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contents
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34 cycling
africa
Pedalling on unsafe roads
Are Angola’s diamonds still bloody?
13
angle
Journalism and human dignity
26
opinion
Snooping, scrutiny and the State
quest
The Frogman of India
cover story Cervical Cancer
Your Pesticide Supplement A study conducted by Greenpeace has found that Chinese herbal medicines sold in Western countries often contain pesticide residues exceeding safe levels. The study looked at 36 samples of herbal products imported from China and found that at least 32 of those products contained residues u n n a tu r a l
of three or more pesticides. The study’s report claims that the presence of pesticides in what are supposed to be natural herbs from China is not an isolated case, but ‘another example of the failure of chemical-intensive agriculture in China and around the world.’ n
on able Pers Unreasotnhe Week of ■
The Ru
pee
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F o r sliding all the way to around 60 to the dollar
18 Again
a g e n o b a r After being pilloried for reducing the legal age of marriage for Muslim women to 16 through a circular (see ‘Knot a Sensible Thing to Do’, 8 July 2013), the Kerala government has withdrawn the order. Another circular reverts the age to 18, as for women of all other faiths in India. The reversion came into effect on 17 June 2013. Marriages of under-18 girls registered before that date will still be legal. According to data provided by the social welfare department, local bodies in Kerala got 1,015 applications to register ‘child marriages’ between 2008-2013. “Whatever happened [has] happened and restricting the legalisation process of marriages which have already happened will only make the married girl’s life miserable,” says MK Muneer, minister for social welfare. n 4 open
It has been almost a week since the slippery slope Indian rupee touched nauseous new lows due to volatility in world markets that resulted in rupees furiously chasing dollars for conversion. Foreign Institutional Investors have been selling rupee assets in India fist-over-hand and leaving Indian markets for ‘safer’ dollar-dominated destinations. The RBI has not intervened to keep the rupee up and its governor has made a statement to the effect that ‘no defence is better than a failed defence’. This is apparently in keeping with the central bank’s policy of letting the rupee’s value be determined by market forces, lest India be accused—shudder, shudder—by the United States of being a ‘currency manipulator’ like China. But then, who would have thought the rupee will see its bottom fall out? It ought to behave itself. Really. n 15 July 2013