat flour is going to get dearer this festive season.
An Empowered Group of Ministers (EgoM) headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee approved the decision to buy wheat from the international market at $390 (Rs 16,000) per tonne on Monday. The decision is bound to cause political heartburn because the government paid the farmer nearly half the price (Rs 850 per quintal) as minimum support price during the last procurement and had earlier cancelled the decision to buy 10 lakh tonnes of wheat at $263 per tonne.
Economists say spiralling wheat prices aren't going to be easy for the common man to digest either. When a big player like India, which is a foodgrain-sufficient nation, goes to the market and buys wheat stocks, prices in the international market are bound to rise further, they add.
“Between the time the government floated the first tender in March and by the time the decision was taken, prices had gone up further. The difference in prices between then and now is Rs 2,000 crore,” economist Dr Jayati Ghosh said. “It is extremely unfortunate and a result of bad planning that this is happening,” she added.
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) chief economist Dr Anjan Ray said: “The government’s move can raise prices in the international market further but we do have enough forex reserves for the current import. As a one-time measure, it is fine to import wheat.”
The move is aimed at building stocks, Minister of State for Food Akhilesh Prasad told the Hindustan Times. “We have to import wheat because the stocks have fallen short of our requirements. The buffer stocks will ensure that prices do not go up,” he said.
This claim is contested by players in the market. “If prices in the international market are going up, how can the prices in the local market remain unaffected,” asked O.P. Jain, president of the Delhi Grain Merchants' Association.
Wheat prices are expected to go up from the current Rs 10.5 a kilo to around Rs 12 by Diwali.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=972315af-a1ac-41d8-b71c-c2e20738af06 (C) 2007 Hindustan Times
September 4, 2007
The chapatti on your plate and the jam sandwich in your child's lunch box are set to cost more. With prices of wheat soaring and the government deciding to import nearly eight lakh tonnes of wheat at a whopping Rs 16 a kilo, wheat flour is going to get dearer this festive season.
An Empowered Group of Ministers (EgoM) headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee approved the decision to buy wheat from the international market at $390 (Rs 16,000) per tonne on Monday. The decision is bound to cause political heartburn because the government paid the farmer nearly half the price (Rs 850 per quintal) as minimum support price during the last procurement and had earlier cancelled the decision to buy 10 lakh tonnes of wheat at $263 per tonne.
Economists say spiralling wheat prices aren't going to be easy for the common man to digest either. When a big player like India, which is a foodgrain-sufficient nation, goes to the market and buys wheat stocks, prices in the international market are bound to rise further, they add.
“Between the time the government floated the first tender in March and by the time the decision was taken, prices had gone up further. The difference in prices between then and now is Rs 2,000 crore,” economist Dr Jayati Ghosh said. “It is extremely unfortunate and a result of bad planning that this is happening,” she added.
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) chief economist Dr Anjan Ray said: “The government’s move can raise prices in the international market further but we do have enough forex reserves for the current import. As a one-time measure, it is fine to import wheat.”
The move is aimed at building stocks, Minister of State for Food Akhilesh Prasad told the Hindustan Times. “We have to import wheat because the stocks have fallen short of our requirements. The buffer stocks will ensure that prices do not go up,” he said.
This claim is contested by players in the market. “If prices in the international market are going up, how can the prices in the local market remain unaffected,” asked O.P. Jain, president of the Delhi Grain Merchants' Association.
Wheat prices are expected to go up from the current Rs 10.5 a kilo to around Rs 12 by Diwali.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=972315af-a1ac-41d8-b71c-c2e20738af06 (C) 2007 Hindustan Times
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Muslims want own Haj fund
Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, September 30, 2006
A section of the country’s Muslim leadership wants the government to do away with Haj subsidies. A group of Muslim MPs has proposed the setting up of a Rs 1,500-crore corporation based on Islamic laws or Shariah that will manage the country's Haj pilgrims and also offer investment services.
The government pays Rs 250 crore a year to subsidise Haj — a move that has raised questions about the need for a secular state to do so. Within the community too there seems to be a new urge to take ownership of Haj. “Haj subsidies give the community a bad name,” said Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, a BJP MP and member of the Haj Committee of India.
