https://www.scmp.com/rss/289571/feed Priya Virmani is a political and economic analyst. She contributes to print, radio and television. As a TED speaker and an international speaker, she gives talks on disruptive economics, politics, psychology, and social and female entrepreneurship, the world over. She is also the founder and director of Paint Our World, a humanitarian project that works to rehabilitate underprivileged children who have suffered trauma and abuse. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Earlier this year, the Thomson Reuters Foundation ranked India as the most dangerous country for women. A few months down the line, the Pandora’s Box of gender-based atrocities has finally opened in India. This was long and painfully overdue. Countless “survivors” have courageously come forward in recent months to name a celebrity sexual predator. The growing list is the beginning of a significant movement that bears the hope of challenging and overturning the Thomson Reuters survey finding once... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/asia/article/2168745/metoo-india-true-revolution-against-sexual-abuse-must?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/asia/article/2168745/metoo-india-true-revolution-against-sexual-abuse-must?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 16 Oct 2018 14:31:47 +0000 South Asia’s floods reached epic proportions last week. The extent of the disaster is staggering – 1,200 casualties in Mumbai, Nepal and Bangladesh; 40 million affected; 18,000 schools closed and 1.8 million children unable to attend. Mumbai is the richest area in the flood-hit region but has not been spared the tragedy due to a complete lack of preventive measures. Standing proudly on the Arabian Sea coast, its waterways – lakes, creeks, mudflats and rivers – form the very fabric of the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2109968/south-asian-monsoons-and-flooding-expose-mumbais?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2109968/south-asian-monsoons-and-flooding-expose-mumbais?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Sep 2017 04:10:30 +0000 London twice and Manchester once in the space of less than 2½ months – is this becoming a dangerous pattern where terrorists are outwitting British intelligence services? What are we, in the UK, getting wrong at our end? And, for the terrorists, what are they really achieving by targeting those very multicultural cities that comprise the heart of their sympathiser base in the Western world? Just last week, a young man stood blindfolded on a street with a placard that said “Do you trust me... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2096915/after-london-and-manchester-terror-attacks-uk-needs-act-now?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2096915/after-london-and-manchester-terror-attacks-uk-needs-act-now?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Jun 2017 07:07:00 +0000 Sexual abuse of children has reached alarming proportions in India. A 2013 study by the Indian Journal of Psychiatry said half of all children had encountered some form of sexual abuse and one in five had experienced severe forms of abuse. Yet, between 2001 and 2011, only 48,000 cases were reported. A 2007 study by the Women and Child Development ministry indicated that 150 million girls and 73 million boys were the victims of abuse in India. That total is more than the combined populations of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2090397/india-shamed-silence-child-sexual-abuse-within-family?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2090397/india-shamed-silence-child-sexual-abuse-within-family?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Apr 2017 06:29:31 +0000 What is it? La Crisalida (“the chrysalis”) stands off a quiet road in the chic little Spanish town of Albir, just north of Alicante. Being on the Mediterranean coast, there is no shortage of sun, sea and sand. The retreat comprises a pair of quadrangles encompassing two swimming pools. Accom­modation options include studio flats; rooms in a flat shared with one other guest; or, the most cost effective, rooms in a shared apartment. If booking as a single traveller, the retreat’s website promises,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2088886/spanish-retreat-la-crisalida-vegan-paradise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2088886/spanish-retreat-la-crisalida-vegan-paradise?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Apr 2017 01:00:47 +0000 Facebook’s team has been in Pakistan working with the government to remove “blasphemous content” on social media. Among all the Muslim-majority countries, Pakistan arguably has the most stringent blasphemy laws, which include the death penalty. Between 1987 and 2014, over 1,300 people were accused of blasphemy. Since 1990, unofficial figures suggest at least 68 have been killed over allegations of blasphemy. Last week, three bloggers were put behind bars on charges of blasphemy and 40 people are... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2086400/facebook-should-stay-out-pakistans-crackdown-blasphemy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2086400/facebook-should-stay-out-pakistans-crackdown-blasphemy?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Apr 2017 09:27:07 +0000 On the day of the US presidential election, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi unleashed a masterstroke. In an 8pm televised address, he announced to the nation that in four hours (that is, at the stroke of midnight), the largest denomination banknotes – of 500 and 1,000 rupees – would cease to be legal tender. India has a “dark” economy that is arguably more powerful than the legitimate one. The International Economic Journal has estimated that the shadow economy accounted for around a quarter... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2045800/indian-pm-modis-currency-ban-masterstroke-his-drive-clean?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2045800/indian-pm-modis-currency-ban-masterstroke-his-drive-clean?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Nov 2016 03:29:04 +0000 As 2015 draws to a close, the Vatican has announced that a second miracle attributed to Mother Teresa – the recovery of a Brazilian man suffering from multiple brain tumours – has been recorded, paving the way for her canonisation next year. I knew Mother Teresa from when I was a child until her death in 1997. I was struck by the kindness that emanated from her eyes towards everyone she met, including her fiercest critics. Her small frame belied her unstoppable energy. When people greeted her,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1896564/why-heavenly-status-mother-teresa-lies-her-work-earth?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1896564/why-heavenly-status-mother-teresa-lies-her-work-earth?