A poster inviting communities and organizations to a 'National Conference on Water' at Mehdiganj on March 30th 2008. Members of Lok Samiti, organizing this conference, would like to focus discussions on the impact of water policies on communities, the impact of corporate activities and the lack of their accountability to democratic process and avenues of non-violent action available to communities.
Sipped with lime and honey in expensive china by manor dwellers and savoured in tiny chipped glasses with milk and sugar by commuters in Indian railway stations, Assam tea is a household name for most lovers of the brew. However the story behind the cultivation, plucking and processing of tea leaves in the plantations is one of exploitation and untold hardships for the toiling workers who are the singular reason that this industry is one of the pillars of the Assam economy, and in making the entire Northeast Indian region the largest tea-growing region in the world. Sriram Ananth reports
“We have broken the backbone of the inhabitants of Nandigram. There will be no further resistance there”: Lakshman Seth, CPI(M) member of parliament, to the Chief Minister of West Bengal as reported in Doinik Satesman, Kolkata, of 27 April 2008
In the context of current discussions on the rights of Tibetans and the role of the Chinese State, Dipanjan Rai Chaudhuri presents a brief history of Tibet
One indicator of the development of a society is its female literacy rate and, related to this, the number of its female scholars. On both these fronts, India's Muslims are among the lowest of all the
communities in the country. An article by Yogi Sikand, reviewing a study by Maulana Syeed Ghulam Mustafa Bukhari Aqeel.
The Expert Committee on Futures Trading has concluded that farmers have not benefited from these processes and are in fact excluded from participating and taking advanted by barriers and constraints. A note from Dr. Kishan Bir Chaudhary, Bharatiya Krishak Samaj.
The lawyers begin their protest movement against emergency laws and the Supreme Court judgment on the issue of bail
Indian Muslims have shown they stand against terrorism, but do the ulema have the necessary vision to save them from the ever-expanding web of radical Islamism that is spawning terrorism across the country? Sultan Shahin writes.
A conference on release of political prisoners was organized in Delhi - families of political prisoners presented their stories and the plight of these prisoners, often held without legal processes was discussed.
A coalition of Indian organizations is calling citizens and groups to join in protest against The Land Acquisition (Amendment) Act, 2007 and The Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill, 2007 which will affect the rights of those displaced by adhoc non-democratic government processes.
Manshi Asher and Kanchi Kohli provide the perspective of those who will be thrown out of their land and their livelihoods by the Giant POSCO project. First published by Infochange .
Mansi Asher discusses the laws and rights of access to forests that the Government of Orissa ignores and continues to violate in attempting to 'clear the land of people' in setting up POSCO. The article was first published in infochange.
POSCO not driven by philanthropy but shrewd planning to compensate displaced farmers. Authors believe that an economic scam in the making
"If the Sundarbans goes under, the tiger episode on earth is over," says one Indian naturalist. A journey through the mangrove forests of Bengal - in the New Yorker by Caroline Alexander.