Shariah prohibits Muslims from earning interest on their investments. The proposed corporation will, therefore, invest deposits made by Muslims in industrial and agro-business activities. “The institution will use the crores of rupees generated through such investments for the management of Haj and development of infrastructure,” said K Rehman Khan, Rajya Sabha deputy chairman, who is spearheading the move.
The MPs want the government to pay Rs 750 crore as seed money. “All we want is three years Haj subsidy,” said Khan. “We can raise a similar amount through foreign direct investment or from Muslims here.” The corporation even plans to buy aircraft.
The MPs submitted their proposal to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier this year. It says an autonomous body should be created, separate from the Central Haj Committee. “The prime minister has assured Rs 300 crore,” said MP Furkan Ansari.
The move for the new body has gained momentum with the controversy over Haj subsidies erupting again and the Supreme Court recently allowing them to be continued for now.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=c3d6a366-00ad-422b-b7d6-9573037cafbc
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, September 30, 2006
A section of the country’s Muslim leadership wants the government to do away with Haj subsidies. A group of Muslim MPs has proposed the setting up of a Rs 1,500-crore corporation based on Islamic laws or Shariah that will manage the country's Haj pilgrims and also offer investment services.
The government pays Rs 250 crore a year to subsidise Haj — a move that has raised questions about the need for a secular state to do so. Within the community too there seems to be a new urge to take ownership of Haj. “Haj subsidies give the community a bad name,” said Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, a BJP MP and member of the Haj Committee of India.
Shariah prohibits Muslims from earning interest on their investments. The proposed corporation will, therefore, invest deposits made by Muslims in industrial and agro-business activities. “The institution will use the crores of rupees generated through such investments for the management of Haj and development of infrastructure,” said K Rehman Khan, Rajya Sabha deputy chairman, who is spearheading the move.
The MPs want the government to pay Rs 750 crore as seed money. “All we want is three years Haj subsidy,” said Khan. “We can raise a similar amount through foreign direct investment or from Muslims here.” The corporation even plans to buy aircraft.
The MPs submitted their proposal to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier this year. It says an autonomous body should be created, separate from the Central Haj Committee. “The prime minister has assured Rs 300 crore,” said MP Furkan Ansari.
The move for the new body has gained momentum with the controversy over Haj subsidies erupting again and the Supreme Court recently allowing them to be continued for now.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=c3d6a366-00ad-422b-b7d6-9573037cafbc
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
For them, patience is more a compulsion than virtue
Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, November 03, 2006
They have been waiting for years to be united with their families. But for hundreds of missing children languishing in state-run institutions in the Capital, administrative red tape has resulted in a lost childhood.
The Department of Social Welfare routinely issues advertisements with photographs of missing children in various national dailies. Ironically, the department is aware of the addresses and whereabouts of the families of many of these children. Rules, however, prevent officials from actually taking these children back to their villages.
Gidda, 16, has spent the past seven years in various homes run by the Delhi government. His family lives in Cuttack, Orissa. The authorities know his family's whereabouts, down to the street on which they live. Yet, they have not been able to move beyond sending postcards or placing advertisements in the hope that someone from his family will claim him.
It's pretty much the same for Bunty, 13, of village Parasia in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. The department estimates issuing at least a dozen advertisements for him, fewer than those issued for Gidda because Bunty came to the missing children's home at Alipur in 2003.
There are over 1,500 missing children in the 23 children's homes that the department runs in Delhi.
Earlier this week, the department put out an ad listing 26 missing children now lodged at the Alipur boys' homes. The department knows the street or village addresses of half these children; another three are from Delhi. Yet, department rules do not allow moving beyond ads.
"Every year we place advertisements in eight national dailies," a department official proudly proclaims. "After a child comes to us, we conduct investigations for three months and try to find his family by informing the police and sending postcards to his village with his or her picture. If we get a response to the correspondence, and the parents are too poor to come here, we send the child back with a police escort," he adds.
This has gone on for years. Officials admit that while the department has a budget for advertisements and correspondence, no representative is ever sent to the child's village. "The rules have no such provision," they add. So, while hundreds of children spend their childhood in the confines of state-run institutions year after year, the lack of a simple provision in the rules prevents the authorities from uniting them with their families.
