Maharashtra began by telling the NHRC there had been 140 suicides Statewide since
2001. It ended 2005 conceding a figure of 1,041. That is the fourth figure the same State has put out within months.
For Vidarbha, it is decidedly not a happy new year, writes
P Sainath.
The many ways in which officials in a region gripped by crisis try to deal with it can be intriguing. Even entertaining. From advising farmers to plant crops in line with zodiac signs to suggesting they bear arms against moneylenders it's all happening in Vidarbha, writes
P Sainath.
In the villages, we demolish their lives, and in the city their homes. The smug indifference of the elite is matched by the
governments they do not vote in, but control.
P Sainath
contrasts the tongue-lolling coverage of the Beautiful People with the studied indifference to the plight of
millions.
There is indeed a vital link between paid news and private treaties. One is in the political sphere. And, second, in the sphere of
business and commerce, writes
P Sainath.
India has lost nearly a half-trillion dollars in illegal financial flows out of the country, says a new study by Global Financial
Integrity.
P Sainath
reports.
The government’s push to the amended land acquisition law overlooks provisions in other acts that address closely related issues such as food security and conservation of biodiversity, writes Shalini Bhutani.
Despite the tall claims made by the state government and an increase in attendance in the schools, children at many places are simply not getting mid-day meals at all, or are getting it in insufficient quantities.
Shuriah Niazi
did a reality check.
Sewer cleaners must be provided instruments to check poisonous gases, blowers to throw out polluted air, torches, gloves, etc., say government rules. But with Delhi municipal authorities ignoring safety measures, 10 workers recently died in a span of just one and a half months, reports
Pankaj Chaturvedi.
The sulphur content of diesel in India is 350 particles per
million, twenty times that of
the United States. Diesel exhaust is far more hazardous than petrol exhaust. Yet, diesel
cars in Indian cities are rising with the association of automobile manufacturers pushing
hard for it.
Darryl D'Monte
has more.
Hailed for his stewardship of Titan Industries where he built a premium brand from scratch and won for it international renown, Xerxes Desai naturally has one of the keenest perspectives on Indian industry. But his equally deep insights into Indian society and development become apparent through this interaction with Christopher Lopaze.
The battle between Sterlite Industries and tribal communities over mining in the Niyamgiri hills may not be just over yet, but the most recent Supreme Court judgment empowering the gram sabha has come as a temporary reprieve for the people.
Kanchi Kohli
reports.
If you decide that 75 per cent of the country does not make news, you're shrinking your potential zone of coverage. And
if you decree that only a small section of the other 25 per cent does, you've painted yourself into a corner.
P Sainath
finds the deluge of trivia in the media decidedly not funny.
A single parent also caring for her own aged mother, Hanifa Wani died after months of lying paralysed from a
spinal injury - the result of security forces firing on her as she fled in panic.
Freny Manecksha
reports on a family's suffering amidst the violence around them.
Forced, politicised moves to spread the message of peace and love through high profile cultural events may fall flat on the ground in Kashmir, but
the Valley is certainly witnessing newer, creative and artistic modes of resistance against issues of concern.
Freny Maneksha
reports.
Dramatic erosion of embankments, and continuous siltation threaten to wipe away a large island settlement on the Brahmaputra. Residents unhappy with
the government's efforts to stem the erosion are now hoping the island's heritage and ecology will attract more attention.
Ratna Bharali Talukdar
reports.
Despite years of conflicts and lakhs of people being housed in relief camps, the Assam government is yet to develop a practical
policy of responding to the recurring crises.
Ratna Bharali Talukdar
reports.
In Assam, a unique innovation by a passionate tribal theatre enthusiast succeeds in taking the art from the confines of the auditorium into the lap of nature, creating a near-cosmic experience for the performer as well as the audience. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports.
Venu Govindu reviews Siddharth Dube's Words Like Freedom : Memoirs of an Impoverished Indian Family 1947-1997
This May 1, taking a resolute stand, the Supreme Court directed the Union and state governments to take specific measures to address the desperate crisis of food for drought-affected communities.
BPL politics at the central level is skewed, and quotas are fixed for every state, regardless of the actual number of people who need to be protected.
Pradeep Baisakh
reports on one family's near-total loss.
Through his new book, Arvind Verma makes a positive contribution to police scholarship.
Some of Verma's analysis is in sharp contrast to prevalent wisdom which ignores
the negative role of police leadership in the current system.
