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Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee
The Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee ( ''Durbar Mohila Shômonbôe Shomiti'' "Unstoppable Women's Synthesis Committee"), or simply Durbar, is a collective of 60,000 sex workers in West Bengal. Established on 15 February 1992, in Sonagachi, the largest red-light district in Kolkata, West Bengal, India with estimated 11,000 sex workers, Durbar has been working on women's rights and sex workers' rights advocacy, anti-human trafficking and HIV/AIDS prevention. The Durbar states that its aims are the challenging and altering of the barriers that form the everyday reality of sex workers' lives as they relate to their poverty or their ostracism. Durbar runs 51 free clinics for sex workers across West Bengal, with support from organisations such as the Ford Foundation and the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), who also help Durbar in its initiatives like networking, rights protection and creating alternative livelihood for sex workers. The group is overtly political in its a ...
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Sonagachi
Sonagachi is a neighbourhood in Kolkata, India, located in North Kolkata near the intersection of Jatindra Mohan Avenue (north of C.R. Avenue) with Beadon Street and Sovabazar, about one kilometer north of the Marble Palace area. Sonagachi is among the largest red-light districts in Asia and the world with several hundred multi-storey brothels residing more than 16,000 commercial sex workers. Etymology In Bengali, ''Sona Gachi'' means 'Tree of Gold'. According to legend, during the early days of Calcutta the area was the den of a notorious dacoit by the name of Sanaullah, who lived here with his mother. On his death, the grieving woman is said to have heard a voice coming from their hut, saying, "Mother, don't cry. I have become a Gazi", and so the legend of Sona Gazi started. The mother built a mosque in memory of her son, although it fell into disrepair. The Sona Gazi was converted into Sonagachi. Red-light district Current situation Several NGOs and government organ ...
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Peer Education
Peer education is an approach to health promotion, in which community members are supported to promote health-enhancing change among their peers. Peer education is the teaching or sharing of health information, values and behavior in educating others who may share similar social backgrounds or life experiences. Rather than health professionals educating members of the public, the idea behind peer education is that ordinary lay people are in the best position to encourage healthy behaviour to each other. Areas of application Peer education has become very popular in the broad field of HIV prevention. It is a mainstay of HIV prevention in many developing countries, among groups including young people, sex workers, people whom practice unprotected sex, or people who use intravenous drugs. Peer education is also associated with efforts to prevent tobacco, alcohol and other drug use among young people. Peer educators can be effective role models for young adolescents by promoting heal ...
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Prostitution In Kolkata
Prostitution in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) is present in different forms and Kolkata's sex industry is one of the largest in Asia. Prostitution may be brothel-based or non-brothel based as in the case of call girls. India is regarded as having one of the largest commercial sex trades globally. Kolkata has many red-light districts, out of which Sonagachi is the largest red-light district in Asia with more than 50,000 commercial sex workers. According to a 2019 study by the Indian Journal of Public Health reported that West Bengal had the highest number of female sex workers (FSWs) in India, contributing nearly 25% of the country's total estimated 1.82 million FSWs. This suggests that around 455,000 FSWs were in West Bengal at that time. Prostitute population The total number of prostitutes in Kolkata is unknown. Some estimates state that there are more than 60,000 brothel-based women and girls in prostitution in Kolkata. The population of prostitutes in Sonagachi constitutes mai ...
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Prostitution In Asia
The legality of prostitution in Asia varies by country. There is often a significant difference in Asia between prostitution laws and the practice of prostitution. In 2011, the Asian Commission on AIDS estimated there were 10 million sex workers in Asia and 75 million male customers. Child prostitution is a serious problem in this region. Past surveys indicate that 30 to 35 percent of all prostitutes in the Mekong sub-region of Southeast Asia are between 12 and 17 years of age. The World Health Organization has called for the decriminalisation of sex work as a means of combating HIV/AIDS. The Asian region has the lowest incidence (5.2%). This page uses the UN system of subregions. Central Asia Kazakhstan In Kazakhstan prostitution itself is legal, but acts facilitating prostitution, such as operating a brothel or prostitution ring, are illegal. Forced prostitution and prostitution connected to organized crime are prohibited. Prostitution is a serious problem. NGOs repo ...
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Prostitution In India
Prostitution is legal in India, but a number of related activities including soliciting, kerb crawling, owning or managing a brothel, prostitution in a hotel, child prostitution, pimping and pandering are illegal. There are, however, many brothels illegally operating in Indian cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, and Nagpur, among others. UNAIDS estimate there were 657,829 prostitutes in the country as of 2016. Other unofficial estimates have calculated India has roughly 3 million prostitutes. India is widely regarded as having one of the world's largest commercial sex industry. It has emerged as a global hub of sex tourism, attracting sex tourists from wealthy countries. The sex industry in India is a multi-billion dollar one, and one of the fastest growing. Sex workers face poor conditions and structural barriers. History A tawaif was a courtesan who catered to the nobility of India, particularly during the Mughal era. The tawaifs excelled in and contributed to ...
