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Time of India
a day ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Police action led to 54% drop in child marriages since '23: CM Himanta
Guwahati: Assam Police's stringent action towards child marriage since 2023 has resulted in a 54% reduction in such cases and a 63% reduction in teenage pregnancy. Sharing the information on his X handle, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma further said zero child marriage cases were reported in 30% of villages in the state. "We have a clear goal of zero child marriage in Assam by 2026. Assam's stern action against child marriage has resulted in a drastic decline in child marriage and teenage pregnancy in the state, which now is a nationwide success story," the CM said. Three crackdowns against child marriage have been conducted so far. The first crackdown was launched in Feb 2023, while the second was in Oct that year, and the third crackdown was conducted in Dec last year. Over 5,000 individuals, including those who married underage girls or encouraged or solemnised child marriage, were arrested altogether in the three crackdowns. The CM said over 96% of the 5,523 cases were chargesheeted, besides appointing child marriage prohibition officers to prevent such cases. The India Child Protection (ICP), in its report 'Towards Justice: Ending Child Marriage', last year stated that an 81% reduction in child marriages was observed across 20 districts of Assam between 2021-22 and 2023-24 due to effective legal interventions by the state. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Dermatologista recomenda: simples truque elimina o fungo facilmente Acabe com o Fungo Undo ICP attributed the notable decline to Assam's robust legal actions against child marriage. It may be mentioned that the director general of police (DGP) recently submitted before the Gauhati High Court, during the hearing of a petition seeking the introduction of laws mandating compulsory castration for individuals involved in gang rape, rape and murder, and rape of minors, that the state police maintain zero tolerance for crimes committed against women and children, and therefore such cases are regularly supervised.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ngugi wa Thiong'o, dissident Kenyan novelist who drafted a book on prison lavatory paper
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, who has died aged 87, was a Kenyan novelist whose work could manage to be both poignant and darkly funny as he challenged authority in many forms – political, economic, cultural and, most significantly, colonial. In 1964, the appearance of Weep Not, Child in the UK made him the first East African writer to have a novel appear in English. This came about with the help of Chinua Achebe, the Nigerian author of Things Fall Apart. They had met at the African Writers Conference that took place in Kampala, Uganda, in 1962, when Achebe was advisory editor for Heinemann's African Writers series. Although the two novelists could often be muddled by the ignorant, and Ngũgĩ paid generous homage to Achebe when he died, their different approaches to writing would come to represent one of the biggest debates faced by African authors. The question was: which language should a post-colonial writer use? Should it be the language of the former imperial power – an approach one could characterise as 'The Empire Writes Back'? Or should it be the writer's original tongue? At the 1962 conference, Chinua Achebe and his fellow Nigerian, Wole Soyinka, argued for English. However, Ngũgĩ was beginning to think differently, and by 1977, a dramatic sequence of events confirmed his belief. That year he collaborated on a play in his native Kikuyu, whose English title is I Will Marry When I Want, and staged it in Kamiriithu, the community where he had grown up. The play concerned a rich, venal couple called, not too subtly, Ahab and Jezebel, who intimidate a local family, blackmailing them into changing their lifestyles while condemning their daughter for adopting fashionable, westernised dress. It was an immediate hit, and played to full houses for six weeks, before Ngũgĩ was arrested without trial. His house was raided, and his books – some of them Marxist – were confiscated. He was imprisoned for a year, among other political dissidents; they were allowed an hour of sunlight a day. He used government lavatory paper to draft his next novel, The Devil on the Cross, this time in Kikuyu. The response to his play had convinced him that if he wanted to upset the authorities, and to take his audience with him, then his mother tongue was the surest way. He crystallised this thinking in his most significant academic book, Decolonising the Mind (1986), in which he argued that the choice of language is every bit as important as what you say with it. By now, he was more openly critical of Achebe's approach, and relations between the two became less cordial as a result. Even so, Ngũgĩ's own writing went for an ingenious and highly effective compromise: he would write his books first in Kikuyu, and later produce his own English translations. