Malivia

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Re: The Voice of Durrakh-Râajh - Informant to Malivia

Postby John Cracker » Sat May 30, 2020 11:17 pm

Interested in not responding to ridiculous accusations, namely from Jakania, and Lourania, and now Valruzia
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Re: The Voice of Durrakh-Râajh - Informant to Malivia

Postby John Cracker » Sat May 30, 2020 11:57 pm

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Re: Malivia

Postby jamescfm » Sun May 31, 2020 7:36 pm

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Re: Malivia

Postby Aquinas » Mon Jun 01, 2020 10:17 pm

January 4765

Satavelekar launches "Swachh Maliviya" campaign against open air defecation

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Infrastructure Minister Benegal Satavelekar this morning announced his department would spearhead a project to "banish the blemish of open air defecation from the face of Maliva forever". The scheme, to be called "Swachh Maliviya" ("Clean Malivia") will involve the release of large sums of money for the construction and maintenance of toilets and sewers. International donors are being encouraged to contribute to the project's funds.

As is well-known in Malivia, putting an end to open air defecation will take more than building toilets and sewers. Since time immemorial, it seems, Malivians have been squatting down to do their business in fields, forests, bodies of water, behind bushes, ditches, railways tracks and roads. Up to 45% of Malivians are believed to participate in the practice. Old habits die hard, and there is a degree of resentment against demands to change them. Many sincerely believe defecating outdoors is more hygienic and "natural" than using toilets. To some extent this attitude is understandable, when one considers the unsanitary condition of many communal toilets, where the swarming of flies and the overflowing of latrine pits with fecal sludge is not an uncommon sight. Even when villagers have had modern toilets installed for them in their homes, government inspectors and social workers have frequently found they are not being used for their proper purpose, and have been converted instead in to storage space for food grain.

To tackle these obstacles, the government intends to combine the investment in infrastructure with a massive public propaganda campaign, promoting the use of toilets and educating citizens on how to use and maintain them, and also a vigorous system of enforcement, with the police empowered to fine and arrest people for violating the regulations about defecating in open spaces.

The Social Justice Foundation, which advocates for the interests of disadvantaged communities in Malivia, has issued this statement.

In principle, we strongly welcome this campaign, and encourage the international community to become involved. Open air defecation is a massive problem, contributing to the spread of disease, and making women vulnerable to sexual assault. However, we do have concerns about how the campaign will be implemented. We know from past and current experience that the authorities can be over-zealous, particularly with the Untouchable and Adivasi (OOC: tribal) communities, penalising people when they have no safe toilet that is accessible to them, and resorting to fines and prosecutions in circumstances where education and encouragement would be vastly more appropriate and effective. The government needs to push hard with this campaign, but it also needs to make sure it focuses on working with communities to solve this problem, as opposed to going in for confrontation.



Government soothes Hobrazia, pledges to regulate transport of cows

Foreign Minister Arpit Bajpai has written a semi-apologetic letter to the government of Hobrazia, offering his "heartfelt condolences" for the cow vigilante victims and promising to "bring the culprits to justice as soon as this can be achieved". Sceptics, however, are doubtful as to how seriously the matter will be investigated, since a blind eye has been turned to previous Gau Raksha Paltan atrocities.

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Meanwhile, Minister for Cows Satyender Ahluwalia has announced new legislation which will require permission from his department before any cow can be transported, and will also require all cows to wear registered photo ID cards. "This is the best way we can ensure cows are not taken abroad to be slaughtered for meat," he said.


"Honest Hosians have nothing to fear" from new legislation, promises Nijasure

Following criticism from Hosian (OOC: Christian) leaders, including the Aurorian Patriarchal Church's Archbishop Roodra Shrivastav, Internal Affairs Minister Chatur Nijasure has issued a statement saying he wants to "assure the Hosian community that honest people, including honest Hosians, have nothing to fear" from the government's Freedom of Religion Act, which would make it a criminal offence to attempt to convert a person from their religious faith "through the use of force, inducement or dishonest means". "The reason for this legislation is that some missionaries are going around, backed by foreign money, bullying and bribing simple and uneducated people in to becoming Hosians, and that is something we want to put a stop to," he added. Asked whether Malivia's two largest churches, the Bishopal Church and the Aurorian Patriachal Church, were responsible for this, Nijasure replied "We don't think from the main leaders, no, but from their people on the ground - sometimes, yes".

Following the Archbishop's statement, Aurorian Hosians in a village just outside Hitam have begun lowering a statue of the Virgin Sarahae (OOC: Virgin Mary) down a well by about 2 or 3 inches a day, vowing they will carry on lowering her until she intercedes with the Almighty and persuades Him to scupper the government's plans. This unorthodox ritual is peculiar to Aurorian Hosians in Malivia, and is often greeted with surprise, bemusement and horror by outsiders.


