MUMBAI, India – It looks like an iPad, only it’s 1/14th the cost: India has unveiled the prototype of a $35 basic touchscreen tablet aimed at students, which it hopes to bring into production by 2011.

The tablet can be used for functions like word processing, web browsing and video-conferencing. It has a solar power option too — important for India’s energy-starved hinterlands — though that add-on costs extra.

This could be a revolution on how computer education occurs in rural India! If lucky, schools may have 4 to 6 outdated computer stations for 500 students. One school in southern India uses batteries as their primary power source because they loose electricity each day from 10 AM til 2 PM. Most kids in rural villages have never seen, let alone touched a computer.

What might happen if every student in rural India had access to the internet? To take a laptop back home to share learning with his/her family?

Brad and Jill McElya have recently started the Invisible Girl Project, based out of Indianapolis, Indiana and Chennai, India. They will continue to address the issues surrounding sex determination feticide, female infanticide and gender discrimination against the Indian girl child. They can be contacted at bradmcelya@yahoo.com and jillyulrich@hotmail.com. We wish them success in their new endeavor!

Today, I received an email from Raj and Aroma Ministries with that as the subject line.

Raj and his wife Prema are leading TRP’s projects in Kethuvarpatti as well as helping develop our foster care program. Almost every family practices female infanticide in Kethuvarpatti with 35 to 45 baby girls loosing their life each year.

As sad and unsettling are these two stories, it gives me great hope to see how intuitively Indian pastors and Christian families from their churches understand and embrace this as an expression of their faith.

Raj’s email

“Last week there is a baby girl was about to be killed. When Pastor.John came to know, he asked wether we can do anything. I told him to get hold of the baby and we will do something to save the babby life. The mother of the baby desrted her husband and ran away from home with another man. So the father decided to kill the baby. Now the baby is with Pastor John. I will be bringing the baby to Trichy on Sunday. By the time we also found a foster parent for the baby.

The second child was rescued by one of Church planter Philip Murugan, who is doing ministry 15 K.M from Kethuvarpatty. The parents decided to kill as they have another baby girl and they are living in poverty. Philip took the baby and it was with them for a week. During this time Philip gave counselling and told them, he can find a help for the baby to grow and the parents decided not to kill the baby.”

The Rhema Project is committed to underwriting the cost of the immediate medical and ongoing foster care of these two girls. During my trip in August we will begin to discuss how TRP can fund micro loans or launch micro business so that these Indian churches and families can help share in the ongoing costs to provide great homes for these (and other) unwanted girl babies.

As horrific as honor killings is and how the discrimination of the female in India follows her her entire life, the good news is this is becoming newsworthy in India. We in the west should play our part but India attitudes and their actions are essential to changing a cultural mindset that views women as a liability and “expendable” to one that values their true God-given worth.

Great job Mr. Tripathi!

The Times of India
Ashish Tripathi, 08 July 2010, 01:28 PM IST

“Honour killings” or horror killings — call them by any name, they are just one of many crimes born out of unholy traditions which survive on the blood of the innocent. Ironically, any law, no matter how severe it is, will be able to check these crimes. The reason: MINDSET. Cemented over the centuries by the feudal and patriarchal set-up, changing the mindset of the population today is tougher than the toughest thing is the world. A law might ban khap panchayats or at the most make “honour killing”, a non-bailable offence punishable with death penalty. But “honour killing” will continue to prevail till we convince people, be it the illiterate village folk or the highly educated city dwellers, that what they are doing is a sin and an immoral act.

Let me illustrate my argument with some examples: Slavery was abolished in America in 1865 and it took over 150 years for Americans to change the mindset and elect a black president. And cases of racial discrimination are still reported. Back home, 60 years after untouchability was abolished, the ill still exists. Dalit suppression continues despite a strict law and despite dalits holding key positions in government. Misuse of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act is also rampant but studies reveal that atrocities on dalits have increased — women are raped and paraded naked, men assaulted and killed, their houses burnt, their children denied education. All for breaking the code imposed for ages by the brahminical order.

Dowry Prohibition Act was passed in 1961 but the evil continues to be part of our social customs. People argue that anti-dowry act is the most misused law but it is also true that women are dying or being killed because of dowry even today. As per National Crime Records Bureau, a total of 6,787 dowry death cases were registered in 2005, 7,618 in 2006, 75,930 in 2007 and 8,172 in 2008. It’s an open secret that dowry is part of over 95% of the marriages taking place today. Dowry is illegal but people don’t consider it immoral. We are groomed in a manner that giving and taking dowry is considered to be a status symbol. As one moves up the ladder from law enforcer to law maker — clerk/constable, inspector, IPS, IAS, MBA, MP — the cost of the groom increases.

