Malivia

[Aquinas]

May 4772

Train crashes in Hitam, 13 dead
(Fortunately they were all Luthoris)

Thirteen passengers have been killed and 22 injured in a train crash in Hitam. The victims were all Luthori Malivians travelling to a football (soccer) match in the western quarter of the city.

Malivia has one of the worst train safety records in the world - something exacerbated by the sheer number of passengers who ride on the exterior of train carriages.


Patanjali offers Transport & Infrastructure job to Presidential rival

President Patanjali Ganapuli has offered the Cabinet post of Minister of Transport & Infrastructure to Vijender Gupte of the liberal National People's Party, his opponent in the recent Presidential election. Commentators speculate the job may prove a poisoned chalice, since the Transport & Infrastructure portfolio has had to deal with numerous difficult situations and policy failures over recent years, including issues surrounding the campaign against open air defecation and train safety.

The President's motives probably also include that he is attempting to project a more progressive image of Malivia to the outside world, as part of Malivia's campaign to be elected a member of the Security Council. He may also be hoping Gupte will be a voice for the moderate faction within the Cabinet, making it easier to deal with his hardliners.


Mass arrests in Pahladgarh

Fifty seven leather workers in the village of Pahladgarh were arrested yesterday on suspicion of acquiring illegally slaughtered cattle. No charges were made, although some of the workers - all Untouchables - claim they were kept in prison cells without food or water for over 5 hours.

[ChengherRares1]

The Communes threaten Malivia with diplomatic action if the terrorists are not extradited to be trialed, anarchist support in Hitam results in street clashes and raids of right wingers.

[Aquinas]

July 4772

Patois to be dropped as official language

The government is introducing controversial legislation which will drop Malvian Patois (OOC: Jamaican Patois) as an official language, whilst maintaining the official status of Washebarian (OOC: Hindi) and Luthori (OOC: English). Education and Culture Minister Prashant Jadhav complained Patois is "a language for the uneducated", "essentially just a corruption of Luthori and a distraction from learning Luthori properly" and "in the modern world, a relatively useless language". She also announced her department would no longer fund Patois cultural projects because "they lack literary merit" and it would no longer be possible to do academic exams or coursework in Patois because "Patois is primarily a spoken language and too imprecise to be used for serious writing".

National Esinsindu Forum chairwoman Trinika Pantofflett has condemned the move as "ignorant and deeply offensive to the Esinsindu community", and is encouraging Esinsindus to refuse to engage with written government communications such as tax forms unless they are written in Patois.


Pahladgarh leather worker handed over to Lodamun Commune


Aman Bhardvaj

Aman Bhardvaj, a leading figure from the community of untouchable leather workers in the village of Pahladgarh, has been handed over to the Lodamun Commune on suspicion of being involved in cow vigilante acts of terrorism in their terrirory. Internal Affairs Minister Chatur Nijasure claims the police have compiled an "extensive dossier" linking Bhardvaj to the incidents, and that "the Malivian government considers it its duty to hand this man over to the Lodamese, along with the evidence, so they can take this case forward".

Civil rights groups are raising concerns that Bhardvaj has been "fitted up" by the authorities. He was amongst those arrested and detained without charge by the police two months ago, on suspicion of illegally acquiring slaughtered cattle. His family claim a false confession was beaten out of him during his stay at a police cell, and also that he has higher-caste enemies in his village who, jealous of his recent economic success, gave inaccurate statements about his activities to the authorities.


Paristhitiyon offers official visit to Zardic Institute of International Studies and World Congress officials



The panchayat (OOC: local government council) of Paristhitiyon, a slum in southern Dendhadrash most famous for polluted water, typhoid fever and the manufacture of sugar-based fake pharmaceutical medicines, has written to the World Congress and the Zardic Institute of International Studies, inviting them to "an official visit to assess the conditions under which our community lives".

This comes in response to news the Zardic Institute has upgraded Malivia from a "Weak" to an "Average" economic power. "I don't know where all this new wealth in Malivia is supposed to be," said one of the Panchayat members, "but we're not seeing any of it here".

[Aquinas]

August 4772

Arjuna Singh flies out to Dorvik

Finance Minister Arjuna Singh has flown off to Dorvik in a journey that will take him from the southern bottom of the Artanian continent to its most northern tip. His visit is officially aimed at building trade links with Dorvik and securing assistance for economic and social development programs. In particular, a plan for Dorvish financial and technical assistance for a new deep-water port on the coast of Bhulkhandra is on the agenda. Unofficially, Singh is believed to have been briefed by President Ganapuli to try to assuage Dorvish concerns about the "Greater Malivia" project and to assure them of Malivia's peaceful intentions and respect for its neighbours. He is also thought to have been told to reassure the Dorvish that although Malivia has developed strong links with Deltaria, it has not become a Deltarian "client state" and that there are no immediate plans for either more Deltarian bases to be built in Malivia, or for the existing one to be significantly expanded or altered.



Whilst he is in Haldor, Singh also plans to visit a small Gerajan (OOC: Hindu) shrine to Dorvaksya (OOC: Matsya), a fish goddess believed to have carved mainland Dorvik in the image of a fish at the time the world was being created. "Dorvaksya has multiple arms and legs, and a beautiful long swishy tail, and can do many, many thing all at once," Singh told Dorvish journalists in advance of his visit. "This is just what the world of the modern international economy is like, and just what our relationship with our friends in Dorvik is like - so many things all going on at the same time. Dorvaksya's guidance will help us get the best outcomes for all of us in this very fast, very complicated world we now live in".