Hosian leaders called on to ban the sacred thread

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The Social Justice Foundation, a liberal campaigning organisation, has written to the leaders of the Bishopal Church, the Aurorian Patriarchal Church, the Reformed Hosian Church and others, encouraging them to discourage their members from wearing the sacred thread, an emblem it says is "heavily associated with caste privilege and sexism".

In Rajutti (OOC: Indian) culture, boys from the elite Brahmin caste are given a sacred thread to wear around their shoulder and chest, or janeu, as part of a coming-of-age ceremony known as an Upanayana. They then usually go on to wear them throughout their lives. Some only wear them for special occasions, although many wear them all the time.

The sacred thread has its roots in Geraja (OOC: Hinduism), and for this reason, historically the main Hosian churches used to forbid Gerajan converts from wearing them. However, over time, and with Brahmin Hosians stubbornly refusing to give up the practice, the churches relented, deciding to view the sacred thread as primarily an emblem of cultural rather than religious identity.

Today, pressure is again increasing on the churches to do something about the issue. The pressure is coming from two directions, the first from those who see the janeu as an icon that perpetuates caste and gender discrimination, and the second from those who feel Brahmins who wear the janeu have not entirely left their Gerajan roots behind, and have not yet embraced Hosianism in the fullest doctrinal sense.


Defence Ministry confirms talks with Deltaria

Minister for Defence Vrikodara Mahalanabis has confirmed the validity of reports that his department is discussing the purchase of military hardware and equipment from the government of Deltaria, but has refused to go in to specific details. "We are naturally keen to get the very best deal we can for Malivia, and negotiations are ongoing, but I can tell you we are very excited and hopeful that we will be able to make an announcement soon", he said.
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Re: Malivia

Postby Rogue » Mon Jun 01, 2020 11:11 pm

Playing in:

Istapali
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Re: Malivia

Postby Aquinas » Tue Jun 02, 2020 10:54 pm

August 4765

Mahalanabis unveils "army for the 48th century"

Defence Minister Vrikodara Mahalanabis has revealed the details of a huge defence deal with Deltaria which will see Maliva gain 200 T-72B2 tanks, 3 Gorshkov-class frigates and 2 Slava-class missile guided cruisers. He hailed this as "a fantastic deal for Malivia", describing it as "the first building blocks for an army of the 48th century" and also declared that "the national security of the Malivian people is a number one priority for our government".

Critics including the Social Justice Foundation and even some Rajutti National Party backbenchers, led by the left-leaning Shiva Kumar, argue that for a country with many millions of very poor citizens, Maliva is spending too much money on defence already. However, the core of the Rajutti National Party membership, which holds dear the dream of one day annexing the Malivy Islands (also known as Selucia), will not easily forgive any party leader who slacks on maintaining the armed forces.


Efficiency of army and police officers to be boosted with new moustache scheme

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Defence Minister Vrikodara Mahalanabis and Internal Affairs Minister Chatur Nijasure held a joint press conference today to announce a new program to pay a 5% pay increase bonus to police and army officers who grow or maintain a moustache. "The dignified bearing and self-confidence of an officer is enhanced immeasurably by the wearing of a moustache," said Nijasure, adding that "we are confident this will be the prelude to a wonderful increase in morale and efficiency".

The Malivian Police Women's Association and the Malivian Army Officer's Association have both denounced the scheme as "sexist" because the bonus payments are not being offered to women. Some of their members have resorted to wearing fake moustaches in protest.
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Re: Malivia

Postby Aquinas » Wed Jun 03, 2020 4:05 pm

December 4765

RNP backbenchers demand government recognise Keymon as a "Malivy Island"

Led by the populist Ramesh Vemulakonda, a rising number of Rajutti National Party (RNP) backbenchers are demanding the government recognise Keymon as a "Malivy Island" under the sovereignty of Maliva. So far, an Early Day Motion calling for this has been signed by 53 backbenchers, and the the number is rising by the day.

Malivia already claims sovereignty over Selucia, which it regards as "the Malivy Islands" (OOC: see, for example, here and here). A movement has been growing for a number of years to extend the definition of "the Malivy Islands" to include the island nation of Keymon, off Malivia's east coast.