Dowry is also one of the major factors behind corruption in government system. After globalisation, our desires and greed has increased with the increase in availability of products in the market. Accordingly, the amount of dowry has also increased. Now a groom with Rs 15,000 plus salary demands a car instead of a motorcycle. Those who cannot afford resort to female feticide or abandon the girl child. Further, despite a law prohibiting child marriage, a Unicef report says that over 47% girls (27% in urban and 56% in rural) in India are being married before the legal age of 18 years, leading to high maternal and neonatal mortality rate. One of the main reasons parents in rural areas marry their daughters at the early age (often misfit match) is dowry.

Further, the Domestic Violence Act 2005 was brought to protect women in the family from mental and physical violence but it has failed to make any impact. Studies reveal that over 95% of women don’t report domestic violence but still 81,344 domestic violence cases were registered in 2008 and 75,930 in 2007 in courts. The PCPNDT ACT prohibits female feticide but every year over one million girls are being killed before taking birth. The law has neither been able to deter people nor restrain doctors from indulging in the heinous crime. Killing the girl child before birth has today taken the shape of a multi-crore industry in states like Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, where the child sex ratio has at many places has gone down below 750.

Clearly, many things made illegal by the law are considered morally correct by society. the education system has also failed in inculcating moral values, be it rural or urban population. “Honour killing” also have a gender angle. Most killings are committed by the girl’s family while the boy’s family reconciles with “ladka hai sub chalta hai”, a girl carries the burden of family honour. If she elopes, her family is labelled to be lacking right “samskars”, hence unfit for “roti aur beti ka rishta”. For the girl’s family, killing becomes necessary for redemption. Besides killings, thousands…perhaps lakhs of girls are forced to marry against their wishes. Matrimonial columns show that the most families, even highly educated ones, prefer same-caste marriages. The youngsters have no freedom of choice.

The only solution is Gandhi’s satyagraha. While politicians of this age are avoiding comment on the issue out of fear of losing their vote bank, Gandhi in Harijan’s September 15, 1946, edition had written “It is wholly wrong of parents to force marriage on their daughters. It is also wrong to keep their daughters unfit for earning their living. No father has a right to turn a daughter out on to the streets for refusal to marry.” We need satyagraha to prick the conscience of the people by assertion of truth with firmness. Rather than coercing them into submission, the killers of their daughters and sons will have to be convinced that what they are doing is evil and not honourable. We need to defeat the evil through moral force and not just a law to punish the evil-doer.

On the dowry system, Bapu wrote in Young India on June 21, 1929, “Marriage must cease to be a matter of arrangement made by parents for money. The system is intimately connected with caste. So long as the choice is restricted to a few hundred young men or young women of a particular caste, dowry will persist. We will have to break the bonds of caste if the evil is to be eradicated. Any young man who takes dowry discredits his education, his country and dishonours womanhood… men who soil their fingers with such ill-gotten gold should be ex-communicated from society. Parents of girls should cease to be dazzled by English degrees and should not hesitate to travel outside their little castes and provinces to secure true gallant young men for their daughters…”

Today we need firm resolute, patience (reforms will not be overnight) and all-round sustained effort from spiritual leaders, social activists, police, state and district administration, journalists, teachers, lawyers, students, teachers and sane voices from among the community itself and above all a strong political will. Everyone of us will have to contribute in whatever way we think is feasible. We need to explain to the “killers” that same gotra is irrelevant in view of the fact that source of all creation in this universe is one almighty God. Economically, dowry will have no place in marriages based on right to choice. Those in opposition also need to be told that “honour killing” is no solution. Had it been, love marriages would have stopped after the first such killing.

Every counter argument will have to be supported with citations from folklore, mythology and religious texts. For example: Haryana is the land where the Vedic civilisation took birth and flourished. The civilisation gave right to “swyamwar” to the girls. In this land the the epic war of the Mahabharata took place. The discourse given by Lord Krishna to Pandav prince Arjuna before the war, known as the Bhagwad Gita, has inspired millions the world over. In the Gita, the lord has stressed the need of purity of soul and not purity of clan. Rukmini, princes of Vidharbha, wanted to marry Krishna. But when her marriage was fixed with another prince, she called Krishna for help. Krishana “eloped” with Rukmini to honour a woman’s right to choose her life partner.

