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This document reports on achievements in many critical areas including child protection, education, health, livelihoods and disaster risk reduction by Save the Children as a result of their planned five-year response and recovery program in five countries: Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and Somalia.
http://www.preventionweb.net/files/12547_tsunamireport20091.pdf
Keywords: India, Indonesia, Natural disasters, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tsunamis,

The 20th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies (ECMSAS), is to be held in Manchester from 8-11 July 2008. The ECMSAS is the largest gathering of South Asia oriented researchers in Europe, covering all fields from the humanities and social sciences to technology, natural sciences and medicine. The conference is held biannually under the aegis of the European Association of South Asian Studies (EASAS), a professional, non-profit organisation of scholars engaged in research and teaching concerning South Asia with regard to all periods and fields of study. The objectives of EASAS are to support and promote South Asian Studies in all countries of Europe.
http://www.arts.manchester.ac.uk/ecmsas/
Keywords: Afghanistan, Asian area studies, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, South Asia, Sri Lanka,

2point6billion.com is a blog specifically dedicated to comment and dialogue on matters of China & India trade, development, investment opportunities, politics, and the impact these two huge emerging markets are having on the international business community. 2point6billion.com was designed by the China-India business advisory and tax consultancy Dezan Shira & Associates, main contributors to China Briefing and India Briefing, to enable western and international businessmen, in addition to their Indian and Chinese counterparts, to examine, discuss and explore the complexities of these two huge markets, conducting business with and within them, and the likely impact this will have on their own companies, countries, and globalization in general.
http://www.2point6billion.com/
Keywords: Business. Management, China, Development, Development. Poverty, East Asia, Economic development, Economic issues, In Focus, In Focus 2010, In Focus 2010 Week 16, In Focus 2010 Week 23, India, Politics and society, South Asia,

"A little piece of Denmark in India" : the space and places of a South Indian town, and the narratives of its peoples / Kristian Bøe Grønseth. - Oslo : Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, 2007. - 97 p. (Master's thesis) The South Indian town of Tranquebar was a Danish colony between 1620 and 1845, and several historical buildings and structures from this period remain in the town today. A group of Danish volunteers called the Tranquebar Association are trying to restore the historical buildings, which they consider a legacy of the “golden age” of Denmark. I wanted to find out what relationship the local Indians had to the buildings, and the history of the place, comparing their views with those of the Danish. In this text I will discuss the different meanings the historical buildings in the town of Tranquebar in South India has to different groups of people living in or active in the area. To do this I examine the connection between buildings as significant places, or ethnoscapes as parts of different boundariless “neighbourhoods” to the different groups, and the different historical narratives of the different groups. These narratives are as much products of the different identities of the different groups as they are tools to shape these identities, and proved central in establishing places of significance in the space of Tranquebar, and also in the surrounding area (foremost the village of Tarangambadi). The town of Tranquebar and the village of Tarangambadi comprise a space where different groups have different ethnical “neighbourhoods” formed around different significant places. These places are of varying importance to the different groups, dependent on their relative places in the different narratives. Where two groups connect the same places with different narratives it is a source of conflict as to who can establish the significance of the places. The narratives themselves are not sources of conflict. In spite of different interpretations of the same general event history, the historical narratives are primarily for internal consumption inside the groups, not for establishing hegemony over the other narratives.
http://www.duo.uio.no/publ/sai/2007/61608/Completexxversionx6.1xxmedxinnholdsfor...
Keywords: Anthropology, Cultural and social anthropology, History, India, India, Nordic Perspective, Norway, Publications, South Asia, South Asia ,