A delegation of Malivian business leaders are also travelling out with Singh, and are hoping for opportunities to meet Dorvish government officials and private investors.

[Auditorii]

Wirtschaftsnachrichten für Artania: Malivian delegation meets with Dorvish delegation to discuss economics (August, 4772)

[Aquinas]

January 4773

Government loses "test case" against Hosian school

The Supreme Court has thrown out an attempt by the government to ban a Hosian (OOC: Christian) school from enrolling children from non-Hosian families under the controversial anti-conversion legislation which makes it a criminal offence to "attempt to convert a person from their religion through the use of force, inducement or dishonest means". Education Minister Prashant Jadhav argued the Bishopal Church's Temperance Hosian School in eastern Modalin which has a policy of allowing up to 25% of its pupils to come from non-Hosian backgrounds, was pressuring non-Hosian pupils and their parents to convert to Hosianism. It was also claimed two non-Hosian teachers at the school were threatened with having their pay rises reduced unless they converted.

Judge Stephen Barraclough Wyndham, speaking for the Supreme Court, said the school "has a strong ethos of respect for religious tolerance" and commented that "no serious evidence has been presented to suggest undue pressure has been applied to anyone to change their religious identity".

Jadhav later responded by accusing the court of "ignoring the facts" and "political interference", promising "we will now legislate to ensure vulnerable Gerajan (OOC: Hindu) children and their families are not preyed upon by these Hosian schools".


Malivia recognises new Kafuri regime

Foreign Minister Vrikodara Mahalanabis has reached out to the new Baathist regime that has come to power in a coup in Kafuristan and offered to build diplomatic relations. In doing so, Malivia controversially becomes one of the first (if not the first) government to recognise the Baathists. Some analysts feel this might have been premature, but the move demonstrates Malivia's keenness to make friends in Majatra, where it is hoping to lessen opposition to its territorial claim on Selucia. There is also speculation Malivia is hoping to take advantage of Kafuri's technical know-how in order to exploit its small but not insignificant reserves of oil and gas.

[Aquinas]

January 4773

Government loses "test case" against Hosian school

The Supreme Court has thrown out an attempt by the government to ban a Hosian (OOC: Christian) school from enrolling children from non-Hosian families under the controversial anti-conversion legislation which makes it a criminal offence to "attempt to convert a person from their religion through the use of force, inducement or dishonest means". Education Minister Prashant Jadhav argued the Bishopal Church's Temperance Hosian School in eastern Modalin which has a policy of allowing up to 25% of its pupils to come from non-Hosian backgrounds, was pressuring non-Hosian pupils and their parents to convert to Hosianism. It was also claimed two non-Hosian teachers at the school were threatened with having their pay rises reduced unless they converted.

Judge Stephen Barraclough Wyndham, speaking for the Supreme Court, said the school "has a strong ethos of respect for religious tolerance" and commented that "no serious evidence has been presented to suggest undue pressure has been applied to anyone to change their religious identity".

Jadhav later responded by accusing the court of "ignoring the facts" and "political interference", promising "we will now legislate to ensure vulnerable Gerajan (OOC: Hindu) children and their families are not preyed upon in this manner again".


Malivia recognises new Kafuri regime

Foreign Minister Vrikodara Mahalanabis has reached out to the new Baathist regime that has come to power in a coup in Kafuristan and offered to build diplomatic relations. In doing so, Malivia controversially becomes one of the first (if not the first) government to recognise the Baathists. Some analysts feel this might have been premature, but the move demonstrates Malivia's keenness to make friends in Majatra, where it is hoping to lessen opposition to its territorial claim on Selucia. There is also speculation Malivia is hoping to take advantage of Kafuri's technical know-how in order to exploit its small but not insignificant reserves of oil and gas.

[Pragma]

Vascania's Oil Ultimatum; Upamash Gives Sultan & Zogu Safe-Haven

[Aquinas]

July 4773

Petrol prices rise as Kafuri oil slapped with 50% import tariff

Following pressure from Vascania, the government has introduced a 50% import tariff on Kafuri oil. This move has so far been highly unpopular, as it has led to significant increases in the price of petrol and electricity across the country.







The cost of running a car or hiring a taxi has become so prohibitive that the traditional palanquin, a litter or carriage carried by human bearers, has been making a comeback. In a country notorious for its cheap labour, it has become far cheaper than the alternative, even if the speed of travel is much slower.

Even the government's backbenchers are criticising the tariff and openly questioning whether their leaders have gone too far in trying to placate Vascania. A planned visit by Vascania's Prince Madhu, widely seen as a prelude to Malivia's adopting the Vascanian monarchy, has been postponed, probably in deference to the current public mood. However, senior ministerial sources indicate the Cabinet is "confident that this is only a temporary situation" and that "Vascania will find ways to help us alleviate what is going on at the moment".


Jadhav makes concessions on Patois

Education and Culture Minister Prashant Jadhav has tried to assuage the outrage of the Esinsindu community over the dropping of Malivian Patois (OOC: Jamaican Patois) as an official language by guaranteeing all government communications will continue to be available in Patois, and that the Verana Patois Literary Festival and the Modalin Patois Poetry Slam will continue to receive government funding at least for the next 5 years. This marks a reversal of the previous proposed course of action. However, the Esinsindu community clearly remains unhappy, and the Esinsindu press is running damning editorials against the government on an almost daily basis.

[Pragma]

Vascania Plans New Oil Terminals In Malivia