Starbucks and a Tata company have started a JV and will open 50 shops in India this year, starting in Delhi and Mumbai.
In the meantime Starbucks has raised its coffee prices in its 500 stores in China.
31/01/2012
* Starbucks finally opens in India
Posted in Economics, India alert, Social & cultural | Leave a Comment »
26/01/2012
* Jaipur Literary Festival sides with bigotry, intolerance and censorship
Over the last six days at the Jaipur Literature Festival in India, bigotry, intolerance and censorship has dominated everything, both formal and informal.
This is because of a book The Satanic Verses banned by a Muslim fatwa in 1988, and the planned appearance of Salman Rushdie, the author. Fanatics threatened violence if Rushdie came to Jaipur and police intelligence suggested that assassins were planned to kill Rushdie.
What with corruption high in the public’s mind, the failure to guarantee free speech, esp at a literary festival does not bode well for democracy in India.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/monisha-rajesh/salman-rushdies-jaipur_b_1232218.html
Posted in India alert, Social & cultural | Leave a Comment »
19/01/2012
* Angry Brides – new Indian game
India has introduced a game Angry Brides loosely based on the hugely popular Angry Birds. This game is in reaction to the illegal (since early 1950s) yet largely practised dowry system. Here, the player throws all kinds of common household objects to dislodge the green pigs (symbolic of husbands?). Given that the pig is considered a dirty animal by Muslims and Hindus alike, the symbolism is indeed strong! The root cause is that the dowry system is harse on the poor. Some 8,000 women cases of dowry-related deaths in 2010.
http://kotaku.com/5876726/indian-brides-are-angry-about-illegal-marriage-dowries
Posted in Illegal practices, India alert, Inequalities, Obsolete practices, Social & cultural | Leave a Comment »
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 