Malivia

[ChengherRares1]

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7531&start=1250#p147290

[Aquinas]

October 4542

Keymonite agricultural conglomerate set to sue Malivia

Leighstown Agriculture, the Keymonite multinational agricultural conglomerate, has announced it is attempting to sue the government for illegally withdrawing its license to sell beef in Malivia.

Under Malivian law, cow slaughter on Malivian soil is prohibited, although it is permitted to import beef from abroad, provided it can be demonstrated that animal welfare criteria have been met. The Gerajan-dominated Rajutti National Party has always wanted to go further and completely ban beef from being sold in Malivia, although there does not seem to be a majority in Parliament for achieving this.

Leighstown Agriculture has accrued particular notoriety with the Gerajan cow lobby for its practice of rearing cows in fields in northern Walkaunar, driving them 2 miles across the Hobrazian border to its abbatoir in southern Zargundia and then driving the beef back to Malivia to be sold. This mode of business operation is technically within the law, but is antagonising traditional Gerajans.

Last week, Malivian officials withdrew the company's licence to sell beef, allegedly on the grounds that animal welfare requirements are not being followed at the slaughterhouse in Hobrazia. However, Leighstown Agriculture is disputing this, claiming the licence was withdrawn "for purely political reasons" and that "animal welfare standards at the abbatoir are exemplary and world-class". The company is also suing the police, alleging they are purposely turning a blind eye to vigilante attacks organised against their workers by the notorious Gau Raksha Paltan (Cow Protection Army).

Prime Minister Amish Padagavakar has become personally involved in the case, accusing the company of "showing no respect for Malivian values and culture" and "trying to use their big corporate lawyers and their financial clout to get away with breaking Malivian law".

[ChengherRares1]

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7531&start=1260#p147304

Gao-Soto decides to warm relations between Gao-Soto and Malivia and take a position on the hot issue of Malivy Islands

[Rogue]

Vanguard naval exercises held and a succes

[Aquinas]

April 4543

Malivia set to join CARSS

Tonight, the Malivian Parliament seems on the verge of joining a Deltarian-led military alliance called the Coalition of Revolutionary Socialist States, known as CARSS. Prime Minister Amish Padagavakar has had a hard job persuading some MPs from his own traditionally conservative Rajutti National Party to support the move, but it looks like he is going to be able to amass the parliamentary numbers to steer the move through. In a speech to MPs, he tried to downplay any "revolutionary socialist" implications to the alliance, and focused instead on its other potential perceived benefits:

I would appeal to my fellow parliamentarians not to place to attach excessive significance to the term "Coalition of Revolutionary Socialist States". What this is about is a coalition of fair-minded nations, led by Deltaria, trying to build a fairer and safer world for us all. Deltaria and her allies have shown repeatedly in recent years that they are friends of global justice and friends of Malivia. It is profoundly in Malivia's national interests to align herself with this global coalition.

Deltaria and her allies appreciate that Malivia is not likely to go down the road towards full-blown, old-fashioned traditional socialism. We can continue to enjoy our economic freedoms and reap the benefit of free enterprise. What this treaty and this alliance is about is social justice, economic progress, strength through international unity and global fairness, and I hope that is something we can all unite around.

Padagavakar claims progress in Hulstria talks, but controversies continue

Prime Minister Amish Padagavakar has hailed recent concessions and assurances from Hulstria as "progress" and "the clearest possible indication that positive and constructive relations between Malivia and Hulstria are worth pursuing". However, the Hulstrian situation continues to put pressure on the Prime Minister, whose critics say he is not doing enough. In particular, the government has so far shown reluctance to admit refugees from Hulstria, and has outraged civil liberties campaigners by subjecting hundreds of Hulstrian asylum seekers to controversial "heterosexuality tests" to ascertain whether they are really heterosexuals fleeing persecution.

Padagavakar has tried to shrug off the homosexual supremacist ideology which guides the Hulstrian regime, remarking to one journalist that "this is just a temporary socio-political aberration which should not be allowed to disrupt relations too much" and that "the natural order of things will reassert itself soon". However, recent reports appearing in the Malivian media have made increasingly clear that the people in charge of Hulstria now are not pushovers. This message was symbolically reinforced last week, when Malivia's much-vaunted cricket titans went down to a humiliating surprise defeat at the hands of Hulstria's all-gay team.

[Aquinas]

February 4545

Sati scandal shocks Malivia



Sati is a historic practice in Rajutti Gerajan (OOC: Indian Hindu) culture where widows immolate themselves on the funeral pyres of their husbands. For centuries, it has been frowned upon, and Gerajan scholars have queued up to argue there was never anything Gerajan about the practice and that it was just a barbarous social custom from the ancient past. In private conversation, most Rajuttis will tell you they do not feel 100% sure that it does not very occasionally still go on quietly, particularly in the more backward and isolated communities in rural areas. More than a few Rajutti families will be able to share a tale with you about how some distant relative of theirs was subjected to that terrible fate.

As of yesterday morning, sati is no longer something discussed in concerned whispers. Sati, as an issue, has gone viral.

Salani Mahanta, from a small village community in western Dendhadrash, threw herself on her husband's funeral pyre two months ago. Her relatives say she was pressurised into doing so by her husband's parents, who did not want to care for her, and who never brought themselves to accept that their high-caste son had married a lowly Devadasi. Devadasis, in ancient times, functioned as the temple prostitute caste.

It was Salani's sister, Neha, who first protested against what had been done. She went to the police but they ignored her, telling them it was a "family matter". Then she tried to rouse the indignation of her brothers and other relatives. They all told her to go away. Then she got in touch with a distant second cousin, Aaina Devadhikar, who was sympathetic. She accompanied Neha to the police station, and again a report was made...but the police just accused them of being fantasists who were imagining it.