"The rules need to be changed," said Vikram Srivastava, Manager (Development Support), Child Rights and You (CRY). "Even now if parents manage to reach Delhi they have to go to each and every children's home to look for their child. We need a centralised data base for all missing children," he added.
"I have just joined the department as director. I will take a closer look. We will try to eliminate all that is redundant," said Jaishri Raghuraman, Director, Social Welfare, Delhi. Raghuraman said she is keen on bringing changes but the Vidhan Sabha session is keeping her busy these days. "I will look into it after the session," she said.
Children like Sudama (13) of Sitapur and Dinesh (14) of Gwalior have spent years waiting for the rules to change. For them, patience is more a compulsion than a virtue.
Email: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=6ee5a84d-994c-4dae-a309-86e13be2bfe0
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, November 03, 2006
They have been waiting for years to be united with their families. But for hundreds of missing children languishing in state-run institutions in the Capital, administrative red tape has resulted in a lost childhood.
The Department of Social Welfare routinely issues advertisements with photographs of missing children in various national dailies. Ironically, the department is aware of the addresses and whereabouts of the families of many of these children. Rules, however, prevent officials from actually taking these children back to their villages.
Gidda, 16, has spent the past seven years in various homes run by the Delhi government. His family lives in Cuttack, Orissa. The authorities know his family's whereabouts, down to the street on which they live. Yet, they have not been able to move beyond sending postcards or placing advertisements in the hope that someone from his family will claim him.
It's pretty much the same for Bunty, 13, of village Parasia in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. The department estimates issuing at least a dozen advertisements for him, fewer than those issued for Gidda because Bunty came to the missing children's home at Alipur in 2003.
There are over 1,500 missing children in the 23 children's homes that the department runs in Delhi.
Earlier this week, the department put out an ad listing 26 missing children now lodged at the Alipur boys' homes. The department knows the street or village addresses of half these children; another three are from Delhi. Yet, department rules do not allow moving beyond ads.
"Every year we place advertisements in eight national dailies," a department official proudly proclaims. "After a child comes to us, we conduct investigations for three months and try to find his family by informing the police and sending postcards to his village with his or her picture. If we get a response to the correspondence, and the parents are too poor to come here, we send the child back with a police escort," he adds.
This has gone on for years. Officials admit that while the department has a budget for advertisements and correspondence, no representative is ever sent to the child's village. "The rules have no such provision," they add. So, while hundreds of children spend their childhood in the confines of state-run institutions year after year, the lack of a simple provision in the rules prevents the authorities from uniting them with their families.
"The rules need to be changed," said Vikram Srivastava, Manager (Development Support), Child Rights and You (CRY). "Even now if parents manage to reach Delhi they have to go to each and every children's home to look for their child. We need a centralised data base for all missing children," he added.
"I have just joined the department as director. I will take a closer look. We will try to eliminate all that is redundant," said Jaishri Raghuraman, Director, Social Welfare, Delhi. Raghuraman said she is keen on bringing changes but the Vidhan Sabha session is keeping her busy these days. "I will look into it after the session," she said.
Children like Sudama (13) of Sitapur and Dinesh (14) of Gwalior have spent years waiting for the rules to change. For them, patience is more a compulsion than a virtue.
Email: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=6ee5a84d-994c-4dae-a309-86e13be2bfe0
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Beware of identity thieves on Net
Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, November 03, 2006
It sounds like the plot of a Hollywood thriller: Someone replicates your identity and pastes your photograph and personal details on the Internet. But, it is happening so close home, and with such regularity, that it is scary, not thrilling. Think twice before you put your pictures and personal details like cell phone numbers on websites where these can be freely accessed.
Profiles of unsuspecting members of social networking sites and home pages are being increasingly replicated, pictures morphed and abused at an alarming rate. The targets are mostly women.
In some cases, young women have found their pictures morphed and turned into pornography. A 22-year-old university student from Bathinda, Punjab had to put in a frantic appeal to the web master and others users of the networking site she was on. Someone had stolen her pictures and contact details on her user profile and created a fake mirror profile. She got to know only after she was flooded with obscene calls on her cell phone. “It was impossible to tell everyone who had visited the fake profile that it was not me,” she says.