Authors: Batnitzky,A. ; Mcdowell,L. ; Dyer,S. Produced by: School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford (2008) The migration of middle-class Indian men working in the hospitality sector in west London illustrates the intersection of gender and social class in organising both who migrates and what types of labour they consequently perform. In this article the authors examine the working lives of young, single, middle-class Indian men employed in the increasingly global hospitality sector in London, UK. Using a case study of a single hotel, they investigate a particular form of Indian middle-class global mobility that differs from both the well-documented 'low status', unskilled migrant as well as the highly-skilled, science oriented migrants. The article explores how their jobs both reinforce and challenge middle-class Indian notions of masculinity, as well as how the recruitment process is both gendered and economically selective. The authors suggest that the transnational formation of Indian middle-class identity is drawn from four main categories: a middle-class lifestyle in India, class-based motivations, the gendered and class based recruitment process of the UK hospitality industry, and the performance of class-based gender identities. The article concludes that these men did not migrate solely for economic reasons, but rather to augment their gender and class identities in India. The authors show in the presented narratives that through migration many of these men challenged class- and gender-based occupational expectations, like becoming a doctor or engineer, through the performance of jobs that were often incongruent with their gender and class identities in India such as working as maids.
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/119421366/PDFSTART?CRETRY=1&...
Keywords: India, Middle class, Migration, Social conditions, Social groups, South Asia, Women and gender studies,

Supplied note: "Mathew Schmalz (College of the Holy Cross [mschmalz--at--holycross.edu]) and I designed [...'A Virtual Village',] a free pedagogical tool [...] that allows students to interactively explore the social worlds of a north Indian village through its material culture. This free, online website provides a variety of background materials regarding the pseudonymic 'Arampur,' including updates on changes to its physical conditions. But the central feature allows students to virtually 'roam' within this village in the state of Bihar through a series of interconnected images. Hotspots on the scenes allow the user to enter buildings, closely examine objects, and 'interview' residents with a list of prescribed questions. As they roam, students can observe how the many communities in Arampur express their identities through the images, buildings, apparel, and household objects found in streets, homes, stores, and places of worship. Moreover, users can also witness through the interviews how individuals may belong simultaneously not to one but to many communities. These experiences help destabilize the prevailing bifurcation of 'Hindu' and 'Muslim.' -pg." Site contents: * About Arampur (Introduction, The village nexus, The natural environment , Within Bihar, Banaras connections Within India, Globalization); * Roam [an interactive map + images of the village]; * Topics in Village Live (Village Life, Society, Agriculture, Economics, Religion, Gender, Languages, Arts, Architecture, Education); * Thematic Maps (Medical practitioners, Perceptions of Change, Shops, Services, Interviews, Food, Hindu Temples, Hindu Shrines, Muslim mosques, Sufi Tombs, Domestic Spaces); * My Life (Introduction, Documentary photographs taken by 5 Arampur residents: Bhadra Jaswar, Sayyid Firdaus, Lakshmi Devi, Shiv Mistri, Indra Jaswar, Mathews bhai); * Interviews [annotated transcripts of 34 interviews with Arampur residents]; * History [of this Indian village]; * Glossary (Agrawal, Allah, Allopathy, Ansari, Arati, Ashura, Ayurveda, Azadi, Baba, Backward Caste, Banaras, Baqr Id, Betel leaf, Betel nut, Bhakhtiyar Khilji, Bhang, Bhojpuri, Bhut, Bidis/biris, Bihar, BJP, Block, Bombay, Brahm, Brahmin, Burqa, Calcutta, Caste, Chadar, Chamar, Chamtol, Chaudari, Chaurasiya, Chistis, Chuna, Dai Ganj, Daiganj, Dalits, Dargah, Darshan, Dham, Dharm/dharma, Dhoti, Divali, Diwali, Doordarshan, Dua, Durga, Faqir, Fatiha, Friday Mosque, Ganesh, Ghost, Gita, Gulab Jamun, Hanuman, Havan, Hindi, Hindi films, Hindu, Hinduism, Hizri/hijri, Homeopathy, Husayn, Id, Id ul-Fitr, Idgah, Ilachi, Islam, Jama Masjid, Jati, Ji, Kali, Karbala, Kasba, Katha, Khan, Khir, Krishna, Kumar, Kurta, Laddu, Lakshman, Lakshmi, Ling, Linga, Lingam, Lungi, Madarsa, Mahabharat, Mala, Mandir, Masjid, Mazaar, Mosque, Mughuls, Muhalla, Muhammad, Muharram, Murti, Murtikar, Muslim, Namaz, Naxalite, Occultation, Ojha, Paan, Pandit, Pardah, Parikrama, Parvati, Pathan, Pinda/Pindi, pir, Prashad, Pret, Puja, Pujari, Purohit, Qasbah, Quran, Raja Vicitra, Rajput, Ram, Ramayan, Ramzan, Ranvir Sena, Rickshaw, RSS, Rupee, Sandals, Sari, Scheduled Caste, Shahid, Shankar, Sharia, Shastri Brahm, Shia, Shiv, Shiva, Sita, Sufi, Swastika, Syed, Tawaf, Taziya, Temple, Tola, Trishul, Urdu, Vali (wali), Vicitra, Vishnu, Yadav, Yantra, Yoni, 786) [and links between these terms and the relevant sections of the transcribed interviews]; * Updates [photographs of and notes on new developments in the village since 2004 - ed.] ; * Resources/Bibliography; * Teaching Materials; * Methodology; * Credits/contacts; * Technical requirements [QTVR movies panoramas: All videos are in Quicktime format (.mov), Quicktime Player (Mac and PC); Roam map and audio interviews : Flash Player (Mac and PC)] * Feedback [an online questionnaire]; * Acknowledgements.
http://virtualvillage.wesleyan.edu
Keywords: Bihar, India, Social conditions, Social structure, South Asia,

