The Anderson saga is one more reminder that the powerful can always count on official help.  In the fall of 2002, Greenpeace campaigner Casey Harell paid a surprise visit to the New York State private estate of Warren Anderson, and found him living a “life of luxury”. Nothing odd about the discovery except that in the eyes of the law Mr. Anderson was untraceable, and had been so since 1992...

यह बात जानी पहचानी है कि महिलाओं पर हिंसा के मामले में भारत का रिकार्ड खासा खराब है मगर चौंकाने वाली बात यह है कि महिलाओं के साथ हिंसाचार की घटनाएं लगातार बढ़ रही हैं। यूनाइडेट नेशन्स डेवलपमेंट फंड फॉर विमेन(यूनिफेम) की एक रिपोर्ट के अनुसार भारत में साल 2007 में पिछले साल के मुकाबले में महिलाओं पर हिंसाचार की घटनाओं में 12 फीसदी की बढोतरी हुई।रिपोर्ट में इस दर्दनाक तथ्य की तरफ भी...

A survey reveals that desperate times have led to illegal measures THE recession has taken its toll on morals as well as profits. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a consulting and accounting firm, has conducted a biennial survey of economic crime for the past ten years. The most recent, published on November 19th, is not only the most thorough, based on over 3,000 responses from firms in 54 countries. In many ways it is...

The S.C. and S.T. (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has failed to make Dalits any safer. THE ascent of the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to power in Uttar Pradesh on May 13, 2007, was seen as a defining moment in the politics of Dalit empowerment in the country. The Scheduled Caste (S.C.) leader of an avowedly “Dalit assertive” party had been Chief Minister earlier too, but the difference this time...

Sitting on an iron bench along a busy street, Chaman Lal sticks his fingers into a mug full of a greasy concoction and then applies the dark-red brew to areas where his patients complain of pain. Lal -- who does not have a license to practice medicine, but claims to be a successful bone doctor and traditional healer -- says this potion of 18 herbs is a cure-all. His large signboard,...