Women-led and women’s rights organizations are on the frontlines of today’s humanitarian crises—but many are at risk of disappearing. As global needs rise due to conflict, climate change, and displacement, deep cuts to foreign aid are threatening organizations that provide life-saving services for women and girls. In March 2025, UN …
It is difficult to find simple remedies to complex problems, not because such remedies are hard to find but because they are often overlooked. To check global warming, German chancellor Angela Merkel offered an apparently simple solution at the recent G8 summit at Heiligendamn, Germany. She proposed that member nations …
in an unusual incident, Monnet Ispat and Energy Ltd's public hearing in Raigarh was called off because "the company was unable to adequately answer issues raised by the public'. The company's plans to expand its iron and steel plant in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, has further run into trouble with allegations of …
the Kerala State Electricity Board is hopeful that the Athirapally Hydro Electric Project in the state's Trissur district will be revived. The Union ministry of Environment and Forests on July 19 cleared the board's proposal to build a 163-mw dam on the Chalakudy river. The clearance has sparked protests from …
the fight between the Karnataka government and Bangalore-based Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (nice) has taken yet another ugly turn. nice has filed a petition against the state government for failing to handover land for the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project. The petition is coming up for hearing on August 27 at …
in what is seen as a vindication of the struggle for land rights, and a political victory, the police in Uttar Pradesh's Sonebhadra district withdrew nsa (National Security Act, 1980) charges against a social activist following orders from chief minister Mayawati on August 17. The district court of Sonebhadra has …
the Uttar Pradesh agriculture policy, which was announced on August 3, was scrapped three weeks later. The policy was aimed at giving impetus to retail and contract farming in the state. But the scrapping decision came in the wake of widespread protests against the inauguration of 10 Reliance Fresh and …
Devrao Atram, a Kolam tribal from Maharashtra, got his land back two years ago. He had given 5 hectare (ha) on contract to a non-tribal banjara family 25 years ago. When he wanted to claim his land back five years from then, he was beaten up and driven out of …
the Udaipur administration recently announced its plans to go ahead with allotment of land for jatropha plantation. The move, made under the recently notified Rajasthan Land Revenue (Allotment of waste land for bio-fuel plantation and bio-fuel based Industrial and processing unit) Rules, 2007, has sparked several protests. Under the new …
It was a bright sunny morning when I reached the Bakhira lake. Bakhira is reputed to be the biggest natural wetland in Uttar Pradesh and is known for its purple swamphens. The birds are known to be shy. I nurtured hopes of spotting them, nevertheless. They were soon belied. It …
The Group of Ministers on the draft resettlement and rehabilitation policy had its third meeting on July 19, where it considered increasing the state governments' role in land acquisition for private businesses. It recommended that states can purchase up to 30 per cent of the land required, while industries can …
Russia could lift ban on export of Indian rice Russia may lift the ban on exports of rice, groundnut and sesame seeds from India soon. The ban was imposed in April after Russia's monitoring agencies claimed to have found a pesticide, dimethotate, which is not allowed under Russian laws (see
"I have no choice but to leave my village in search of work. Otherwise, my family will starve,' says Samra Malik of Malikput village in Orissa's Koraput district. He, and several others landless like him, go to work on railway construction sites in Andhra Pradesh and coastal Orissa. Malik alleges …
Saturday, July 7. It's day 18 of an indefinite hunger strike by tribespeople of Sikkim's Lepcha community and there's no end in sight. Protests against the imminent influx of a series of dams on the river Teesta and its tributaries in the remote mountain regions of North Sikkim district have …
that the non-confrontational Lepchas are on an indefinite hunger strike against dams in north Sikkim shows how much of a threat they perceive these projects to be. The surge of support from across the north east again brings to fore the vexed issue of big dams in this socio-politically complex …
Lanjigarh block, Kalahandi, Orissa, May 17: At its summit, the northeastern ridge of the Niyamgiri hill range has a bald patch, typical of hilltops with bauxite deposits. A dense tree cover that provides a welcome shade to climbers struggling some 8 km up the steep forest path gives way to …
the controversial move by the Madhya Pradesh government to incinerate some waste from the the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal has met with stiff opposition. Civil society groups have strongly criticised the plan to take the waste to an incinerator in Gujarat. They say the incinerator at Ankleshwar is badly …
Fisherfolks across India's 7,500 km long coastline are up in arms against the draft Coastal Zone Management Notification. The coastal communities say the notification does not acknowledge their traditional rights and can damage the coasts and the people. The draft, prepared by the Union ministry of environment and forests (moef), …
there is tension brewing in three villages in Maharashtra's Melghat Sanctuary over rehabilitation measures. The sanctuary, within the Melghat Tiger Reserve, is being freed of people to protect forests and to check declining tiger population. There is a debate over the rehabilitation package with ngos claiming it does not follow …
"i don't know what is uranium, I don't know if it's good or bad. I'm only happy that the public hearing went off peacefully,' says Tina Thongenirit from Wakhaji, a village 120 km from Meghalaya's capital Shillong. Wakhaji is 15 km from Nongbah Jynrin, the village where the public hearing …
