Word: pradesh
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...farm boy from the state of Uttar Pradesh in northeast India who grew up to be Prime Minister. Chandra Shekhar was known by both supporters and detractors as a political firebrand, an idealistic, secular nationalist who could be blunt to a fault. Indira Gandhi jailed him, along with many other of her outspoken political opponents, during a tumultuous period in the mid-1970s. Shekhar became Prime Minister in 1990, but holding only a slim majority in a fractious coalition, he served just seven months before resigning amid charges that his government was spying on political rival Rajiv Gandhi. Shekhar died...
...scandal that has the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh buzzing. In early March, Hindustan Latex, a company owned by India's national government, began selling a battery-operated vibrating ring packaged with three of its "Crezendo" brand condoms that supposedly provides added stimulation for both partners. One of the main reasons cited for low condom usage in India is "lack of pleasure in the usage of the condom," says Hindustan Latex spokesman S. Jayaraj. "The vibrating ring provided with the condom was introduced as a pleasure enhancer" in order to encourage their use, thus helping stem the country's burgeoning...
...Kailash Vijayavargiya, a state minister in Madhya Pradesh, is outraged by the product. He claims the vibrating ring qualifies not as a contraceptive but as a sex toy - illegal in his state - and has accused Hindustan Latex, and by extension India's national government, of immorality. In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this week calling for a ban on the sale of the condoms, Vijayavargiya says the government "has disregarded rules, regulations, the country's laws and morality. Sex toys can have serious repercussions on the Indian way of life...
...minute joyride through the realms of vibrating pleasure." Indeed, Hindustan Latex has sold about 130,000 of the $3 packs in the three months since it released them. That's good news in the fight against HIV/AIDS, says company spokesman Jayaraj, who says if the state government of Madhya Pradesh demands the product's withdrawal, the company would happily stop selling it there immediately...
...openness in talking about love and sex in India, such subjects still regularly spark controversy, especially when politicians get involved. In April, Hollywood actor Richard Gere outraged India's prudes by kissing Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty at an AIDS awareness rally. A month earlier, six states including Madhya Pradesh banned sex education in schools, after authorities said that pictures showing changes that occur during puberty were too graphic. And in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), some schools have recently banned public displays of affection between students...