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The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of the longest-running newspapers in the United States, the ''Times'' serves as one of the country's Newspaper of record, newspapers of record. , ''The New York Times'' had 9.13 million total and 8.83 million online subscribers, both by significant margins the List of newspapers in the United States, highest numbers for any newspaper in the United States; the total also included 296,330 print subscribers, making the ''Times'' the second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States, following ''The Wall Street Journal'', also based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' is published by the New York Times Company; since 1896, the company has been chaired by the Ochs-Sulzberger family, whose current chairman and the paper's publ ...
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Red-light District
A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex industry, sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are particularly associated with female street prostitution, though in some cities, these areas may coincide with spaces of male prostitution and gay venues. Areas in many big cities around the world have acquired an international reputation as red-light districts. Origins of the term Red-light districts are mentioned in the 1882 minutes of a Woman's Christian Temperance Union meeting in the United States. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' records the earliest known appearance of the term "red light district" in print as an 1894 article from the ''Sandusky Register'', a newspaper in Sandusky, Ohio. Author Paul Wellman suggests that this and other terms associated with the American Old West originated in Dodge City, Kansas, home to a we ...
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Baruipur
Baruipur () is a city and a municipality of South 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of Baruipur subdivision and is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). History Many ''janapadas'' grew up along the old Bhagirathi channel from the ancient times till around the 16th century: Kalighat, Boral, Rajpur, Harinavi, Mahinagar, Baruipur, Baharu, Jaynagar Majilpur, Chhatrabhog etc. Bipradas Pipilai's ''Manasavijaya'', composed in 1495, mentions many places in this region. " Chand Sadagar, a merchant character of the ''Manasavijaya'', reached Baruipur, from Kalighat, through the old Bhagirathi channel. From there he proceeded towards Chhatrabhog, and then traveling through Hatiagarh pargana reached the open sea". Chaitanyadeva (1486–1534) also went through this route. Travelling by boat to Puri he halted at the village of Atisara, near Baruipur. "His last stoppage in 24 Parganas was at Chhatr ...
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Ultadanga
Ultadanga is one of the most crowded junctions in North Kolkata. The place is located at the north-eastern fringe of the city and marks the limit of Kolkata district. Prominent places in Ultadanga are Telenga Bagan and Muchi Bazar. Etymology Ultadanga lay outside the Maratha Ditch, beyond Halsibagan, where the Sikh billionaire Legendary personalities in Bengal#Umichand, Umichand had a garden. It was the land on the opposite bank (''ulta'' in Bengali).Nair, P.Thankappan, ''The Growth and Development of Old Calcutta'', in ''Calcutta, the Living City'', Vol. I, pp. 14-15, Edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, Oxford University Press, 1995 edition. History The East India Company obtained from the Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar, in 1717, the right to rent from 38 villages surrounding their settlement. Of these 5 lay across the Hooghly River, Hooghly in what is now Howrah district. The remaining 33 villages were on the Calcutta side. After the fall of Siraj-ud-daulah, the last ...
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Cooperative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-controlled wikt:Enterprise, enterprise". Cooperatives are democratically controlled by their members, with each member having one vote in electing the board of directors. They differ from Collective farming, collectives in that they are generally built from the bottom-up, rather than the top-down. Cooperatives may include: * Worker cooperatives: businesses owned and managed by the people who work there * Consumer cooperatives: businesses owned and managed by the people who consume goods and/or services provided by the cooperative * Producer cooperatives: businesses where producers pool their output for their common benefit ** e.g. Agricultural cooperatives * Purchasing cooperatives where members pool their purchasing power ...
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Government Of West Bengal
The Government of West Bengal, also known as the West Bengal Government, is the Administrative division, principal administrative authority of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal, created by the Constitution of India, National Constitution as the state's legislative, executive and judicial authority. The Governor of West Bengal, Governor acts as the head of state and is the highest nominal authority of the state power, however, it is the List of Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Chief Minister who is the chief executive authority and head of government. The Chief Minister is the head of government and is vested with most of the executive powers. Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, houses the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. The temporary secretariat is located in the Nabanna (building), Nabanna building in the district of Howrah, adjacent to the state capital. The Calcutta High Court is located in Kolkata, which has jurisdiction over the whol ...
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Micro-credit
Microcredit is the extension of very small loans (microloans) to impoverished borrowers who typically do not have access to traditional banking services due to a lack of collateral, steady employment, and a verifiable credit history. The primary aim of microcredit is to support entrepreneurship, facilitate self-employment, and alleviate poverty, particularly in low-income communities The United Nations declared 2005 as the International Year of Microcredit to raise awareness of microfinance as a strategy for poverty reduction and financial inclusion. By the early 2010s, microcredit had expanded significantly across developing countries, with estimates suggesting that more than 200 million people were beneficiaries of microcredit services worldwide. While widely adopted, the effectiveness of microcredit remains debated, with mixed evidence on its long-term impact on poverty alleviation. Despite its widespread adoption, the impact of microcredit on poverty alleviation remains con ...
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