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o was born in Kamiriithu, in the Limuru region, on January 5 1938, and baptised James Ngugi. His father, Thiong'o wa Ndũcũ, had four wives at the time: Ngũgĩ was the fifth child of the third one, Wanjikũ. She left the farm with her children when a livestock disease led Ndũcũ to become increasingly drunken and violent. In 1947, Wanjikũ single-handedly raised enough money to send Ngũgĩ to school. In 1955 he attended Alliance High School, about 12 miles from Limuru. In a memoir, Dreams in a Time of War, he describes how he and his brother would walk to school separately, because he would be in British-style school uniform and his brother in tribal dress; and for the author, two rites of passage – his Christian baptism, with the name of James, and his circumcision by a river – happened around the same time. The struggle for Kenyan independence left a profound mark on Ngũgĩ, and on his work. One half-brother joined the Mau Mau uprising with the Kenya Land and Freedom Army. Another, who was deaf and dumb, was shot because he hadn't heard a soldier command him to stop running. By the time Ngũgĩ left school, it was safer for him to continue his studies at Makerere University College, in Kampala. Here he found a more progressive intellectual environment than in Kenya, and a university with more Africans in positions of authority. Ngũgĩ produced his first writing at Makerere. He wrote a short story because he had bragged that he could, and then had to deliver it. He drafted The River Between, which would be his first completed novel (but the second to appear in print) because the East African Literature Bureau was offering a prize of £50. The first published novel, Weep Not, Child, presents the often harrowing events of the 1950s from a young perspective, and is based closely on the author's own experience of family life, with violence both outside and inside the home. In 1964 he left for Leeds University, where he embarked on an MA on Caribbean writing. He never finished it, but he did write A Grain of Wheat, set during the days leading up to Kenyan independence in December 1963. For all the influence of social and political Marxism, the book looks sceptically at the more heroic versions of the struggle that had quickly emerged in Kenya. He returned to Kenya in 1967, and changed his name permanently to Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. He joined the Department of English Literature, and campaigned successfully for its abolition. An African Literature department appeared in its place, with a curriculum that included oral as well as written literature. Ngũgĩ's arrest in 1977, and his decision to write first in Kikuyu, can be seen as the logical conclusion of this activism. Detention brought Ngũgĩ fame, and Amnesty International urged the Kenyan authorities to release him. President Jomo Kenyatta died on August 22 1978, and his successor, Daniel arap Moi, freed Ngũgĩ in December. But Moi's administration was to become Ngũgĩ's biggest target. Nairobi University did not reinstate the novelist, and he left as an exile, first for London, where he would become writer-in-residence for Islington Borough Council, and later for the United States. There he taught Comparative Literature at Yale, New York University, and later, on the west coast, at Irvine University. Although he visited South Africa during this time, he had to wait until Moi's forced retirement before returning to his homeland, having been warned about the risks to his life from the 1980s onwards. When he did return to Kenya, on August 8 2002, his reception was triumphant, and then horrific. Crowds of admirers welcomed him at Nairobi airport; but three days later, four burglars broke into his apartment. They burned him with cigarettes, and then held him in one room while they raped his wife in another. He felt the attack had to be political, and also that if it had happened under Moi's presidency, they could both have been killed. He returned to his settled life at Irvine, California, where he wrote more memoir than fiction, but won wide acclaim for Wizard of the Crow (2006), an epic in six books in which a tramp takes on magic powers. He uses these to help mock his identifiably Kenyan rulers, before they co-opt him to fulfil their dreams of ultimate power, which prove to be their undoing. Ngũgĩ's plots and characters are rich in Biblical reference: for example, the tyrant who is the butt of the invective in Wizard of the Crow decides to build a Babel-like tower so tall that he can climb it for his conversations with God. Often, though, these vie with traditional Kikuyu stories. His last fiction, a verse novel called The Perfect Nine (Kikuyu 2019; English 2020) celebrates the mythical daughters of his tribe's founders. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o is survived by his wife Njeeri, and by nine children from previous relationships. Some of these are novelists who write in English. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, born January 5 1938, died May 28 2025 Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
DCSO, animal control and CPS involved in adult exploitation investigation
DAVIESS COUNTY, Ky. (WEHT) — Five people have been charged in connection to an adult exploitation investigation in Daviess County. Police say the months long investigation started back in April and culminated in a search warrant being executed in the 5200 block of Pleasant Valley Road. The investigation started following the death of an adult male who lived in the home. The victim previously lived in a house at Fieldcrest Drive in Owensboro but was moved by the suspects into the home on Pleasant Valley Road. The release goes on to say the investigation determined several legal documents including a will and property deeds had been forged by the suspects and that one of the suspects had moved into the Fieldcrest home with the victim. Deputies say there was uninhibited access to drugs and firearms in the home, prompting Child Protective Services to be called to the scene. Two children were removed from the home. Several animals were also taken from the home due to evidence of neglect and poor living conditions. Fosters urgently needed after Davies County animal hording incident Jessie Hoge Forgery 2nd Degree Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon Knowingly Exploiting Adult by Person Over $300 Receiving Stolen Property $1,000 to $10,000 Cruelty to Animals 2nd Degree Patricia Hoge Possession of Marijauna Drug Paraphernalia Buy/Possess Endangering the Welfare of a Minor Crystal Hoge Possession of Marijauna (Firearm Enhanced) Drug Paraphernalia Buy/Possess (Firearm Enhanced) Endangering the Welfare of a Minor Brittany Gray Forgery 2nd Degree Cruelty to Animals 2nd Degree Damien Moak Endangering the Welfare of a Mino Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Irish Independent
