Swayam, an NGO working on women’s rights, held the “International Campaign to Stop Violence against Women and Girls” from November 25 to December 10, during which it launched a Bengali translation of the domestic violence act. It also conducted a debate on the motion: “The protection of women from domestic violence act, 2005, is an anti-men law”.

The act has many men — and others — up in arms, as they feel that it allows women to drag innocent husbands and in-laws to court. There is also a move to revise the act. Much to the relief of Swayam, the motion was defeated.

Anuradha Kapoor of the NGO feels the act should remain as it is. “Chances of it being used against innocent men are very little, for the number of women who move court is ridiculously small compared to those who suffer abuse.”

Classical economist

Economist Ashok Mitra sat in an obscure corner of Raj Bhavan and animatedly discussed whether wine-and-dine book launches contribute to the sales graph at the launch of his senior’s book, The Collected Works of A.K. Dasgupta. What the classical economist Amlanbabu would have had to say on this is anybody’s guess, but the occasion brought together the academic glitterati, including Tapan Raychaudhuri, Uma Dasgupta, Mihir Rakshit, Dilip Nachane and Mitra.

While Oxford University Press, India, has published most of the works of Amlan Dasgupta, it was a “huge task” to bring out his collected works that have been edited by his economist daughter Alakananda Patel. The book was conceived by his son-in-law, former RBI governor IG Patel. Dasgupta’s son Partha Dasgupta, the Frank Ramsey Professor of Economics at University of Cambridge, has edited one of the three volumes.

Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi released the book.