As a country grappling with political and infrastructural problems, there are very few issues that do not evoke extreme, often diametrically opposite, reactions in India. Population control Bills, vaccination policy, farmer income initiatives, river water sharing mechanisms or surrogacy laws—there is no dearth of topics that have triggered controversy, and …
Three out of four U.S. voters favor regulating carbon dioxide as a greenhouse-gas pollutant, and a majority think global warming should be a priority for the president and Congress, a survey of American attitudes on climate and energy reported on Thursday. The survey was released one day after Rolling Stone …
Though much intellectual energy has been expended on the “poverty problem” in India, the debate simply does not take into account the highly unequal social context in which poverty is produced and reproduced. Can we reflect on the right not to be poor without taking on these background inequalities? Arguably, …
A Bill to re-enact the law to provide for establishment of an independent body of Himachal Lokayukta to inquire into complaints and allegations of corruption against public servants and public functionaries and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
The Arctic is likely to attract substantial investment over the next ten years, potentially reaching 100 billion $ or more, according to the report “Arctic Opening” by Chatham House and Lloyd´s of London. The authors also point to risks: the environmental consequences of disasters in the Arctic are likely to …
Issues of development and governance would decide the fate of an unpromising BSP, renascent SP, hopeful Congress and a dispirited BJP in a changed Uttar Pradesh In Uttar Pradesh, the real question is not who is losing and why. Within a few hours of a casual travel through the state, …
How much of the benefits of economic growth accrue directly to farmers and workers who lose their livelihoods when agricultural land is taken over for development? If handled properly, the Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill 2011 offers an opportunity for equitably addressing the interests of diverse sections affected …
This analysis examines what the ubiquitous presence of political “brokers” who mediate many people’s access to state institutions reveals about the Indian state and the complex causes of corruption in Indian public life. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Bihar since 2002, it reveals the role of brokers within both …
Report (Final) of the CEC regarding the mining leases surveyed by the joint team in districts Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur and related issues. Full report available in the CSE Library.
Passengers on an unusual train journeying the through the thick of Punjab polls discuss their ailments afflicting an entire generation. Strangely, for the state's politics, which is as much blinded by materialism as the people there, these problems just don't exist.
An assessment of the Maruti Suzuki Employees Union’s struggles against the Suzuki management in Manesar (Gurgaon) reveals that like central trade unions, plant unions also tend to reproduce a form of bureaucratic functioning. This results in a split between leaders and the rank and file – a tendency which often …
The mainstream paradigm of understanding grass-root environmentalism in India as “environmentalism of the poor” might be challenged by an alternative prototype forest movement in the Bengal Dooars prior to the Chipko movement. It was fought against the exploitative design of ecosystem governance under the taungya method of artificial regeneration as …
Today Punjab is facing crisis in all spheres, be it stagnating agriculture, flight of industry from Punjab, poor education quality, poor healthcare, rising epidemics of cancer and drug addiction, unprecedented power cuts and empty treasuries. Through this manifesto, Congress presents a progressive agenda which will rejuvenate agriculture ushering a second …
A Bill to provide for the establishment of a body of Lokpal for the Union and Lokayukta for States to inquire into allegations of corruption against certain public functionaries and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
Even Japan’s political leaders struggle to get answers regarding the Fukushima disaster. It is just the latest example of the government’s lack of independent scientific advice. (Editorial)
The Lokpal Bill, 2011 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 4th August, 2011. It was referred by the Hon’ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha to the Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice on the 8th August, 2011 for examination and report. The Bill seeks to provide …
New tensions and alignments are emerging at the UN talks here, reflecting subtle but far-reaching changes in the geopolitics of climate change. Delegates and veteran observers say the shifts challenge the very heart of the nearly two-decade-old climate process, which until now has neatly divided the world into two blocs …
