Pole-dancing Gandhi causes fuss

Two Indian television channels are facing government action after they reportedly aired a video clip depicting a man dressed up as Mahatma Gandhi performing a pole dance. Gandhi is widely revered in India and abroad as the father of the anti-colonial struggle and as a champion of non-violence. He was assassinated in 1948, a year after India won independence from Britain.

“Based on a website document, an attempt was made to denigrate the honour of the father of the nation which has been in bad taste, and this was copied by two private TV channels in India,” Information Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi told the Press Trust of India.The two-minute clip reportedly shows a man dressed in dhoti - the simple cotton loin cloth worn by Gandhi - and dancing around a pole with a dagger and making obscene gestures. The clip was reportedly filmed by a New York-based non-resident Indian and posted on a popular video-sharing Internet site.

Six-year old jailed

A six-year-old has been sent to jail, along with a brothel owner who was taking her care, when a court here found no other way to ensure that the infant would be cared for in her absence. The court in Sasaram, gave the order after no one came forward to care for the child. The woman Vimala Devi, 40 was recently arrested. with the child. “The court ordered to send the girl to jail along with Vimala Devi for her safe custody till any alternate arrangements were made by the local administration,” an official said.

Male teachers replaced

Male teachers are being prevented from teaching girls in primary schools across New Delhi after a handful of complaints of sexual molestation. Within the next three months, male teachers will be replaced — wherever possible — with female teachers in Delhi’s roughly 1,200 primary schools. The capital is considered dangerous for women.
 
Vulture culture

An endangered species of vulture has been bred in captivity for the first time cheering those trying to rescue the South Asian bird from extinction. The Oriental white-backed vulture chick hatched at a breeding centre in the north Indian state of Haryana. Numbers have dropped largely due to farmers dosing their cattle with diclofenac.
of South Asia’s Oriental white-backed vultures have plummeted. , long-billed and slender-billed, a drug used to treat inflammation, poisoning the scavenging birds one step up the food chain.

Turtle thieves

Nine people were arrested in Lucknow with dozens of turtles meant for dinner tables. The meat of the turtle is in big demand in India because it is believed to be a good aphrodisiac. Turtle meat sells for around 1 000 rupees (C$26) a kg in the Indian market. They are much in demand for their skin, used for making leather products.