For a student of MES College, Bangalore, the experience was even more harrowing. Her pictures were morphed and posted on the Internet. “She was disturbed for so many days. She had put up her pictures innocently for friends to see,” a teacher told HT on Saturday.
Experts say with social networking sites becoming more and more popular among the younger generation, such instances are rising alarmingly. “The bad news is that there is no prevention. You should avoid putting your pictures on the website,” says cyber-security analyst Subimal Bhattacharjee. He adds that victims should approach the local police and the web master of the website where the manipulation has taken place.
The police also advise prevention. “People should not put up their pictures. They can be misused,” says Sanjay Shintre, DCP (crime) Thane. The Thane Police booked a 19-year-old management student, Abhishek, for faking a profile of his former schoolmate on September 28 this year. It was the first recorded case of its kind in the country.
Shintre adds that in case of Abhishek, the police were able to achieve a breakthrough because the complainant was forthcoming. Two more complaints have been received since then but did not translate into cases because the victims withdrew.
The instance of misuse is much higher. For instance, on a popular networking site alone, 270 members have reported fake profiles being created in the last few weeks. The menace is spreading as fast as social networking on the net.
Email: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=fdc8b5b5-b590-4026-a792-10caed13b4e7
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, November 03, 2006
It sounds like the plot of a Hollywood thriller: Someone replicates your identity and pastes your photograph and personal details on the Internet. But, it is happening so close home, and with such regularity, that it is scary, not thrilling. Think twice before you put your pictures and personal details like cell phone numbers on websites where these can be freely accessed.
Profiles of unsuspecting members of social networking sites and home pages are being increasingly replicated, pictures morphed and abused at an alarming rate. The targets are mostly women.
In some cases, young women have found their pictures morphed and turned into pornography. A 22-year-old university student from Bathinda, Punjab had to put in a frantic appeal to the web master and others users of the networking site she was on. Someone had stolen her pictures and contact details on her user profile and created a fake mirror profile. She got to know only after she was flooded with obscene calls on her cell phone. “It was impossible to tell everyone who had visited the fake profile that it was not me,” she says.
For a student of MES College, Bangalore, the experience was even more harrowing. Her pictures were morphed and posted on the Internet. “She was disturbed for so many days. She had put up her pictures innocently for friends to see,” a teacher told HT on Saturday.
Experts say with social networking sites becoming more and more popular among the younger generation, such instances are rising alarmingly. “The bad news is that there is no prevention. You should avoid putting your pictures on the website,” says cyber-security analyst Subimal Bhattacharjee. He adds that victims should approach the local police and the web master of the website where the manipulation has taken place.
The police also advise prevention. “People should not put up their pictures. They can be misused,” says Sanjay Shintre, DCP (crime) Thane. The Thane Police booked a 19-year-old management student, Abhishek, for faking a profile of his former schoolmate on September 28 this year. It was the first recorded case of its kind in the country.
Shintre adds that in case of Abhishek, the police were able to achieve a breakthrough because the complainant was forthcoming. Two more complaints have been received since then but did not translate into cases because the victims withdrew.
The instance of misuse is much higher. For instance, on a popular networking site alone, 270 members have reported fake profiles being created in the last few weeks. The menace is spreading as fast as social networking on the net.
Email: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=fdc8b5b5-b590-4026-a792-10caed13b4e7
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Soft, slow and steady
Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, October 27, 2006
Wajahat Habibullah speaks softly. So softly that at times it’s hard to hear him. But when he is voicing his opinion on the Central Information Commission (CIC) he heads, he is loud and clear.
Set up to administer the Right to Information Act a year ago, the career bureaucrat says the Commission is limping along for want of funds and staff: “We have a sanctioned staff strength of 79 but are functioning with just 30 people.” Worse, the Commission continues to function out of a makeshift office in a government guesthouse in the old JNU campus building. “At that time, we received 10 to 15 appeals a month. Last month we received around 600. We need more space to function,” he says.
The result? The appeals continue to pile up and the disposal rate is less than 50 per cent.
Ironically, the UPA government counts the RTI legislation as one of its biggest achievements, along with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Also ironically, at the opening of the three-day meet to mark one year of RTI, protestors stood up to interrupt President APJ Kalam’s inaugural address. Their grouse was against Habibullah: He was soft on erring officials who denied information, despite the Act, they said.
