#khobragade

New Post has been published on http://www.everyupdates.org/india/news-india/obama-india-issues-like-lgbt-rights-forced-labour-went-unheard/

Obama in India: Issues like LGBT rights, forced labour that went unheard

Obama in India Issues like LGBT rights, forced labour that went unheard

Barack Obama’s visit to India has been all about big issues such as nuclear deal, clean energy and climate, counter-terrorism and economic efforts between the two nations etc. If the entire media attention has been on the developments in these areas in the last couple of days, it is obvious why.

However, away from the glare of cameras and flashing bulbs there are issues which are calling out to be heard by the most powerful persons in both countries. Here are a few such campaigns that no one noticed.

Homosexual rights

A petition has been started by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community on Change.org pleading the American President to support them and ask the Indian government to decriminalize gay sex and read down section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. The campaign ObamaforQueerIndia is highly visible both Twitter and Facebook. “We, the millions of LGBTQIA citizens of India call upon you to voice our concerns to our government that has turned a deaf ear to our grievances,” the petition reads.

In 2012, Obama had said that he supported gay marriages. This has encouraged the LGBT community in India to seek for his support. “He is the most powerful man in the world and he supports gay marriages, hence his word or advise to Modi and the Indian government will definitely hold value,” Rajan Shekhar, a member of the community, said.

Forced labour and trafficking of domestic help

Humanrightsfirst.org has also urged the US President to raise the issue of modern day slavery – the practice of having domestic helps – and the trafficking done by Indian diplomats. Human rights advocates suspect that despite the Devyani Khobragade episode which witnessed visa fraud and exploitation of her domestic help, Indian diplomats have continued that practice in the US.

In addition to that, the advocates also voiced their concern over forced labour and human trafficking inside India. “More people are enslaved in India than in any other country in the world… India’s primary trafficking problem is the forced labour of an estimated 20 to 65 million citizens: men, women, and children held in debt bondage-sometimes inherited from previous generations-who are forced to work in brick kilns, rice mills, agriculture, embroidery factories, and other industries” wrote Human Rights First President and CEO Elisa Massimino. “The challenge is to change this calculus-to increase the risk of prosecution and decrease the profits for exploiters. The Indian government needs to strengthen anti-trafficking laws and promote consistent enforcement at all government levels.”

However, this topic has the least possibility of coming up during the bilateral talks due to the Khobragade incident in December 2013, which severely damaged the Indo-US relations and Obama presence in Delhi is to essentially mend it.

Another petition on intellectual property rights, especially getting patents for new medicine, has been doing rounds on social media. However, this petition does not ask for Obama’s support, rather it pleads the Indian government to stand strong against the US, which has been trying to convince the Indian government to follow the US policy when it comes to medicine patent criteria.

The US, which has a liberal patent criteria, enables pharmaceutical companies to make minor changes to the composition of a drug and get a patent for 20 years, hence no other company can manufacture the same drug for that period of time. This enables pharmaceutical companies to create monopolies and make their drug extremely expensive and keeps it out of reach for the poor.

In India, however, such monopolies don’t exist as smaller pharmaceutical companies come out with cheaper substitutes of an expensive drug which is affordable for the poor, which India has in abundance. Oxfamindia.org has started a campaign called “Save our medicine, save lives“ which is inviting people to join and stand strong with the Indian Government against US bullying and protect access to life-saving medicines for millions across the world.

#Khobragade #indicted again|case back to same place where it was before #law #india #usa

A grand jury in New York has returned a new indictment against Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade for visa fraud, two days after a U.S. judge dismissed a similar indictment because she had diplomatic immunity.

Khobragade’s arrest in December and a subsequent strip search drew outrage in India, causing a major diplomatic rift between the United States and India.

The United States granted her…

New Post has been published on http://www.therakyatpost.com/world/2014/03/13/charges-against-indian-diplomat-dismissed/

Charges against Indian diplomat dismissed

NEW YORK, March 13:

A US judge has thrown out charges against an Indian diplomat whose arrest here and strip-search sparked a bitter diplomatic row with Delhi.

Devyani Khobragade was arrested on Dec 12 last year outside her children’s school here and accused of defrauding her Indian housekeeper’s visa application.

An outraged India claimed full diplomatic immunity on her behalf after Khobragade said she was subjected to a cavity search while in custody.

Employed at the Indian consulate here, she acquired in January the full diplomatic immunity granted to diplomats at the Indian mission to the UN.

It was on grounds of immunity that she petitioned a US court on Jan 9 to drop the case.

US District Judge Shira Scheindlin dismissed the indictment on grounds that Khobragade was granted full diplomatic immunity on Jan 8.

“Even if Khobragade had no immunity at the time of her arrest and has none now, her acquisition of immunity during the pendency of proceedings mandates dismissal,” Scheindlin wrote.

“Khobragade’s conditions of bail are terminated, and her bond is exonerated… It is ordered that any open arrest warrants based on this indictment must be vacated.”

India welcomed today the dismissal of the case, adding that government lawyers would now scrutinise the court’s order.

“It is good as far as it goes. The lawyers will need to examine it carefully before we are able to respond substantively and in more detail,” foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said in New Delhi.

Speaking in Mumbai, Khobragade’s father thanked the Indian government for rallying behind the family and lashed out at the US for trying to frame his daughter in a “false” case.

Khobragade returned to India in January, leaving behind her two daughters and husband, a US citizen. She is now working for India’s foreign affairs ministry in Delhi.

After her arrival in India, Khobragade told an Indian newspaper of her anguish at being separated from her 7 and 4-year-old girls and their father, an academic.

US prosecutors, disputing her immunity, accused Khobragade of sometimes forcing her Indian maid to work 100-hour weeks, even when sick and often without a day off, for pay as little as $1.22 an hour.

Clean Khobragade mess

From: Times of India Dated: January 16 2014 By Indrani Bagchi

The Indian outburst against the…

Devyani: moving with her family to a European country or pursuing a political career in India.

Bharara: Very likely to be indicted and barred from entering India (he's already barred from entering Russia)

Kerry/State Dept: Look stupid for handling this with unmatched incompetence.

Other Indian diplomat nannies: probably on their way home.