Malivia

[Aquinas]

November 5798

Aurorian church occupations end as Deltaria puts its foot down

The protests and church occupations carried about by the schismatic "Constitutionalists" group have fizzled out as dramatically as they began after Deltaria applied pressure to the Malivian government to contain the situation. Prime Minister Patanjali Ganapuli brokered a compromise between the church and the schismatics which would see the "Constitutionalists" handed control of a handful of church halls. This fell massively short of what they were demanding, and far, far short of what they had been expecting to achieve. The withdrawal of the government's tacit support for the protesters, following Deltaria's intervention, is believed to have been the cause of this.


Chatur Nijasure resigns to pursue leadership ambitions

Smarting at the way Deltaria scuppered his scheme to undermine the Aurorian Patriarchal Church in Malivia, the famously hardline Internal Affairs Minister has resigned from the government, citing his concern about "the increasing subjugation of our country by Deltarian imperialism, and the spinelessness of our political leaders in resisting it". Nijasure has been privately critical of Deltaria's influence over Malivia for some years, particularly since their dramatic intervention in the Gau Raksha Paltan hostage crisis.

With the ageing Prime Minister, Patanjali Ganapuli, reported to be experiencing poor health and coming close to retirement, Nijasure is widely believed to hold ambitions of becoming the nation's top political leader himself. Over the next months, he is expected to speak his mind about political matters far more freely than he was able to do so in government, and he is planning a tour of the country in order to drum up his personal support, particularly within his party.

Many would hope to block his path to power, however, and amongst those is the Prime Minister's son Jamadagni Ganapuli, who has just been appointed as Nijasure's replacement as Internal Affairs Minister, and who the Prime Minister is believed to be grooming to succeed him. This has raised criticisms of nepotism, particularly as his son's elevation to one of the most senior Cabinet positions has been so sudden, and he has only been a member of the Lok Sabha for the last year.

[Aquinas]

April 4800

"Baby Factory" opens in Verana



A controversial fertility clinic run by Dr. Gunika Pipalia has opened in the city of Verana, specialising in recruiting surrogate mothers who are paid to carry babies for individuals and couples who are unable to have children. This practice has become controversial both at home and internationally, because the vast majority of the surrogates are from very poor and disadvantaged backgrounds, whereas the would-be parents are usually well-off, and often from from abroad.

Dr. Pipalia vigorously defends he work, arguing her clinic - known as the Pipalia Centre - "offers hope to so many heartbroken people who would not otherwise be able to have children". She also argues "the surrogates are not exploited in any way", maintaining "the payment they receive allows them to transform their lives, sometimes enabling them to further their education and get a good job to support themselves and their families". She also insists "all of our women are well-cared for" and that "all of their healthcare needs, and any of their aftercare needs following pregnancy, are covered by the service we provide".

The Social Justice Foundation, however, has labelled the Pipalia Centre "the biggest baby factory on the face of the planet, exploiting some of the poorest women on earth just to suit the lifestyle needs of the rich and privileged". Many other commentators have joined in the criticism, including some Rajutti National Party backbenchers, amongst them the former Internal Affairs Minister and Prime Ministerial wannabe Chatur Nijasure, who has described the clinic's work as "the degradation of Malivian womanhood".

Reports are also emerging that many women feel pressured to become surrogates for economic reasons, and in some case, for those very same reasons, have been pressured in to doing so by their families. There are also reports that women are becoming surrogates, and being accepted as surrogates, even when their health backgrounds indicate this would not be wise to do. Dr. Pipalia denies this, saying "all of our surrogates have passed appropriate medical tests to ascertain they are medically fit to undergo surrogacy". However, she did admit that "there are some cases where the women have a poor diet and are underweight, and in some of those cases, we do accept them as surrogates after they have been fed up first".


"Furries" kicked out of Malivia



A group calling itself the "International Furry Fandom Association" has been forbidden from holding its 31st international conference at a conference centre in Kajpur after Internal Affairs Minister Jamadagni Ganapuli, the son of the Prime Minister, designated them "a subversive organisation which is a threat to our national values and our national security". Up to 800 foreign citizens were planning to attend the conference, and they have all now been forbidden from entering the country for the next 5 years.