A controversial book published in 4603, by the radical Gerajatva (OOC: "Hindutva", hardline Hindu) historian, Subhash Rao, called The True History of the Malivy Islands, provided much of the ideological basis for this. Citing ancient Gerajan scriptures and legends, Rao argues that in the days of old, when Malivia was ruled by the great god-King Putera (OOC: Ram), one year the pineapple harvest was blighted by Luthanna (OOC: Ravanna), the demon-King of Luthori, because Putera refused to give him his daughter in marriage. Putera's beloved wife, Pita (OOC: Sita) craved the taste of pineapple, and begged her husband to fetch her one. In response, Putera summoned the fire god, Igna (OOC: Agni) to help him with his problem. Agni obliged by creating a volcanic eruption under the Mad Dog Ocean. Many sailors and villagers in the coastal provinces of Maliva, Hobrazia and Likatonia perished in this, but after the eruption had subsided, it was noticed a picturesque new island had arisen, fertile and flourishing with pineapples, papaya, bananas, kiwis, mangoes, avocado, coconuts, nutmeg and countless other fruit, vegetables and wild animals besides.

Putera then summoned the monkey god, Yekmon (OOC: Hanuman), to fetch him some pineapples from the new island, promising that in return, he would allow Yekmon to rule the island, to be known as Keymon (an anagram of both "Monkey" and "Yekmon"), on his behalf.

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Yekmon jumping towards Keymon

To this proposal, Yekmon readily agreed and took a flying jump all the way from the coast of Idhaghra to Keymon. However, once he arrived in Keymon, Yekmon, who did not have the best memory, forgot what a pineapple looks like, and searched around amongst the different kinds of fruit in vain, hoping to find the right one. In the end he gave up, and decided that rather than take the risk of coming back with the wrong fruit, he would carry the entire island back to the Imperial Palace and ask Pita to pick which one she wanted. Putera and the other gods were most angry at this rash behaviour, yelling at him that islands are meant to stay where they are and should not be moved about recklessly. After Pita had taken the juiciest pineapple, Putera told Yekmon to take the island back to where he found it, and as a punishment, told him he and his tribe of moneys were to be banished to Keymon, and must never leave there.

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Yekmon carrying Keymon back to where he found it

A glum Yekmon then put all the members of his monkey tribe on to the island, and tried to carry the island back to where he found it. He did, however, get the location wrong, and deposited the island much further from the coast of Malivia than it was originally. This meant that for many years, Malivians lost track of where the island was, and over time it was largely forgotten, although legends of a miraculously fertile island that suddenly disappeared continued to persist. Fortunately this ignorance was eventually corrected by Subhash Rao, who painstakingly pieced together the evidence and brought the truth to light in his book.

Yekmon has always been one of the most popular Gerajan gods, and his status seems to have increased especially over the last 5 or 10 years, as the theories propagated in Rao's book have become taken more seriously. Ranjit Vyas, the pujari (OOC: priest) of a Yekmon temple in central Kajpur, told us:

Yekmon is our great hope for the future of the whole of Malivia, including all of our beautiful Malivy Islands. He made a small mistake which caused us to forget about the Malivy Island of Keymon, but he also made us remember it again - and I have no doubt that, in the fullness of time, he will bring it back to us.


Keymonites, however, who according to Rao are the descendants who evolved from Yekmon's monkey tribe, have not so far shown great enthusiasm for this proposition.
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Re: Malivia

Postby John Cracker » Mon Jun 08, 2020 8:53 pm

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=8643&p=158402#p158402 John Benton Allows Sacred Thread (scroll to bottom).
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Re: Malivia

Postby Aquinas » Mon Jun 08, 2020 9:37 pm

December 4766

RNP conference ambushes the government


The Rajutti National Party's (RNP's) annual conference has thrown down the gauntlet to its leadership by voting 262 to 238 votes to call on the government "to formally recognise Keymon as a Malivy Island and an integral part of the nation of Malivia". This comes on the heels of a long-running campaign within the RNP to persuade the government to stake a territorial claim to sovereignty over its nearby island neighbour.

The motion, proposed by the hard-line lawmaker Ramesh Vemulakonda, caught the government out by surprise, and was only introduced on to the conference agenda following a successful attempt to force an emergency debate on the Keymon issue. For the moment, President Patanjali Ganapuli is holding his cards close to his chest, telling the conference only that "the government will consider the contents of this motion most carefully and come to some further decisions in due course".

How long it will be possible for the President to resist the pressure for a more assertive stance on Keymon remains to be seen. Ganapuli, like his close ally, the Foreign Minister, Arpit Bajpai, is perceived as a "dove", reluctant to embark Malivia on any path that might risk international confrontation and isolation. Chatur Nijasure, the Internal Affairs Minister, is the leading hawk in the Cabinet, lobbying hard for a tougher policy, and believed by some to be threatening to resign and rebel against Ganapuli unless he gets his way. He is supported in his position by several others, including Benegal Satavelekar, the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, and Mina Jagatap, the Minister for Environment and Tourism. A third group of ministers sits between the "doves" and the "hawks". The leading figure in this group is Vrikodara Mahalanabis, the Defence Minister, who supports unification with Keymon, but is also keenly aware of the limitations of Malivia's armed forces, and is wary of risking a military conflict with Keymon, a small but well-armed nation with some powerful allies. Another member of this group is Satyender Ahluwalia, the Minister for Cows, who in theory supports a territorial claim on Keymon, but in practice, according to an off-the-record briefing from a ministerial source last night, "only cares about cows and has no interest in very much else". Ahluwalia's department has made modest progress in reaching out to opinion-shapers in other nations about issues related to cow welfare, and is loathe to risk that being jeopardised by the adoption of a controversial foreign policy.