Access to water : rights, obligations and the Bangalore situation / Jenny T. Grönwall. - Linköping : Linköping University. Department of Water and Environmental Studies, 2008. - 429 p. (Linköping Studies in Arts and Science ; 439) The city of Bangalore in southern India is undergoing rapid urbanisation and administrative transition. Its growth puts pressure on the available water sources – being mainly the disputed inter-State River Cauvery and the hard-rock aquifers – with ensuing problems of access. These aspects affect how rights to and over water are fulfilled and perceived. Competition for drinking water is intensifying worldwide and over a billion people are estimated to lack safe access to it. Urbanisation and other demographic trends, along with globalisation and climate change, are adding to the changing patterns of water scarcity. The role of rights in attaining and improving access to water is undoubtedly great and often referred to in the general water management debate. The notion is analysed here as having three interlinked dimensions: the right to water as a human right; water in terms of property rights; and water rights. Law treats these rights, and thereby water, differently. For instance, groundwater has traditionally been thought of as invisible and unpredictable. Partly for this reason, it is still left largely unregulated in many parts of the world. In India, according to the proverb, ‘the landlord is a water lord’. This has effects on the claim for water as a human right. The dissertation shows that we cannot talk in terms of water and rights until we are aware of how complex rights apply simultaneously, and how they correspond to obligations.
http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:18111/FULLTEXT01
Keywords: Environment, Human rights, India, Karnataka, Nordic Perspective, Publications, South Asia, Sweden, Water,

Akharas : en studie kring hinduisk brottningskultur : Joakim Fellers. - Stockholm : Stockholm University. Department of Ethnology, Comparative Religion and Gender Studies, 2008. - 15 s. (Bachelor thesis) Vad är det som gör att man väljer att ingå i en frivillig rörelse vilken, åtminstone sett ur mitt perspektiv, lyfter en människa ur sin naturliga miljö, och in i ett sammanhang där han tillsammans med andra rättar in sig i en auktoritär miljö, där man överger vissa för mig naturliga, eller åtminstone i livet grundläggande element, såsom exempelvis självvaldhet vad gäller mat, sömn, hälsa, religiös praxis och sex? Inom det indiska samhället förekommer denna form av institutioner, gestaltat av Akharas, en form av inrättningar där Bharatiya kushti, indisk brottning, praktiseras, och denna kan ses som tämligen unik i sin utformning, även om själva den idrottsliga brottningsformen som praktiseras inom akharas återfinns i olika former runt hela Asien. Denna form av idrottsutövande kan ses inte bara som en idrott, utan även som en livsåskådning, ett sätt att leva, med sedvänjor som letar sig långt tillbaka i historien, och vars traditioner innefattar starka drag av kroppskultur, asketism och sexuell avhållsamhet. Men hur ter sig denna avhållsamhet, och vad är det som driver en individ inom dessa rörelser att frivilligt göra avkall på materiella och sexuella faktorer?
http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:200515/FULLTEXT01
Keywords: Culture, Hinduism, India, Nordic Perspective, Philosophy. Religion, Publications, South Asia, Sports, Sweden,