Though shaken by the protests, Habibullah went on attending the deliberations as though nothing had happened. Three days later, as the meet concluded, he rose to brief the gathering that included Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “One of the informal consensus on the opening day was to sack me,” he said with wry humour. “I do not know whether that consensus still stands after three days of deliberations.”
Earlier, Habibullah had refused to be drawn in the debate to amend the Act by keeping file notings out. Although his colleague and fellow commissioner, OP Kejriwal spoke up against the move, Habibullah kept quiet and his silence was interpreted as sympathy for the government’s so-called intentions.
Habibullah met the criticism by saying that as CIC, his role is that of an arbiter, not activist. He believes in going by the book, exercising only those powers that the Act confers on the Commission. “Civil society expects us to assert the right of the citizen. That is not our role,” he says.
Habibullah is no stranger to criticism. While serving in the United States, a paper he had written on Jammu & Kashmir created controversy. Yet, he remains the Centre’s interlocutor on Kashmir.
But it’s not been brickbats all the way. He has his share of admirers. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit recently promised that RTI awareness would be made a part of the school curriculum. The suggestion had come from the CIC.
Making transparency and accountability a part of the system is what Habibullah says he wants. Parallels have often been drawn between his office and that of the Chief Election Commissioner.
The CIC has been criticised for not doing what the likes of T.N. Seshan or James Michael Lyngdoh did. “The CEC is an established institution. My role is to establish the Commission. But first let us have the ship sailing,” he says.
For now, that course is far from smooth.
Email: Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=257e1c72-7219-4a00-ac94-3e6b8615cd76
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, October 27, 2006
Wajahat Habibullah speaks softly. So softly that at times it’s hard to hear him. But when he is voicing his opinion on the Central Information Commission (CIC) he heads, he is loud and clear.
Set up to administer the Right to Information Act a year ago, the career bureaucrat says the Commission is limping along for want of funds and staff: “We have a sanctioned staff strength of 79 but are functioning with just 30 people.” Worse, the Commission continues to function out of a makeshift office in a government guesthouse in the old JNU campus building. “At that time, we received 10 to 15 appeals a month. Last month we received around 600. We need more space to function,” he says.
The result? The appeals continue to pile up and the disposal rate is less than 50 per cent.
Ironically, the UPA government counts the RTI legislation as one of its biggest achievements, along with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Also ironically, at the opening of the three-day meet to mark one year of RTI, protestors stood up to interrupt President APJ Kalam’s inaugural address. Their grouse was against Habibullah: He was soft on erring officials who denied information, despite the Act, they said.
Though shaken by the protests, Habibullah went on attending the deliberations as though nothing had happened. Three days later, as the meet concluded, he rose to brief the gathering that included Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “One of the informal consensus on the opening day was to sack me,” he said with wry humour. “I do not know whether that consensus still stands after three days of deliberations.”
Earlier, Habibullah had refused to be drawn in the debate to amend the Act by keeping file notings out. Although his colleague and fellow commissioner, OP Kejriwal spoke up against the move, Habibullah kept quiet and his silence was interpreted as sympathy for the government’s so-called intentions.
Habibullah met the criticism by saying that as CIC, his role is that of an arbiter, not activist. He believes in going by the book, exercising only those powers that the Act confers on the Commission. “Civil society expects us to assert the right of the citizen. That is not our role,” he says.
Habibullah is no stranger to criticism. While serving in the United States, a paper he had written on Jammu & Kashmir created controversy. Yet, he remains the Centre’s interlocutor on Kashmir.
But it’s not been brickbats all the way. He has his share of admirers. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit recently promised that RTI awareness would be made a part of the school curriculum. The suggestion had come from the CIC.
Making transparency and accountability a part of the system is what Habibullah says he wants. Parallels have often been drawn between his office and that of the Chief Election Commissioner.
The CIC has been criticised for not doing what the likes of T.N. Seshan or James Michael Lyngdoh did. “The CEC is an established institution. My role is to establish the Commission. But first let us have the ship sailing,” he says.
For now, that course is far from smooth.