5 days ago
- Health
- Irish Independent
Wexford mental health group hosts its first meeting in County Hall – ‘Everyone experiencing difficulty must be supported'
At their inaugural meeting on Friday last, the ten councillors (Aidan Browne, Aoife Rose O'Brien, Craig Doyle, Frank Staples, Jackser Owens, Leonard Kelly, Mary Farrell, Michael Sheehan, Raymond Shannon and Tom Forde) selected Cllr Aoife Rose O'Brien as the chairperson of the newly-established Mental Health Services Working Group. "I am truly honoured to be appointed as chairperson for this working group,' said Cllr O'Brien. 'Mental health is a priority issue for me, I have lost friends to suicide and suffered greatly with my own mental health, and sadly this is not unique. I am not ashamed to admit that I have struggled; mental health is a part of whole health and at times I believe we all suffer. "For me the priority now is to ensure that every person experiencing difficulty is supported; whether that's access to talk-therapy, or psychiatric availability in times of crisis. As a county we have been failed to date and denied these crucial services. We have been reliant on local charity providers, whose commitments to our communities will never go unnoticed, but it's time for the HSE to step up." Describing the rest of the committee as 'incredibly strong members, many of whom have experienced their own suffering', Cllr O'Brien said she and the group would now be focusing on delivering what Wexford needs: a 24/7 mental health crisis unit. 'In addition, we will work on other areas of service, including Child Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAHMS) and residential care units. It's time for us to come together now and deliver for the people of Wexford.'
The Wire
5 days ago
- General
- The Wire
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o: The Kenyan Icon Who Wrote For Freedom Till the Very End
Menu हिंदी తెలుగు اردو Home Politics Economy World Security Law Science Society Culture Editor's Pick Opinion Support independent journalism. Donate Now Culture Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o: The Kenyan Icon Who Wrote For Freedom Till the Very End Nandini C. Sen 36 minutes ago Ngugi chose to write in his mother tongue Gikuyu and argued that his stories need to reach his own people and stir their nationalist consciousness. Ngũgĩ-wa-Thiong'o (1938-2025). Photo: Wikimedia Commons Real journalism holds power accountable Since 2015, The Wire has done just that. But we can continue only with your support. Contribute now 'The condition of women in a nation is the real measure of its progress.' ― Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o The world of literature and activism lost one of its best with the demise of the Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. Ngugi was that rare writer who stood for everything he preached – respect for women, love for the mother tongue, standing up against the colonial mindset, standing up for one's rights and revising the historical wrongs of the British Colonial regime. This came at a great price – incarceration and banishment from his home country Kenya and a lifelong war with the powers that be. I was introduced to Ngugi's Decolonising the Mind (1986) in my Master's class at JNU and it gave me a whole new way to look at the world as I knew it. I realised that the 'freedom' that I had taken for granted was not something one could take lightly. It was something one had to fight for constantly. One also learnt how the nature of colonialism had changed – it was no longer a story of the White dominance over the Blacks/Browns but an insidious takeover by the corporates who enslaved our minds and held us hostage. This colonisation had a worse stranglehold because it was difficult to identify the coloniser since they now looked like us. Ngugi shot into fame with his debut novel Weep Not, Child (1964), the first novel to be published from East Africa. Ngugi's oeuvre can be compared only to that of Chinua Achebe's who was responsible for reading the manuscripts of The River Between and Weep Not, Child which were published by Heinemann with Achebe as its advisory editor. It was with Achebe that Ngugi's famous 'language debate' gained prominence and became a staple for every student of postcolonial studies. While Achebe chooses to write in English in spite of it being the language of the colonisers, Ngugi argues against it and chooses to write in his mother tongue Gikuyu. Ngugi argues that his stories need to reach his own people and stir their nationalist consciousness. To this effect he and Micere Mugo wrote the famous play on the Mau Mau leader Dedan Kimathi. The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976) taught in Delhi University, until very recently, recreates the indomitable courage of the Mau Mau revolutionary and his right-hand person – a woman warrior. While Kimathi remains in jail, it is 'the woman' – representing Kenyan mothers – who tries to free him and in turn train the next generation