Master's thesis (2005) Road safety is a major issue affecting the road sector. Road accidents remain a serious impediment to sustainable human development in many of the developing member countries (DMCs) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Road accidents continue to be an important social and economic problem in developing countries like India. Growth in the number of motor vehicles, poor enforcement of traffic safety regulations, poor quality of roads and vehicles, and inadequate public health infrastructures are some of the road safety problems facing in India. The object of this Thesis is to present a status report on the nature of the government policy towards the Activity plans implemented till now and which has to be implemented later for the reduction of road fatalities and for the safe roads, and also giving the guidelines for financing of remedial measures, institutional framework, physical characteristics of the road, traffic control and calming measures, road safety education and enforcement issues. The aim of the Activity plans is to analyze the present situation of road safety in India and to indicate main problems in individual sector of the Activity implemented by comparing and taking the examples of some of the ASEAN Region who are successed in implementing in the individual sectors. The effect of the programme to real safety situation is estimated, and further plans could be corrected if it is necessary. Implementation of the goals for the coming years to reduce the number of accidents at maximum extent and give people, the safe and the steady flow of traffic in India. The vision of a tremendous change next 5 to 10 years is based on a big potential for improvement and a joint effort of all involved groups on all levels of traffic safety, centrally coordinated by the National Road Safety Authorities. The Action Plan is deliberately divided into 14 key Sectors of activity in broadly the same way as the individual country road safety action plans. The sectors involve many different disciplines and a very wide range of multi sector activities but all are based on applying scientific, methodical approaches to the problem. At the end the thesis gives the recommendations and conclusion for the safe Roads in India.
http://www.diva-portal.org/diva/getDocument?urn_nbn_se_liu_diva-2954-1__fulltext...
Keywords: India, Nordic Perspective, Publications, Science and technology. Innovation, South Asia,

An imperial tradition offering more faith than science : 70 år med britisk imperiehistorie : en historiografisk analyse av behandlingen av Det østindiske handelskompanieti tre britiske historieverk på 1900-tallet / Tore Rørtveit. - Bergen : Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and the History of Religions, University of Bergen, 2008. - 97 p. (Master's thesis) I perioden fra 1763 til 1813 forvandler Det britiske østindiske handelskompaniet seg fra å drive med handel, til å bli territorialherre i India. Denne oppgaven formidler hvordan denne overgangen er fremstilt i tre forskjellige britiske historieverk på 1900-tallet; henholdsvis The Cambridge History of the British Empire mellomkrigstid, The Founding of the Second British Empire (etterkrigstid) og på terskelen til et nytt årtusen (The Oxford History of the British Empire). Med historiografi som metode avdekker den hvordan britiske imperiehistorikere er bundet til en sterk fagtradisjon, som legger styringer på historien som til enhver tid kommer til uttrykk - ikke minst i brytningspunktet mellom de to universitetene ved Cambridge og Oxford.
https://bora.uib.no/bitstream/1956/2915/1/45488517.pdf
Keywords: British period (1785-1947), History, India, India, Nordic Perspective, Norway, Period of East India Company (1785-1858), Period of control by crown (1858-1947), Publications, Sepoy Mutiny (1857-1858), South Asia, South Asia ,