According to inside sources, the Prime Minister's liberal-leaning son's initial instinct was to ignore the furore over the conference and hope it would disappear, but with governing party backbenchers and the conservative media becoming more and more irate, he felt his chances of succeeding his father would be decimated unless he took a more hardline stance.

The International Furry Fandom Association has condemned the government's actions as "fascist" and called for a consumer boycott of Malivia and the imposition of international sanctions. It is now looking for an alternative venue in another country to host its conference.

[Aquinas]

January 4801

New city for Washebar
Dušanpur to be formed around Deltarian naval base and neighbouring villages, with local voting rights for Deltarians

Flanked by his father, the Prime Minister, the commander of Deltaria's Czar Dušan naval base and 5 panchayat (OOC: council) members from the village of Pahladgarh, Internal Affairs Minister Jamadagni Ganapuli announced to a press conference that a new city is to be created in the area around the Czar Dušan naval base and the village of Pahladgarh, on the coast of the province of Washebar.

Controversially, the city is to be known as Dušanpur, in honour of the Deltarian naval base and the Czar after whom it is named. Many local politicians wanted it to be called Pahladgarh, after the nearyby village, but this request was denied. There was an alternative proposal to name the city Dušanpur-Pahladgarh, but this was dismissed on the grounds it was too long-winded and might be confusing for the armies of international tourists whom city planners are keen to attract more of.

Another controversial element to the legislation is the clause granting voting rights for local elections within the city to Deltarians who have been resident in Malivia for at least 6 months. Chatur Nijasure, the former Internal Affairs Minister, condemned this in the Lok Sabha as "against Malivian principles of government and another sell-out to Deltarian imperialism". This guarantees the city's politics will be influenced by the sizeable Deltarian minority within the city, and it remains to be seen how this will play out. Some of Pahlardgarh's local political worthies are not keen on the new situation, although others are welcoming it.


Child carried by Shudra surrogate still a Brahmin, declares Swami Council

The Pipalia Centre, a controversial fertility clinic specialising in organising surrogate pregnancies, has been the cause of many controversies since it burst on the scene. One of the more peculiar ones has been the dispute surrounding the Thackers, a Brahmin couple in east Modalin. Mrs. Shalini Thacker was unable to carry a pregnancy for health reasons, but with the assistance of the Pipalia Centre, she was able to have one of her eggs fertilised with the sperm of her husband, and then implanted in a surrogate mother, Leela Rajavade. Rajavade was a Shudra - putting her well below Brahmins in the traditional Rajutti (OOC: Indian) social caste hierarchy.

To the Thackers, done of this mattered, and they assumed their child, a boy called Zalim, would be accepted as a Brahmin, just like themselves. This was not to be the case, though. Consternation quickly spread through the Brahmin community in east Modalin, where they live, and assertions were made by prominent Brahmin leaders that the child could not be considered a Brahmin because it had been "polluted" by the time it spent in the womb of a Shudra.

The furore surrounding this had been going on for some time before it reached the Swami Council, considered the closest thing Geraja (OOC: Hinduism) has to an authoritative body in Malivia. After deliberating on the matter for many weeks, and taking evidence from numerous expert witnesses, the Council voted by 6 to 3 to affirm that Zalim Thacker was, after all, a Brahmin. However, 2 of the council members wrote a dissenting opinion arguing he should be consider a Shudra, and another council member wrote an opinion he should be considered an Untouchable because "the process through which he was brought in to existence was impure and unnatural, and must surely be punishment for sins committed in a previous life".

Regardless of the Council's decision, the Thackers seem to be facing a considerable degree of social ostracism in their community now, and they have admitted marriage proposals for some other members of their family have "suddenly dried up".


