June 11th, 2007
As children their parents gave them to serve Yellama – the goddess of fertility. Her cult is thousands of years old, her followers spread across southern India. “Being devadasis means we are slaves of the goddess. We have to visit this temple. We wear necklaces of pearls to show we are bound to Yellama. We [...]
March 1st, 2007
According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) findings, only about 57% of Indian women have heard of HIV/AIDS.
India has 5.7 million people living with HIV/AIDS, according to the United Nations, which is the world’s highest caseload. But the prevalence rate, in the country of 1.1 billion people, is much lower than in most of [...]
February 22nd, 2007
The new Palna Scheme proposed by the Union Women and Child Department aims at curbing female foeticide and to check the skewed sex ratio in the country.
The scheme will be implemented by the ministry of women and child development in coordination with state governments, and is likely to be put in place during the 11th [...]