for the struggle. The role of Kenyan women in the Mau Mau movement (Kenyan freedom struggle) is a historical reality. Ngugi's female characters are strong, bold and determined – towering over the men in sheer brilliance. In his world view, the mothers of the nation rule supreme, challenging the existing stereotypes of dependent women. These women do not exist merely to take care of their home and hearth; they work towards nation-building. He creates them in the mould of Mother Africa, thus adhering towards the Negritude Movement. In A Grain of Wheat (1967), Ngugi writes about Wambui, who 'believed in the power of women to influence events, especially where men had failed to act, or seemed indecisive… Let therefore such men, she jeered, come forward, wear the women's skirts and aprons and give up their trousers to the women.' Wambui helps the Mau Mau warriors, and it is her conviction that her land can only be free once it is rid of the colonisers. Unlike many men who are seen to be supporting the British policies, Wambui is clear-headed about what is best for her people. About the dual nature of colonialism, Ngugi wrote, 'He carried the Bible; the soldier carried the gun; the administrator and the settler carried the coin. Christianity, Commerce, Civilization: the Bible, the Coin, the Gun: Holy Trinity.' Ngugi spent his entire life exposing this unholy trinity through his powerful writing. Ngugi, christened James Ngugi at birth, was one of the 28 children born to the four wives of his father in precolonial Kenya. Growing up, Ngugi witnessed the forced takeover of lands by the British imperialists; he was witness to multiple arrests and tortures his people were subjected to, and he also witnessed the harassment his own father had to face. It was then that he slowly realised that the colonial forces were there to destroy and not to build. His evolving worldview led him to give up his Christian name, and he started to go by the name of Ngugi Wa Thiong'o. He argued that the English departments in Kenyan Universities should start to focus on the study of indigenous languages of Kenya. Challenging the 'centrality' of London and the 'othering' faced by colonised countries, Ngugi argued in favour of centring Africa and studying other cultures in relation to it. Ngugi was a strong advocate on Fanonist Marxism. 'Language as culture is the collective memory bank of a people's experience in history.' writes Ngugi in Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature where he argues in favour of the indigenous languages because he sees language not merely as a means of communication but as a carrier and repository of culture. To this end, he gave up writing in English and wrote in his mother tongue Gikiyu. His co-authoring of a play in Gikiyu, I Will Marry When I Want (1977), which dealt with the controversial themes of poverty, gender, class and religion in the post-colonial context, led to his incarceration. While in his cell, where he was housed with other political prisoners, he wrote The Devil on The Cross (1980) on prison-issued toilet paper. It was here that he thought more closely about the language question and decided to continue writing only in Gikiyu. Ngugi was the first in his family to be educated, though he spent the better part of his life in exile, where he served as visiting professor of English and comparative literature at Yale University and later a professor of comparative literature and performance studies at New York University where he held the Erich Maria Remarque Chair. He served as distinguished professor of English and comparative literature and was the first director of the International Center for Writing and Translation at the University of California, Irvine. Ngugi will continue to be missed. I was fortunate to be able to meet him in person at the African Literary Association Conference in Accra, Ghana, in 2008. A mild-mannered and unassuming person, he waxed lyrical about the unity of African cultures. Ngugi was deeply interested in India and in his novel The Wizard of the Crow, he mentions The Gita, the Upanishads and the women writers of India. A prolific writer and an activist till the very end, Ngugi was also a perpetual contender for the Nobel. Commenting on the current governments and drawing parallels, Ngugi wrote, 'Our fathers fought bravely. But do you know the biggest weapon unleashed by the enemy against them? It was not the Maxim gun. It was division among them. Why? Because a people united in faith are stronger than the bomb.' His words reflect what we see playing out in our modern societies, which allow for totalitarian regimes at the cost of the divisiveness of their people. Nandini C. Sen is a professor of English at Delhi University who specialises in Anglophone African Literature. Make a contribution to Independent Journalism Related News Ngugi wa Thiong'o, the Giant of African Literature, Dies at 87 Entries Invited For Third Edition of Rainbow Awards for Literature and Journalism The Politics of 'Heart Lamp' Is Profound, Urgent and Reflects the Lived Reality of Millions Interview | Tracing Maithili Writer Shivashankar Shrinivas's Literary Journey 'In Honour of William Shakespeare': Tagore in the Garden of Shakespeare's Birthplace A Decade of Living Dangerously: The Wire Marks its 10th Year with Pressing Unmute in Naya India Daud Haider, Bangladesh's First Poet to be Exiled, Passes Away at 73 Listen: India's Reaction to Turkey is Understandable, But We Should Not Give Up on Diplomacy with it 'Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning' Is an Operatic and Reverential, but Bloated Farewell About Us Contact Us Support Us © Copyright. All Rights Reserved.
