- Pranav Prakash, Young India Fellowship This past year has witnessed some remarkable success in the global battle against climate change, particularly in comparison to the first half of the decade which began with the spillover of the infamous ‘climategate’ and swiftly followed with a measurable turn towards a more …
The European Association for Bio-Industries (EuropaBio) says the decision by 16 EU nations to opt out of GMO crop cultivation has taken away the right of farmers to choose How have biotechnology companies reacted to this decision of 16 EU countries and four other regions? We deeply regret that some …
Vijay Jawandhia is a farmer in Vidarbha, the region which brought home to us the crisis that is compelling farmers to kill themselves. He is also a leader of farmers. Recently, he spoke of new challenges: "In my village we are hiring vehicles and bringing people from cities to work …
On the position of animal welfare attorney The office of animal welfare attorney exists only in the canton of Zurich in Switzerland. It was created because no one stands up for the animal. We have animal welfare legislation but if you complain the case is unlikely to be taken seriously. …
What led you to file the public interest litigation (pil)? On July 26, 2005, there was a deluge in Mumbai. It caught the administration unawares; all utility services broke down. I was one of those stranded, who spent the night under a flyover. I started wading back home at about …
the common wisdom of electoral democracy might call for politicians, specialising in arithmetic, who can identify the biggest number. But the post-modern understanding of electoral politics may demand integrating a small number of voters whose limit to power is tending towards infinity! Let us look at how a few road …
Sometimes, a fortnight can mirror a year. With the year-end approaching, a flashback is usually in order. But recent events have made completely clear to me where we are and where we are headed. This year, the world's who's who landed up. Our leaders basked in the floodlight of economic …
The Comptroller and Auditor General's (cag's) audit report for Maharashtra tabled on April 18, 2007 scrutinised the post-flood disaster relief expenditure in the year 2005 and 2006. It indicated that preparedness for floods was inadequate, relief assistance was extended without proper identification of affected persons, financial management was deficient, and …
It can be said that Union budget, 2007, is high on symbolism and intent. Most people in and close to power acknowledge that something is spoiling booming India's party: price rise, agricultural decay, poverty, mainly. This budget, says finance minister P Chidambaram, is the government's way to fix these problems …
Call it is one of the unknown Indian ironies. Over many years, the Indian state, through its public irrigation agencies, has systematically taken over the management of surface water systems. It has taken over the job of building irrigation systems - dams, reservoirs and canals - then maintaining these and …
Why did you go to Lebanon? Survival was a struggle. My husband earned a pittance as a vegetable vendor and we had to take care of our two boys and three girls. The children were then 19, 17, 15, 14 and 4, respectively. They needed food, clothes, books and shoes. …
In this day of television grabs, policies are about slugfests. The logic of the grab is that any discussion must be heated, with sharply divided positions - clear proponents and opponents. It is a caricature of the world; in it, for instance, if one is an environmentalist then s/he must …
The charade over the oil price hike has been played out. On the one hand, the government pleads helplessness given the spiralling oil prices globally, on the other hand, the opposition - right and left - frets and fumes about increased price of diesel and petrol. They want the government …
the Cabinet Committee for Economic Affairs cleared the Rs 2427 crore plus Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project (sscp) on May 19. The very one for which the Prime Minister's Office (pmo) had, about two and a half months ago, raised serious concerns. In early March the pmo mandated a re-look into …
on january19, 2005 the soft drink industry delayed, yet again, the implementation of a recent judgement of the Rajasthan high court ordering them to disclose all ingredients, including pesticides content, on the labels of their products (see: Too crooked). The move raised a lot of eyebrows. And the following question: …
THE London High Court judgement on arsenic poisoning cases in Bangladesh (see: Far-reaching verdict; see also: Hoping for relief, April 30, 2003) explicity clears the way for affected people to claim compensation. Implicity, it raises other issues of far-reaching consequence. For one, the verdict delivers a stern message to international …
FOOD INSECURITY ATLAS OF RURAL INDIA . FOOD INSECURITY ATLAS OF URBAN INDIA . M S Swaminathan Research Foundation . World Food Programme . 2001 and 2002 "Indian famines are famines of work, not of food. Where there is work, there is money. Where there is money there is food." …
On November 19, the Allahabad High Court (HC) ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to file an affidavit within three weeks indicating steps taken to prevent, treat and control fluorosis in Chopan block of Sonbhadra district. It also demanded details of the measures taken to rehabilitate the affected villagers. The court …
A man now owns a 23.6 kilometre (km) stretch of a river. He has a monopoly on the supply of water from the Sheonath river in a 19 km radius near the Durg township in Chhattisgarh. This has been made possible by a boot (build-own-operate-transfer) agreement that he has entered …
No discourse on development is possible today without adequate consideration of the environment component. There seems to be, however, a lack of basic understanding that environment and industrialisation or infrastructure development are complementary, not mutually exclusive, aspects of a country's growth and its people's well-being. The lookout, therefore, has been …