Villagers of Nirakhpur descend on Deltaria's Branovice

Nobody from the village of Nirakhpur on the eastern coast of Washebar had ever been abroad. Ever. To put this right, 15 years ago the village headman Pandu Randhawa, had the village council start putting a small sum of money aside each year, so that one day the village could enjoy a collective jaunt to somewhere exotic. For the last few years, as the money in the kitty has grown larger, the villagers have been getting very excited, debating and sometimes fighting about where they should go. This year, they worked out they had just enough money to visit the glamorous new "Tourism Strip" in Branovice. The villagers, being from the coast, love the coast, so a charming coastal town like Branovice with splendid beaches suited them perfectly.


Nirakhpurians defecating on Branovice's pristine beaches


Unfortunately, once the 317 Nirakhpurians arrived in Branovice, the cultural differences between the villagers on the one hand, and the locals and the other tourists on the other, quickly became apparent. One of those differences is that Nirakhpurians, like many others in Malivia, do not share the taboo against open air defecation which is held by those who live in the more privileged parts of the world. Over the last few days, the sight of Nirakhpurians crouching down on the beach and leaving unsightly brown splodges in their wake has triggered a tsunami of negative posts on to trip review websites. However, many other tourists, although disgusted, also seemed to see the fun in the occasion, taking pictures and putting them on social media with captions such as "Certainly a unique vacation...".

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To a lesser extent, outrage has been caused by other Nirakhpurian habits, especially the spitting of the popular substance, paan, which leaves behind ugly red stains.

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The Malvian Consulate based in Deltaria has made efforts to deal with the fall-out, attempting to educate the Nirakhpurians about Deltarian customs, providing translation services and legal support in cases where they have gotten in to trouble, and providing funds to the local council to put up posters warning visitors about activities considered anti-social or illegal. There is no denying the fact, though, that a lot of confusion and anger has generated from this experience. Instances are now being reported of Nirakhpurians being evicted from where they are staying and being refused service in restaurants and cafes. However, there have been a few silver lines on the horizon. Yesterday there was a friendly cricket match between Nirakpurians and locals on the beach, which was won by the Nirakhpurians. There has also reportedly been a marital engagement between a Nirakhpurian man and a Deltarian woman, and also between a Nirakpurian woman and a male Jakanian tourist.
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Re: Malivia

Postby Aquinas » Tue Jun 09, 2020 3:31 pm

May 4767

Malivia lifts arms embargo on Zardic Freedom Fighters

Flanked by his grim-looking Foreign Affairs Minister, Arpit Bajpai, and glum-looking Defence Minister, Vrikodara Mahalanabis, President Patanjali Ganapuli appeared before the world's media this afternoon to announce an end to Malivia's arms embargo on the Freedom Fighters in Zardugal. In the critical part of his speech, he said:

From a moral point of view, it is no longer possible to sit back and do nothing whilst the totalitarian, communist government in Zardugal continues to oppress and murder its own people. We have waited patiently but in vain for the World Congress to act. Alas, the World Congress is busy shackling itself with laissez-faire doctrines designed precisely to prevent any effective action at all in cases like this.

As we explained in our contribution at the General Assembly, the extreme ideological opposition to interventionism embodied in Resolution 88 was passed in the most dubious of circumstances, and with the support of only one of the Security Council members. By contrast, a more recent noble effort to repeal it was supported by 5 votes to 4, but then vetoed by Hutori, one of the completely unelected permanent members.

The decision we are making today has been building up for some time, but I wish to make clear that the moment where we saw no other option came when Hutori used its veto. Malivia is not a powerful country in the world, but we are willing to do our bit, and that we will do. For now, it seems sadly that the World Congress has become an irrelevance, and in future nations will need to pursue international justice through "coalitions of the willing" instead of through the General Assembly and Security Council. When the World Congress shows some signs of moral leadership, Malivia will be its strongest supporter, but in the meantime, we will do what we must do. Henceforth, it will no longer be a criminal offence to transport military weapons and equipment to the Freedom Fighters in Zardugal. Other nations, I hope, recognising the savageness of the Zardic regime, and the ineffectiveness of the World Congress, will soon follow our lead.
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