The entire campaign would have to be conducted in a polite and respectful manner giving full opportunity to those in opposition to put forward their view. Anything imposed would only invite backlash. And above all, the couples will have to adopt satyagraha and be ready for sacrifice in the larger interest of the coming generations. Rather than eloping to get married, they will have to take a firm stand — they will not leave family but at the same time will remain unmarried till allowed to marry the person of their choice. And, the most important part is that all of us who want to eradicate the evil, as a first step towards the satyagraha, will all have to take a vow that neither will we indulge in any of the above-mentioned ills, nor allow anyone in our families to do so.

The Rhema Project has requested permission to show this documentary film later this year. Will keep everyone posted.

Every 34 minutes in India a woman is raped, but for the handful of cases that ever make it to court, only 5% are ever prosecuted.

This month a shocking new documentary, directed by Michael Lawson, sheds light on the exploitation and oppression faced by India’s Dalit women due to their gender, class and position at the bottom of the cruel caste system-a centuries-old hierarchy of social class in to which individuals are born.

Filmed in the towns and villages of Hyderabad, Bengalaru, Belgaum and Mumbai, Anjali Guptara, presenter of the documentary, takes us in to the homes and communities of these women, outlining the issues they face on a daily basis due to India’s ancient yet regimental caste system, which decides their fate before they have even been born.

Through interviews and astonishing footage, Anjali unearths the hidden lives of the Dalit women subject to brutal domestic violence, dowry crime, rape, sex selective abortion, female infanticide, bonded labour, temple prostitution and human trafficking.

She explains, ‘One of the main problems with the issues that we cover is that people think they are historical problems, perhaps even legends and myths.’ The film explores issues of sexual violence with stories of rape by men of higher caste, of police turning a blind eye and the legacy of depression and suicide that follows.

Kishwar Desai, a campaigner for women’s rights in India and author of Witness the Night said, ‘There is a complicity of corruption between the police, judicial system, politicians, media and the uncivil society.’

Perhaps most disturbing are the scenes of temple prostitution, officially outlawed in 1988, where girls as young as four are sold to priests by desperate parents for financial exchange. By the time these girls are twelve they are used as prostitutes.

Lawson, the film’s producer, director, composer and cameraman added, ‘For growing, economically successful India, in public the Dalits are an embarrassment. In private, the exploitation continues as it has for centuries.’

In the world’s largest democracy, this treatment of women is a contradiction in its highest form. By uncovering the truth, Pipe Village Trust, a small UK film making human rights charity, gives these Dalit women of India a voice, but insists that it is how viewers choose to respond that will determine how long the terrible suffering continues.

The DVD is now available to buy online from the Pipe Village Trust website.

How does this make you feel as a woman? Do you think it is our responsibility to fight for women’s rights in India?

This is a well meaning question posed often to me as The Rhema Project continues to fund the drilling of new wells or the filtration of existing ones to provide reliable, fresh, clean drinking water to villages and field partners in India.

I believe they are really asking this – “How does good drinking water stop the killing of 1.2 million baby girls each year in India?” It is a great question, especially coming from a western worldview that water is essentially a commodity. Turn on the tap in your kitchen and most of us our set.

People can survive 3 to 8 days without water but in rural India, especially in southern India where daytime temperatures can reach over 120 degrees and access to any water is limited at best, a reliable water source is essential for all life.

So from a macro viewpoint, drilling a 500 foot bore well in a village provides TRP with;

1. Immediate creditability within the entire village.
2. Families quickly move from daily survival to a sustaining attitude.
3. Improved health standards for the entire village – including the girls.

From a young girls perspective, a well immediately removes the “domino effect” that causes her to loose hope of finding self-worth or be given any value as a person. A village well provides her with;

1. A Chance for Life. While still in her mother’s womb if her mother has adequate and good drinking water the baby girl’s chance for surviving her birth increases significantly.
2. A Chance for Health. The majority of deaths of young girls is the direct result of preventable water-born illnesses that are typically left untreated when you are a girl child. So, if a girl survives her first few years she has;
3. A Chance for Education. Since she does not need to walk 2 to 5 miles to carry water back home she can stay in school.
4. A Chance for Economic Opportunity. Every year a girl is able to stay in school past the 6th standard her income earning potential will increase by 25%, the age she will be married is delayed and the number of children she will have will decrease by nearly 30%.
5. A Chance to Change Culture. When a woman is given an opportunity to earn an income she will reinvest her earnings back into the care and education of her children giving them a greater opportunity and raising the value of both her sons and daughters.

Cultural beliefs, habits and patterns are difficult to change. Many times, any small hurdle becomes a virtual road block to change. A reliable bore well in a rural village that provides good drinking water eliminates many of the reasons “not to change.”

So when I share that an investment of $1500 to $2000 USD to drill a 500 ft. bore well in villages in southern India will provide an entire village with reliable, fresh drinking water, many friends now share “Why Not Water!”