The one-million-strong Bohra community in India is a small group of a muslim sect called the Ismaili Shias who are believed to have originated in Egypt. In India, they have settled in the western states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. This group practices female genital mutilation (FGM).

The fatal gangrape of a 22-year-old in New Delhi provoked a huge outcry all over India. More than one month after the incident, the trial against the six accused persons has begun. The incident has jolted Indians out of their complacence and forced them to rethink their attitudes towards women and how these attitudes propagate continual suppression and the ill-treatment of women in Indian society.

We present here a song called “Ma Nee Meri” (my dear mother) from the music band “Swang.” As the band members put it, this song is not to mourn her death, but to celebrate her spirit.

While the Indian government was celebrating its 64^th Republic Day with pomp and grandeur, most young Indians were thinking that Republic day has lost its sense. The reason, they say, is that laws have not been revamped and do not ensure to justice for the victims of social crimes. Using social media as a platform to voice their protests and demands, the youth ofIndia has unified in one spirit and is  showcasing its demands all across the country.

Evan Grae Davis’s new film entitled It’s a Girl has been a great success since its launch in September 2012. The film has hit a nerve amongst those in India and China advocating dignity and equality for women. Indeed the film has become part of a campaign on Twitter and Facebook which has “gone viral” – to use the language of social media networks. Meanwhile, the film has been screened for lawmakers in Europe and is enjoying great success with universities and NGOs in the battle to end gendercide. WomenTalkOnline’s reporter Roma Rajpal had the opportunity to speak to director Evan Grae Davis. 

She is Goddess Lakshmi personified as a bride walking through her husband’s threshold. She is the face of Goddess Saraswati giving the wisdom of knowledge to her children. She is a Devi as her husband’s strength. India is in awe of its goddesses. Temples are not the only places she is worshipped in. Men throng to film theatres to worship her on the silver