Jamadagni retreats over travel ban on "Furries"

Following outspoken criticism from the liberal wing of the party, Internal Affairs Minister Jamadagni Ganapuli has dropped the 5 year travel ban which had been imposed on foreign citizens planning to attend the (now banned) 31st international conference of the International Furry Fandom Association in Kajpur. In doing so, however, he has only succeeded in antagonising the conservative wing of the party, led by former Internal Affairs Minister Chatur Nijasure, who denounced the u-turn as "going soft on the international forces of social and moral degeneracy".

[ChengherRares1]

IAOL to hold Congress in 1802 in Malivia, discussions over future of local anarchist movements and minority rights

[Aquinas]

July 4802

Hosians protest against Hijras Act

For many years now, Malivia's "third gender" community, known as the Hijras, have been embroiled in controversy over their habit of turning up at Gerajan (OOC: Hindu) weddings and childbirth celebrations and creating a colourful spectacle of themselves until the hosts pay them a sufficient amount of money to persuade them to leave. Some have called for stronger police action against them, whilst others have been calling for the government to do more to make people honour the traditional role Hijras play in society, and to encourage them to stop being so miserly about compensating them for the entertainments and sacred blessings they provide.

There has been pressure on the government to do something about this situation for a long time now. The Internal Affairs Minister, Jamadagni Ganapuli, was reluctant to take a lead on the issue, fearing that becoming too closely involved with it could harm his future leadership ambitions. It therefore fell to the Justice Minister, Krishna Thakur, to bring before the Lok Sabha his new Hijras Act.

On the face of it, Thakur seems to have taken a sympathetic approach to the Hijras, enshrining their ritual role in Malivian society by giving them a legal entitlement to attend wedding and childbirth celebrations, and also making it a legal requirement for families to pay them a minimum of 100 Malivian Crowns for doing so.

Gerajans with more modern outlooks will be groaning at this, since it compels them to pay for something they would prefer not to be offered anyway. However, this section of the population is at least familiar with the tradition, and so their outrage at the new law will be at least somewhat muted.

For Malivia's other religious communities, however, particularly the Hosians, the new law is a different matter. Hosians have no previous experience of Hijras turning up unannounced at weddings and baptisms, but now - they fear - the law has given the Hijras a licence not only to disrupt their religious ceremonies with the garrulous displays they are so famous for, but to charge them for the privilege as well!

The Bishopal Church, the Aurorian Patriarchal Church and the smaller denominations pleaded with the government to drop the legislation, or at least to insert an exemption for non-Gerajan religious communities. This, however, the Justice Minister and the government resolutely refused to do.

"It is as though the government is deliberately attempting to persecute Hosians and to sabotage relations between Hosians and Hijras and Hosians and Gerajans more generally," said Jamaall Furtado, the Bishop of Kubir for the Bishopal Church.

Sharonda Strickland of Hosian Concern for Our Nation was sharper in her words, accusing the government of "organising hoardes of sexually confused deviants to perform unspeakable blasphemies at our most sacred Hosian rituals" and vowing "faithful Hosians will refuse to tolerate these outrages and will refuse to pay any fees to these Hijras".

Davion Vallett, the Aurorian Patriarchal Church's Bishop of Modalin, was more circumspect, empathising with what he described as "the suffering and the prejudice which the Hijra community endures" whilst also condemning the proposed new law as "not in keeping with the dignity of Hosian religious life in Malivia".


International anarchist conference banned

Internal Affairs Minister Jamadagni Ganapuli has banned the International Anarchist Organisation for Liberation from hosting a planned conference in Malivia, arguing the organisation is "subversive and includes pro-criminal elements with links to domestic terrorism". His decision was popular in his party, even the more moderate elements of which are suspicious of anarchists.

Following the ban, the Malivian Anarchist Association applied for permission to host a smaller event involving no more than 150 people in Rakaya. Permission for this was granted, although only on condition there would be a strong police presence and only Malivian speakers would be allowed to attend.

[Aquinas]

December 4803

Hijras use new law to disrupt Hosian weddings and baptisms

Taking advantage of the recently-passed Hijras Act, Hijras have been descending upon Hosian (OOC: Christian) wedding and baptism services, where they will typically make a bawdy exhibition of themselves - often performing erotic dances, removing their clothing and pinching men's bottoms, for example - and refuse to leave until their embarrassed hosts have paid them the minimum 100 Malivian Crown fee mandated by the new legislation.