Then Aaina got in touch with a Rajutti National Party MP, Nagini Ayyar, who she distantly knew, as they had grown up in the same area and gone to the same school.

Nagini Ayyar, in the bitter words of one of the policemen involved, "kicked up a massive fuss and wouldn't leave us alone". Frustrated with the continued reluctance of the police to investigate, she stood up in Parliament and used her parliamentary privilege to go public with the details. Now it was public, and the press - domestic and international - went into a frenzy.

Five people have now been convicted with coercing Salani into taking part in sati. Vinod Ghoshal, the Gerajan priest who oversaw the funeral, is angry at the decision of the Swami Council (Geraja's highest body in Malivia) to revoke his accreditation as a priest, accusing them of "caving in to the secular courts", being "judgemental" and having "a weak grasp of Gerajan theology and a disrespect for our traditional customs". He denies the widow was coerced, insisting she "consented voluntarily of her own free will". He also denies the widow suffered unduly, insisting he taught her yoga exercises in order to "completely remove any fear or pain", and claiming he attached a pouch of gunpowder to her belt in order to "guarantee a quick and humane passing". He claims Salani "had a good death, a death anyone would be proud of, and she will get good karma from that - she will be reincarnated in a better caste next time".

Malivian society has been split down the middle as result of this case, which raises, as it does, sensitive issues surrounding customs, religion, caste and gender. Hardly anyone is defending sati, at least not publicly anyway. However, the division which has seemingly emerged is between those who are saying this case should be interpreted as a sign that Malivian society needs to do some serious self-examination and that there need to be big reforms, and those who feel the coverage of the case has made them feel threatened and as though their values and their way of life is under attack. This division seems particularly stark within the Rajutti National Party, where some, like Nagini Ayyar, are demanding "the complete destruction of gender and caste hierarchies", whilst others, like Justice Minister Dheeraj Thakre, are complaining that "the press barons are exploiting this isolated tragedy in order to denigrate Malivia and denigrate Geraja" and cautioning that "radically untraditional agendas will not be helpful" and that "at a time like this, when so many self-important liberal people are going a little mad, we need to proceed slowly and cautiously". Internal Affairs Minister Karam Kamal is adopting a similarly recalcitrant tone, defending the police against what he calls "gratuitous calumny" and insisting "the Malivia police are fundamentally decent and professional" and that "only a very, very, very few bad apples caused the issues here".


Government warns against counterfeit notes

Internal Affairs Minister Karam Kamal has warned the public that a "large number" of counterfeit notes have very recently entered circulation, and that consumers and businesses should be "doubly vigilant" in their handling of currency. A government economist told the parliamentary Finance Select Committee that the counterfeit currency situation "is becoming a crisis" and could "potentially knock up to half a percentage off Malivia's economic growth this year".

[Aquinas]

July 4545

Malivian communists call on Deltaria to act over Telamon

The Malivian Communist Association (MCA) has never contested political elections, but it is an increasingly influential organisation in Malivia, with over 100,000 members, a large bank account and members or sympathisers in important positions in an increasing number of trade unions and left-leaning campaign organisations.

This morning, the MCA captured the 9 o'clock news headlines by publishing a direct appeal to the government of Deltaria, calling on them and the Coalition of Revolutionary Socialist States to "take action against the extreme right-wing government that has come to power in Telamon" and, in particular, to "ensure that any attacks on the human rights of communists are investigated and severely punished".

So far the Malivian government has not commented on the situation.

[Arya]

MALIVIAN NAVY IMPOSES BLOCKADE ON SELUCIA
From a lot of time, Malivia had been urging the government of Selucia or Malivy Islands to accept unification with Malivia. The prime justification for unification was that according to the ancient scriptures of the indeginous religion of Malivia, Geraja, Selucia or Malivy Islands had been an integral part of Malivia from ancient times until the arrival of foreign colonizers. However, all diplomatic efforts at peaceful unification failed. The main political parties of Malivia which advocated unification were the Rajutti National Party and the Hosian Nationalist Party (Socialist), now Malivian Nationalist Party (Socialist). Recently, the candidate from Malivian Nationalist Party (Socialist), Arya Dhar Roy, won the Presidential election of Malivia. He ordered the Malivian Navy to impose a naval blockade on Selucia, with the purpose of pressurising the Selucian government to accept re unification with Malivia. What will happen next is unpredictable.

[Aquinas]

Padagavakar countermands naval blockade order

It is being reported that after being asked by President Arya Dhar Roy to impose a blockade on Selucia, top naval chiefs sought confirmation of the order from Prime Minister Amish Padagavakar and Defence Minister Kahoda Deshmukh, and were told not to go ahead with the blockade.

Speculation is rife about what is going on at the top of the Malivian government. Some sources suggest there is a conflict between the government coalition partners, with the Malivian National Party wanting a more aggressive stance in relation to Malivia than the Rajutti National Party. Other sources suggest this was a deliberately planned ploy in order to create a false alarm and panic the Selucians. There is also a theory going around that what really happened is that both governing parties agreed to the blockade, but that at the last moment the senior military brass refused to carry out the order, fearing it would be too dangerous.

[Aquinas]

December 4546

Government orders adoption ban on Hulstria



Prime Minister Amish Padagavakar has announced it will no longer be legal for Malivian babies to be adopted by Hulstrians. He cited concerns about civil liberties in Hulstria, particularly concerns about the treatment of heterosexuals and women.

Critics argue the timing of the announcement is suspect. The Hulstrian government has recently refused Malivia's calls to recognise its claim to the Malivy Islands (OOC: Selucia), and it has also been noted that the Hulstrian government actually appears to be in the process of liberalising its internal policies right now.