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Dec 2015 07:44:23 +0000 At the epicentre of the climate change summit negotiations in Paris are the energy needs of India and China. Together, they have one third of the world’s population, and the majority aspire to a high-energy-consuming Western lifestyle. Both countries are hugely reliant on fossil fuels for their energy needs. Clearly, a third of the world’s population “tasting development” on the back of fossil fuel use will spell disaster for the planet. Fairly or unfairly, the spotlight for saving our world is... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1889023/avert-disaster-china-and-india-must-make-fossil-fuels-thing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1889023/avert-disaster-china-and-india-must-make-fossil-fuels-thing?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Dec 2015 03:17:56 +0000 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has just concluded his visit to the UK, where he received a rock star’s welcome. However, back in India, put your ear to the ground and you will hear a different story – one of misgivings. Modi’s party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, has just lost elections in the key state of Bihar. This is Modi’s first major electoral setback since he rode into the prime ministerial office in May 2014, and the defeat has come as a complete surprise to his party. The Bihar... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1880799/all-talk-and-no-action-modis-unfulfilled-promises-take-shine?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1880799/all-talk-and-no-action-modis-unfulfilled-promises-take-shine?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Nov 2015 05:51:15 +0000 Hardik Patel, a 22-year-old, has put India in a quandary. He has galvanised the Patel clan to demand a place in India's model of affirmative action. Among India's most progressive communities both in India and among non-resident Indians, the Patels are now demanding to be classed among India's Other Backward Castes, a classification used in the long-standing system of affirmative action. The Patel clamour is the latest challenge in the debate in India on caste-driven quotas. India's rigid caste... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1855313/patel-clans-fight-be-backward-shows-indias-outdated-caste?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1855313/patel-clans-fight-be-backward-shows-indias-outdated-caste?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 Sep 2015 01:30:58 +0000 Yakub Memon became the latest convict to be hanged in India last week. Memon was executed for his role in the 1993 bomb blasts in Mumbai, which left 257 people dead. Memon's execution has reignited a debate on the death penalty in India. A de facto moratorium on executions from 2004 to 2012 has been interrupted by three executions since. All were related to terrorism offences. Most of India, led by right-wing Hindus, strongly endorses Memon's hanging. To them, doing so was in line with getting... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1846082/india-wont-beat-terrorism-death-penalty?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1846082/india-wont-beat-terrorism-death-penalty?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Aug 2015 06:00:15 +0000 The controversy surrounding the BBC documentary on the 2012 gang rape of a medical student aboard a moving bus in Delhi was raging on Indian television screens on Sunday. The date coincided with International Women's Day. And, just then, the breaking-news feed running across the bottom of the screens reported that a young woman had been gang-raped in a car in the northern Indian city of Ludhiana. The history of gang rapes is repeating itself all too often in India. Yet Home Minister Rajnath... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1734194/once-let-bias-favour-women-patriarchal-india?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1734194/once-let-bias-favour-women-patriarchal-india?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Mar 2015 06:20:24 +0000 Last month a six-year-old primary school girl was raped in Bangalore by her school's gym instructor and his accomplice. The incident was brushed under the carpet for days before a media expose brought it to light. This incident was soon followed by the rape of another primary school student by the son of her household help who was entrusted with the task of fetching her from school. Following ghastly sex crimes against women that caught the attention of both the national and the international... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1571378/prevent-sex-abuse-childs-welfare-must-be-made-top-priority?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1571378/prevent-sex-abuse-childs-welfare-must-be-made-top-priority?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Aug 2014 09:00:30 +0000 Last week's gang rape of a 22-year-old photojournalist in Mumbai comes nine months after the gang rape of a 23-year-old student aboard a bus in Delhi that led to her death. Delhi had tragically earned itself the title of India's rape capital but Mumbai, a more liberal city, was widely regarded as safe for women. Not any more. The latest victim was on assignment at a textile mill and was accompanied by a male colleague. He was tied up and beaten as the woman was taken into the abandoned mill to... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1300697/stop-rapists-root-out-misogyny-indian-society?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1300697/stop-rapists-root-out-misogyny-indian-society?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Aug 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Crimson blobs and droplets on white marble, ensconced by Buddhist architecture. A short distance away, a magnificent Bodhi tree looks over the scene. This is the image being broadcast by the Indian media following the bomb blasts at the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya, Bihar. It was under a Bodhi tree there that Prince Siddhartha was believed to have gained enlightenment. Indian politicians with an eye on elections next year have been quick to seek to gain political mileage from the situation. A... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1278907/left-fester-rohingya-crisis-will-serve-radical-cause?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1278907/left-fester-rohingya-crisis-will-serve-radical-cause?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Jul 2013 16:00:00 +0000 A 23-year-old paramedical student went to a cinema with a male friend this month in the Indian capital, Delhi. On the way back, the young woman and her friend were lured onto a private bus masquerading as a public bus. She was then gang-raped by six men, who bashed the couple with an iron rod and left them on a roadside. This happened within a stone's throw of a posh residential estate. And while the assault was carried out, the bus passed several police checkpoints. Even before this gruesome... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1114526/rape-case-exposes-indias-dismal-record-delivering-justice?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1114526/rape-case-exposes-indias-dismal-record-delivering-justice?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 28 Dec 2012 16:00:00 +0000