This compendium is both a resource and a practical toolkit to advance more concerted efforts on mobility within the context of the climate crisis. Humanity is far from meeting the essential goals of (1) mitigating greenhouse gas emissions to lessen the severity of the climate crisis, and (2) allocating adequate …
The forest department's dismal performance is in sharp contrast to the signal service rendered by a voluntary organisation, the Radhasoami Satsang. The people in the forest villages here had been settled by the British at the turn of the century to work on felling trees. They were allowed to cultivate …
As part of the recent orgy of self-recrimination, the World Bank has in a confidential document admitted its goof-ups in Indonesia. A "project completion report" for the Bank-funded Kedung Ombo 61-metre-high dam in central Java, completed in 1989, points to the "highly defective" resettlement plans: 72 per cent of the …
THERE is a widely held view that migratory herdsmen, who are allowed to graze their stocks in the forested areas, are the prime cause of degradation. There is a constant clash between the forest department officials and the herdsmen. Bashir Khan Bakerwal is just such a herdsman. I met him …
THE CHINESE government has been forced to take some drastic measures to assuage the country's long-suffering farmers, who are moving to the cities in droves in search of more money. For one, it has forbidden the construction of new golf courses and horse-racing tracks -- symbols of a "decadent" Western …
DEVELOPMENT discourse in the post-World War II era centred on social and economic inequality. Rural poverty was linked directly to iniquitous land ownership and it was felt public policy had to take cognisance of this skewed distribution of land-holdings. It was also widely felt that the only path to social …
THE AKKADIAN empire flourished on the banks of Euphrates in Iraq, from 2300 BC to 2200 BC. Though the reason for its sudden collapse has long puzzled archaeologists, Harvey Weiss and his colleagues at Yale University in USA now say it literally dried up and withered away. The archaeologists base …
WEST ASIAN countries have ample funds at their disposal thanks to their oil reserves, but they suffer a lack of adequate manpower. Men from Kerala are among those who have gone to these countries to work on construction sites, in factories and various other labour-intensive activities. While the phenomenon of …
The Kerala High Court has blocked the state government's highly-publicised distribution of 28,588 ha of forest land to migrant farmers who occupied the land prior to 1977. On September 15, the court stayed the distribution of title deeds for land either occupied originally by tribals or included in the Idukki …
IN INDIA'S Industrial Cities, Nigel Crook seeks to correct the growing imbalance in the reigning debate over the ills of technology-wrought urbanisation. In a given situation, where most works of authority tend to focus on the problem of labour supply and the negative role of excess migration, Crook's short but …
WESTERN nations are worried about increasing international migration. Says a 1992 document of Western nations, "Migration is now seen as a priority issue equal in political weight to other major global challenges such as the environment, population growth and economic imbalances between regions." The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in …
Centre of Concern for Child Labour 247, Akashdarshan Apartments Mayur Vihar-I New Delhi 110 091 Ph: 2252298 Bandhua Mukti Morcha 7, Jantar Mantar Road New Delhi 110 001 Ph: 3329043 Nanban Obula Padithurai Manuchalai Road Madurai 625 009 Institute for Social Education and Development Block No 41/3, 14th Lane, Indira …
CHILDREN comprise six per cent of India's total organised work force; they also contribute an average 23 per cent of a household's domestic savings. Yet, exploitation of children as a social problem has only recently begun to agitate the international conscience. Germany and USA have now refused to import items, …
Many international organisations have expressed concern for the people to be displaced by the Sardar Sarovar dam project on the Narmada in Gujarat, but the fate of those already ousted by other dams on the river goes unnoticed. Recently, one of them, 65-year-old Sunderbai, died of starvation a few months …
BIRD MIGRATION patterns can change dramatically over decades and scientists say global warming can increase the incidence of such changes. Drastic changes in climate and landscape during the ice ages led to many birds altering their migratory routes. Such changes occur at present as well, but too gradually to be …
• 1992 was the year of environment. More than 100 heads of state and government gathered at Rio to discuss the health of the planet. But the conference refusea to look at underlying issues -lack of global democracy at one level and local democracy on the other -that favour exploitative …
THIS ORGANISATION (Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology or CAPART) has two elements. One is to advance people's action. This is not new at all... From time immemorial our rural societies have had a very great amount of autonomy built into their functioning. Whether it was a …
DINESH Rama of Sathvadi village in Karnataka is 12, and typical of the youngsters in rural South Kanara district, who migrate in large numbers to Bangalore, Madras and even Delhi, in search of a livelihood. Long-exploited by the Shettys (landlords), Dinesh and his friends would normally have resigned themselves to …
How did you join the sangha? One day Venkates from Gramashrama came to the coir factory for a pooja. I asked him who he was. My friend Shankar was already a member and because I did not go to school, I decided to join. What do you get out of …
A REASON for the unabated and heavy migration into Delhi lies in the highly subsidised quality of life it provides. Delhi residents benefit from subsidies on water, power, milk, transport and services. Amitabh Kundu of the School of Social Sciences at the Jawaharlal Nehru University calculates that the subsidy enjoyed …