Email: Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=257e1c72-7219-4a00-ac94-3e6b8615cd76
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Online soliciting on sexed-up Orkut
Jatin Gandhi and Jairaj Singh
New Delhi, October 23, 2006
Orkut's profile has taken another hit. Google’s social-networking site, which created controversy with its hate-India communities, also abounds with over 100 communities that solicit sex and prostitution from Indian cities.
Dhirender Singh, secretary in the Ministry of Information Technology, said the ministry would file an affidavit with the Maharashtra High Court in the case on hate-India communities and added that soliciting would also be dealt with.
A search on Orkut lists communities from "Call Girls" to "Sex in Mumbai than Delhi". HT correspondents posed as customers and sent emails to these communities that have over 5,000 members from Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bhopal.
"Are you a virgin?" replied one. "I’ll mail you back with my price and place." Another, named Sachin and whose profile listed him as 'a pimp and a gigolo,' responded, "I’m willing to have sex but for a price we have to decide." Sex on the internet is nothing new, but Orkut makes soliciting easy through its open message boards.
Add to the fact that the website is hugely popular with young Indians, compared with other social-networking sites like Hi5, Myspace and Friendster.
Soliciting is a crime under the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act while Section 67 of the Information Technology Act prohibits the transmission of obscenity in electronic form.
However, the Delhi Police said someone like Sachin could not be booked. "Saying that one is available for sex for a price is not obscenity or soliciting under the IT Act," said Prabhakar, deputy commissioner of Delhi Police’s Cyber Cell.
"While obscenity is banned, soliciting on the Net that does not use obscene language or pictures is not," says Rajan Bhagat, PRO, Delhi Police. But Orkut is filled with indecent pictures.
Police say they need a complaint to act. Subimal Bhattacharjee, cyber security analyst, disagrees. "Police can take cognisance of such offences," he says. "If police feel a certain website needs to be blocked, that can be done too."
Sex and the Net Google’s social-networking site Orkut has over 100 communities that solicit sex and prostitution from Indian cities.
Moreover, the website is very popular with young Indians, Cyber security analysts say that if a website has to be blocked, police can do so by reporting it to the IT Ministry’s Computer Emergency Response Team.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=3bb23430-e12d-4c0e-b774-02397281e447
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, October 23, 2006
Orkut's profile has taken another hit. Google’s social-networking site, which created controversy with its hate-India communities, also abounds with over 100 communities that solicit sex and prostitution from Indian cities.
Dhirender Singh, secretary in the Ministry of Information Technology, said the ministry would file an affidavit with the Maharashtra High Court in the case on hate-India communities and added that soliciting would also be dealt with.
A search on Orkut lists communities from "Call Girls" to "Sex in Mumbai than Delhi". HT correspondents posed as customers and sent emails to these communities that have over 5,000 members from Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bhopal.
"Are you a virgin?" replied one. "I’ll mail you back with my price and place." Another, named Sachin and whose profile listed him as 'a pimp and a gigolo,' responded, "I’m willing to have sex but for a price we have to decide." Sex on the internet is nothing new, but Orkut makes soliciting easy through its open message boards.
Add to the fact that the website is hugely popular with young Indians, compared with other social-networking sites like Hi5, Myspace and Friendster.
Soliciting is a crime under the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act while Section 67 of the Information Technology Act prohibits the transmission of obscenity in electronic form.
However, the Delhi Police said someone like Sachin could not be booked. "Saying that one is available for sex for a price is not obscenity or soliciting under the IT Act," said Prabhakar, deputy commissioner of Delhi Police’s Cyber Cell.
"While obscenity is banned, soliciting on the Net that does not use obscene language or pictures is not," says Rajan Bhagat, PRO, Delhi Police. But Orkut is filled with indecent pictures.
Police say they need a complaint to act. Subimal Bhattacharjee, cyber security analyst, disagrees. "Police can take cognisance of such offences," he says. "If police feel a certain website needs to be blocked, that can be done too."
Sex and the Net Google’s social-networking site Orkut has over 100 communities that solicit sex and prostitution from Indian cities.
Moreover, the website is very popular with young Indians, Cyber security analysts say that if a website has to be blocked, police can do so by reporting it to the IT Ministry’s Computer Emergency Response Team.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=3bb23430-e12d-4c0e-b774-02397281e447
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
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