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To pray or not to pray?

The Speaker of Australia's Parliament, Harry Jenkins, has called for a public debate on whether the country's lawmakers should end the practice of starting each session with the Lord's Prayer. For more than a century lawmakers have started every day of Parliament with the Christian prayer - a tradition inherited from Britain during colonial rule.

But some are now questioning whether a prayer adopted by the first Australian Parliament in 1901 remains relevant in an increasingly secular and religiously diverse nation.

However, putting aside the prayer is unlikely to happen any time soon, as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull said they wanted to keep the prayer. Speaker of the House of Representatives Jenkins told News Ltd. newspapers that lawmakers and members of the public had repeatedly raised the issue with him since he took office in February.

It is likely that the present secular trend in the country's living style will make the reading of the Lord's Prayer increasingly irrelevant and eventually fade into oblivion.

Italy's PM sets off Obama row

Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, well-known for his injudicious remarks, was in a joking mood when talking to newsmen following his talks with Russia's President Dimitry Medvedev and went on to describe America's first black President-elect Barack Obama as 'young, handsome and even tanned.' Berlusconi who has a history of controversial remarks, was asked about the prospect for US-Russian relations and he responded to newsmen by saying that the relative youth of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, 43, and Obama, 47, should make it easier for Moscow and Washington to work together. Then, with a smile on his face and speaking in Italian said "I told the President that (Obama) has everything needed in order to reach deals with him: he's young, handsome and even tanned." The Russian President did not visibly react to the comment.

Berlusconi later defended his comment to an Italian news agency calling it 'a great compliment.' "Why are they taking it as something negative? If they have the vice of not having a sense of humour, worse for them." He also told Sky TV 24 Ore later that the remark was meant to be 'cute' and lashed out at those who disagreed, calling them 'imbeciles, of which there are too many.'

Some of the quips that have earned this 72 year old Prime Minister notoriety are when he once compared a German lawmaker to a Nazi camp guard. At another time he asserted that Western civilisation was superior to Islam soon after the 9/11 attack took place and more recently claimed that the new Spanish Government had too many women.

Italy's only black lawmaker, Jean-Leonard Touadi, called Berlusconi's comment embarrassing. "In the United States, a joke like that wouldn't just be politically incorrect, but a great offence to this amasing example of integration, which it seems the Italian premier should take as an example."

A delicacy

Many readers may be put away by the very thought of having rat meat as a dish. But very soon it may appear as a delicacy at many a fashionable restaurant in vegetarian India when a controversial pilot project to popularise rat meat in Bihar turns out to be a success.

It's an idea that Jeetan Ram Manjhi, Bihar's Social Welfare Minister for Scheduled Castes and Tribes is putting into effect shortly.

The Minister's main idea is to help the Musahar community who come under India's Scheduled Castes and Tribes Act. The Musahars make a living by farming rats that live in paddy fields. They are an impoverished community and the Bihar Provincial Government has decided to uplift them by giving a helping hand to their main source of income - farming rats.

Replying to his critics and the controversy that has arisen the Minister says that it is a "well calculated move to promote and popularise rat meat in the state." He has promised to publish research-based reports that establish that rat meat is healthy. Vijay Prakash, Principal Secretary in the Social Welfare Department, said rat meat may soon be available in hotels as a delicacy. As rat farming is akin to rearing poultry the Musahars would be encouraged to expand their work as a means of socio-economic uplift as well as promote a new kind of food item in urban areas. It is reported that rat meat is as tasty as chicken. Musahars, known as the traditional rat eating community, usually hunt rats in paddy fields.

The Government has decided to engage the Musahars in the commercialisation of rat meat for their overall development. In this they will be helped to organise rat farms. If the venture is well designed it will help empower them and change their poor living conditions, Prakash said. "I discovered during a fact-finding mission that rat meat is available in the Mokama riverine areas and roadside hotels in Danapur in Patna district. It is called 'patal-bageri' and is in high demand," he said. Commercialising rat meat is part of the State Government's efforts to uplift Dalit communities that constitute nearly 15 per cent of this eastern India State's population of 83 million and are among the most socio-economically poor sections.

According to some dieticians, rat meat is rich in protein and as tasty as chicken. "However, eating rat meat is considered a stigma in urban pockets and confined to the poorer sections of society," Prakash added.

The State Government plans to set up stalls in rural fairs across the State, followed by rat meat centres in urban areas.

Prakash said his department would approach the Government and private agencies in and outside the country to speed up commercialisation of rat meat.

Roving Eye