K S Subramanian
reviews The Indian Police: A Critical Evaluation.
Medicine prices nationwide are likely to go up soon, including at public hospitals and
dispensaries. Domestic manufacturers will withdraw critical but cheaper medicines
as India gets ready to fulfill WTO obligations.
Devinder Sharma
argues that this is the beginning of a scientific apartheid.
38 babies died in one hospital in Thiruvananthapuram over the past four
months, shocking a state which boasts of the lowest infant mortality rate
in the country. The much discussed and extolled Kerala model of health
development is ailing, reports
P N Venugopal.
In July, 18 Nobel laureates met with over 500 young scientists from around the world in Germany.
India sent 22 researchers. The meeting threw up many questions pertaining to the practice of scientific
research in India.
Varupi Jain
has more.
Simple interventions and sustained joint efforts by civil society groups and the local panchayat have resulted in significant improvements in communication and increase in health awareness in some of Rajasthan's most backward districts.
Swapna Majumdar
reports.
A recent workshop in Karnataka focused on the health impact of coal-based power plants and other industrial pollutants and shared inputs on how to empower local communities to combat the same. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports.
Diarrhea is one of the leading causes of child mortality in our country. Reasonably priced vaccines backed by the government are now available to help stop this malady, says Swapna Majumdar.
The Supreme Court in a landmark judgment has allowed passive euthanasia, thereby giving succour to terminally ill patients and their relatives, but is India culturally ready for this move? Ramesh Menon reports.
A tigress recently attacked and killed a man inside the Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Karnataka.
Malini Shankar digs deeper to find answers for the inevitable question.
Soumik Dutta writes about how Limbu-Tamang tribal seat reservation in the Sikkim legislative assembly could change the political scenario in Sikkim.
Nirmala Lathi has devised a method of vermiculture that enables plants to grow
healthily using properly treated organic waste.
Rasika Dhavse
reports.
"We are confused, whom should we believe in? The finance minister says action will be taken within 48 hours against officials who do not release the credit, and the babus say they have no notification," says sixty-year-old Tatyaji Panghate at Ghonsa in Zari Jamni block of Yavatmal.
Jaideep Hardikar
reports on more suicides in Vidarbha.
If the government thought Vidarbha's social bonds are crumbling due to the agrarian
crisis, the region's best kept cultural secret -- Jhadipatti Rangbhoomi, a five-month-long
theatre festival -- suggests that not all is wrong with the region.
Jaideep Hardikar
reports.
Four years, three men, one family. The tragedy unleashed by the agrarian crisis on
the family of Deshmukhs in Katyar village of Vidarbha isnt vanishing.
Jaideep Hardikar
reports.
Proposals for mining in the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve are pending at New Delhi for environmental clearance. Conservationists have warned against proceeding, while the state's politicians are for the mining.
Jaideep Hardikar
digs deeper.
The report of the Kelkar Committee on balanced development in Maharashtra has important recommendations. But will it all come to nought because of its failure to avoid some conventional pitfalls? Shripad Dharmadhikary explores.
People from several villages in Bihar are opposing the construction of a pair of embankments on the Bagmati river and have
stopped work on one of them. Less visible behind their cries is a state administration that seems to be set on continuing a history of trapping villages in flood waters, reports
Dinesh Mishra.
Since 1963, there have been repeated breaches in the Kosi's embankments, causing tremendous loss and tragedy.
Yet, Bihar's governments have made little headway and argue each year as if the problems were
new, says
Dinesh Kumar Mishra.
एक ब्राजीलियन वेबसाइट पर Jeep Compass का नया मॉडल लीक हुआ है. इसके मुताबिक, इस मॉडल का नाम Jeep Grand Compass होगा जो कि एक 7-सीटर SUV होगी.
इस समय ट्विटर पर #MeAt20 ट्रेंड कर रहा है जिसमें जानेमाने सेलेब्स अपनी पुरानी तस्वीरें शेयर कर रहे हैं. इसे #MeAt20 चैलेंज का नाम दिया गया है.
The incident took place when Meera Solanka (29) from England's Solihull town was out with her friends, including her Chinese friend Mandy Huang (28) from London, celebrating her 29th birthday in Midlands region. Solanka was knocked unconscious and hospitalised after she stepped in when Mandy was told: "Take your f****** coronavirus back home!", Birmingham Mail newspaper reported.