The Aurorian Patriachal Church has shrewdly avoided these disruptions to its religious life by agreeing to pay an annual fee to the Malivian Hijra's Association in return for their services being left alone. However, the Bishopal Church and the smaller denominations have so far steadfastly refused to enter any such arrangements, and as a result, have found themselves targeted.

A shady group calling itself the Hosian Defence League has emerged, dedicated to trying to scare away Hijras from coming to weddings and baptisms. In response, Hijra militias have formed to counter them, and there have been a number of clashes, particularly in Kajpur, a city with a high proportion of Hosians.

Some Gerajans (OOC: Hindus), finding their own weddings targeted too and regarding the Hijras as a nuisance, are just as frustrated with the new situation as the Hosians.

An online petition calling for the legislation to be repeated has received over a million signatures.


Government acts to curb onion prices

Lakshmi Mallaya, the Minister for Agriculture, has increased onion subsidies by 30% in response to rising onion prices. Onions form a vital part of the Malivian cuisine, and maintaining a plentiful supply of cheap onions has long been seen as a test of the virility of any government.

Arjuna Singh, the Finance Minister and a proponent of non-interventionist free market economics, is believed to have strongly resisted the move, but to have been outnumbered in the Cabinet.

[Aquinas]

July 4805

Government turns on the "zamindars"

Justice Minister Krishna Thakur is piloting controversial legislation through the Lok Sabha which would give the government special powers to "redistribute land and property holdings deemed to be excessive" which came about as a consequence of Malivia's colonial period under the Luthori-based East Artania Company.

A large proportion of the likely targets of this legislation are landed Luthori (OOC: English) Malivians, whose descendants stayed on in the country long after the country achieved independence. Many others, though, are landed Raktavani (OOC: Indian) families, most of which were powerful during the pre-colonial era and were rewarded by the East Artania Company in return for their collaboration.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Thakur described the new law as "long over-due" and "a measure that will enhance social justice in this country by giving more land to ordinary people".

Others are more cynical, however. The Social Justice Foundation has commented:

The basic principle behind this legislation is something we have supported for many, many years, and it should have been done a long time ago - centuries ago. Our issue with the law being proposed is that it is too ambiguous and sets down very few checks and balances or proper guidelines as to how the Zamindari Commission will operate. The very obvious suspicion is that the government will redistribute land in a political way, going soft on known supporters of the government, whilst acting harshly against its critics and opponents. We are also suspicious about how the land will be distributed. Our fear is they will redistribute the land to government cronies and supporters, and to favoured communities like the Gerajans (OOC: Hindus) and Raktavanis. Malisindus and Hosians (OOC: Christians), as ever, are likely to lose out.

A delegation of the most powerful zamindars, who are the equivalent of the aristocracy in Malivia, are reported to have met privately with Emperor Manas II at his palace in Modalin to express their concerns about the legislation. The Emperor has never publicly expressed his personal political views, but he and his immediate family are known to be part of the same social world as the leading zamindars, and according to sources, he has privately pleaded with the government to water down the legislation.


Raja of Washebar on visit to Vascania

One of the country's highest-ranking zamindars, the Raja of Washebar, Ranjan Shah, is making a private trip to Vascania, one of Malivia's closest political allies. The purpose of the trip is not disclosed, but it is being widely speculated he hopes to meet Empress Sumitra and her government ministers, and to try to persuade them that Vascania should put pressure on the Malivian government to abandon the Zamindari Reform Act.


Bishopal Church pays off the Hijras

After a prolonged period of having wedding and baptism services disrupted, and fees forcibly exacted, the Bishopal Church has reluctantly signed an agreement with the Malivian Hijra's Association, agreeing to pay them an annual fee in return for their religious services being left in peace. A number of smaller Hosian denominations have now made similar arrangements as well.

