Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh faced angry protests at the consultations on Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) brinjal at the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture here on Sunday. The demonstration by activists of farmers’ and non-governmental organisations, opposing introduction of genetically modified crops began with the Minister’s entry at the institute. The protesters, LED by Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangham president K. Ramakrishna, blocked his entry to the...

A state government scheme to pay for hospital treatment of the poor has LED to an organ racket, with many private hospitals duping illiterate young women and removing their uterus for illegal sale, a minister has acknowLEDged. Altogether 21,000 hysterectomies (uterus removals) have been done across Andhra Pradesh under the Rajiv Arogyasree health insurance scheme since it was launched in 2007 for below-poverty-line (BPL) families, a health directorate probe has shown. Most...

The people of Manipur had ‘histories’ and ‘memories’ that were longer and deeper than those of most other Indians when India attained independence.  Every time one travels to Manipur, one returns humbLED. This has been the case since my first visit in the late 1960s, long before becoming a journalist. Active insurgency was not even on the horizon then though some resentment against ‘India’ was evident. Between 1983 when I...

Like an avalanche, the groundswell of scepticism regarding the melting of Himalayan glaciers threatens to demolish conventional wisdom to the contrary. To be sure, the deadline of 2035 by which these glaciers would be severely threatened has now been proved wrong. It could be a typographical error, as the Russian scientist whose paper has been used mentioned 2305. Or it could have been licence on the part of some scientists,...

Activists realise it takes a fight to translate democracy from thin paper to thick action In the winter of 1997, advocate Ashok Agarwal fiLED a petition in the Supreme Court opposing the nearly 400 per cent hike in school fees. This was the year the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations were implemented and the salaries of teachers shot up. Parents trying to cope with the overall price rise were suddenly hit by...