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 …
At least 10 people died and several were injured in a clash between a joint military task force and militants in Bavelsa state of Nigeria. The clash followed a recent presidential directive ordering a crackdown on armed gangs operating in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta region. The incident took place near …
asean health meet: Health ministers of 11 South East Asian countries met in Dhaka recently to discuss over ways to enhance cooperation to develop health care services in the region. Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia inaugurated the meeting and said that developing countries could benefit from technology transfers and the …
Wayward growth Since 2002, India has been the largest producer of sponge iron, also called direct reduced iron (dri), in the world. Today about 20 per cent of the sponge iron produced worldwide is made in India. The growth of this industry is touted as one of the major success …
Forests are the mainstay of tribals in Tripura, and in many other parts of the country as well. But of late, tribals have been displaced from forestlands. The bill on tribal rights over forestlands will be re-tabled in parliament. What are your views on this issue? Yes, tribals have had …
function table() { var popurl="image/20060831/8-table.jpg" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=320,height=550,scrollbars=yes") } ever since the West Bengal government cleared, in May 2006, Tata Motor's proposal of setting up a 426 hectares (ha) small car plant in Singur in Hooghly district, farmers' protests have been relentless. Their protests forced the government to redraw its land acquisition …
three decades ago, the Left Front government in West Bengal started its rule by distributing land to the landless through its famous land reform programme. Now, the political grouping is preparing to grab 17,200 hectares (ha) of mostly agricultural land for industry
the west Bengal government's proposal to acquire over 15,000 hectares (ha) of land for nine industrial and infrastructure projects has created fissures within the ruling Left Front. Farmers who stand to lose land are not too impressed either. The state government had passed the proposal on March 31 and plans …
The Tanzanian government recently began evicting pastoralists from the Ihefu basin in the country's Mbeya city claiming they were causing environmental degradation. Ihefu, a catchment basin of Rufiji river in the Mbeya city, is also known as the Usangu wetland. Around 1,000 pastoralists, who collectively own two million heads of …
The announcement of the spectrum allocation policy by the department of telecommunications (dot) has spurred a letter writing campaign. Giant cellular service providers like Tata Indicom and Cellular Operator Association of India (coai) have shot off angry letters to the prime minister, petulant about the policy favouring their competitors. The …
The researchers explore how globalization, broadly conceived to include international human rights norms, humanitarianism, and alternative trade, might influence peaceful and food secure outlooks and outcomes.
the recent dispute between Ukraine and Russia that disrupted the supply of gas to Europe has spurred a new initiative in the European Commission. The commission has proposed a common European Union energy policy and has asked the European Union (eu) to diversify its energy supplies and consider stockpiling gas …
A group of Texan cotton farmers has sued Monsanto and two affiliated companies for massive crop losses. The farmers claimed the companies failed to warn them of a defect in their genetically altered cotton seed. The lawsuit seeks an injunction against a "longstanding campaign of deception. The two affiliated companies …
The Chhattisgarh government handed over a stretch of the Sheonath river to a private company to manage water distribution without setting up independent regulatory authorities that could establish guidelines under which a private firm could manage a common resource. A long lease without a regulatory mechanism can lead to unforeseen …
The Polavaram Project was envisaged to harness the Godavari's waters for much needed irrigation purposes in the coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh and the drier Rayalaseema region. However, the project remains dogged by controversy because there has been no agreement on the area to be submerged and the rehabilitation package …
The Haribad minor irrigation project in Madhya Pradesh is to be built on the boundary of the two villages of Haribad and Sakad on the Kundi river. The project will largely benefit Haribad, while the tribal people of Sakad will lose their land. This is a brief account of the …
The Sardar Sarovar Project has been the focus of a long drawn-out conflict between the Gujarat government and experts, on the one hand, and anti-big dam activists, on the other. This is a revisiting of the principles behind an alternative that was articulated 10 years ago, but is still relevant …
The work of Tarun Bharat Sangh in Rajasthan has received much attention. There is an urgent need though to question development challenges that go overboard in extolling the virtues of greenery without tracing the hands that own the land and harvest the fruits of public money.
The case of the effort to build a small dam in Bhulaveda in Paschim Midnapur district of West Bengal shows that in struggles between government agencies and local self-government, the losers are often the villagers themselves.
Rising population and over-exploitation of groundwater for irrigation has aggravated conflict among farmers located at the upper reaches and the tail end of the Palkhed canal system of the Upper Godavari project of Maharashtra. The formation of water users' associations did alleviate the conflict to some degree, but there continues …
