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 …
ON December 23, 2006, more than 200 people gathered in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, to protest the government's inaction regarding crop depredation by wildlife, especially monkeys, in the state. Simultaneously, 48 such meetings were held in the state, in which about 9,000 farmers participated. The Himachal Gyan Vigyan Samiti (hgvs), a …
in a volte face, the West Bengal chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, has announced the withdrawal of the notification for land acquisition in Nandigram that had triggered a violent agitation in the first week of January and claimed six lives. Speaking to the media, Bhattacharjee admitted
The Hindu of December 13, 2006 published a write-up on Singur on its op-ed page: "Some facts, please' by cpi(m) politburo member and leading intellectual Brinda Karat. She was countering what she called a smear campaign against the cpim) over the acquisition of land for the proposed Tata Motors project …
The Liberian government has implemented new legislation on logging, after the un Security Council lifted its three-year-long ban on the country's timber exports in October 2006. The council had imposed the ban in July 2003, describing Liberia's logging industry as a threat to peace and security. The country's former president …
protests against the 1,000-mw Karcham Wangtoo Hydroelectric Project in Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh, took a violent turn on December 9, 2006, when the police opened fire on protestors trying to break prohibitory orders imposed in the area. The orders had been imposed to prevent the agitating tribals from entering the construction …
karanataka is constructing a canal as part of the Kalasa-Bandurinala irrigation project on Mahdei river without waiting for the Centre's clearance. This has brought about a lot of controversy. Karnataka claims that it is using state funds for the project. Being a Non-Plan expenditure, the need for prior permission does …
IN Orissa, a battle rages between marine conservation and local fisherfolk. At the heart of this conflict is the ban on fishing in the vicinity of the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary. The 1,435-sq km-long sanctuary stretches along 70-km of the coastline of Kendrapara district and was established in 1997 to protect …
With Burundi, a small east African country, emerging from a 13-year-long civil war, more than 400,000 refugees have started returning home. Its newly elected government now faces the daunting task of land allocation, which could plunge the country back into civil war. Burundi experienced a mass exodus in 1972, following …
Kenya's Ogiek tribal people, one of the last hunter-gatherer communities in east Africa, have joined Botswana's San people (or Bushmen) in their fight against the government to allow them return to their ancestral land. Originally, the San people lived in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (ckgr). In 1997, they were …
Tracking the snow leopard: The life and habits of the elusive snow leopard will no longer be a mystery. For the first time, a team has fitted a snow leopard with a global positioning system (GPS) collar to track its movements. The 35 kg female was captured on the Purdum …
With Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on a hunger strike, (as events stood on December 8, 2006), things are bound not to be normal. Banerjee's hunger strike comes as a mark of protest against Tata's proposed car plant in Singur, West Bengal. This time round, the chief minister of West …
on november 26, 2006, nearly 1,000 villagers of Chicalim, a village on the banks of the Zuari river in Goa, gathered for an unprecedented third gram sabha to vote against the Bharati Shipyard Ltd's plan of building a second ship building yard there. The shipyard, however, has the backing of …
Act 1; Scene 1: Churachandpur, Manipur: "Don't divide our people; don't take away our land; save our biodiversity; dam destroys our land; we are strongly opposed to the Tipaimukh dam'. Act 1; Scene 2: Tamenglong, Manipur: "Don't make us refugees; no land, no identity; our land is our life; Where …
The prawn farming industry in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu has bounced back from the losses of the tsunami of December 26, 2004, causing irreperable damage to agriculture. The tsunami hit farmers of Nagapttinam are suffering the double whammy as the prawn industry chokes-off agriculture. Prawn farming in Nagapattinam district picked up …
the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (npci) on November 20, named a site in east Midnapore district, close to West Bengal's Sunderbans region as a possible location for eastern India's first nuclear power plant, triggering protests by villagers in the area. The proposed Rs 10,000 crore plant in Haripur would …
chhattisgarh became the first state to actively initiate action against biosafety violations in trials of genetically modified Bt rice in India. Besides ordering an enquiry into the matter, the agriculture minister took matters into his hands. Media reports in November showed seed company Mahyco (Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company) was conducting …
A n international agreement obliging warring countries to eliminate unexploded weaponry, which kill and maim long after the end of hostilities, came into force on November 12, 2006. The Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War was ratified by 24 countries. Its entry into force "is the beginning of a …
A Swiss firm Xstrata's plan to establish a massive opencast lead and zinc mine near the Gulf of Carpentaria in Australia, is facing stiff resistance from the region's indigenous communities. The mine is located about 885 km southeast of Northern Territory's capital Darwin, where huge deposits of lead, zinc and …
yes, radio: On November 17, 2006 the government approved an expansion of community radio stations by non-profit organisations. Applicants need to have a standing of at least three years. Individuals, political parties or their affiliates and trade unions will not be allowed to operate stations. Stations should serve a well-defined …