[Aquinas]

July 4807

Supreme Court puts a halt on the Zamindari Commission

In the aftermath of the Zamindari Reform Act, the Zamindari Commission issued a slew of controversial directives, creating a widespread suspicion that the new legislation was being used for political purposes. Land and property held by critics and opponents of the regime was scheduled for seizure, whilst assets belonging to the regime's friends were left well alone. The Bishopal Church was preparing for the prospect of losing more than a third of its land and property holdings. Even more surprisingly, numerous better-off Malisindus (OOC: Afro-Caribbeans) were faced with losing their land and property despite the fact they or their families had only come in to the ownership relatively recently, centuries since the departure of the East Artania Company.

Following a legal appeal jointly organised by the Raja of Washebar, the Earl of Dendhadrash, the Bishopal Church, the Malivian Civil Liberties Association and the National Malisindu Forum, the Supreme Court ruled by 5 votes to 4 that the Zamindari Commission should temporarily cease its work pending the outcome of a judicial review in to the basis on which it operates.

Raktavani National Party supporters reacted with fury to the decision, accusing the Supreme Court of undermining democracy, and mass demonstrations have been held outside the Supreme Court building in Modalin on a daily basis.

Justice Minister Krishna Thakur has expressed the government's "profound disagreement with the interference of the Supreme Court", and has warned ominously that "if this is not resolved satisfactory, all options will need to be considered". This latter comment has been interpreted as a warning impeachment proceedings may be brought against Supreme Court justices if they persist in blocking the government's agenda.


Putera Temple complete



Work on constructing the Putera Temple in Seredeki is now complete, and the temple was officially opened yesterday by Prime Minister Patanjali Ganapuli. It has become known both the government, religious leaders and the temple management wanted Emperor Manas II to perform the opening ceremony, but the Emperor declined, not wanting to associate himself too closely with a project so painful to the sensitivities of Hosians. The spot where the temple was built used to be a church, until it was torn down by a Gerajan (OOC: Hindu) mob in 4531.


Dump Deltaria for Vascania, says Nijasure

Chatur Nijasure, the hardline former Internal Affairs Minister and current hopeful to succeed Patanjali Ganapuli as Prime Minister, has given a speech in the Lok Sabha in which he called for Malivia "to definitively move itself out of the Deltarian orbit, and in to the warm embrace of our Vascanian brothers and sisters". Nijasure has been critical of the government's closeness to Deltaria for many years, and is thought to be keen to exploit the newly-opened rifts between Deltaria and Malivia's other great ally, Vascania.

However, the government has so far shown no sign of wanting to choose between its two allies, preferring to try to keep both as friends for as long as that is possible.

[Aquinas]

July 4808

Supreme Court backs down over Zamindari Commission

Following a General Election in which the Raktavani National Party won every single seat, the Supreme Court has backed down over the government's controversial Zamindari Commission, voting by 6 votes to 3 to allow the Commission to continue with its work and bring to a halt the judicial review in to its activities.

However, the Commission is proceeding along more cautious lines than it was before its activities were suspended, imposing less drastic seizures and leaving smaller land and property holders alone. Concerns remain, however, that opponents of the regime are being disproportionately targeted, and that the land and property the government is taking over are being sold at cheap rates to government cronies.


Malivia offers to host peace talks between Vascania and Deltaria

Prime Minister Patanjali Ganapuli has invited the leaders of Vascania and Deltaria to attend a peace conference in Modalin. "Malivia has long considered herself a firm friend and ally of both of these great nations, and we believe it is in our interests, and Vascania's and Deltaria's interests, and Terra's interests, for the differences to be resolved in a constructive and peaceful way," he said.


Singh blames rise of new parties on onion prices

Finance Minister Arjuna Singh has ascribed rising levels of support for Malivia's two new political parties, the Workers' Party and Bright Horizons, to an increase in onion prices. "It has always been the way in Malivia that the popularity of the government wavers a little when onion prices go up, as they have lately," he said. "However, we have the situation completely in hand; onion prices will go back to normal soon, and then you will see the support for these new parties disappear".

[jamescfm]

Chavchavadze greets Hosian refugees arriving at Malivian border