The word ‘hunger’ does not appear in the 12th Plan Approach Paper even once, whereas according to the latest Global Hunger Index Report, India continues to be in the category of those nations where hunger is ‘alarming’. What is worse, India is one of the three countries where the hunger index between 1996 and 2011 has gone up from 22.9 to 23.7, while 78 out of the 81 developing countries...

Why is it that the Anna Hazare-led movement against corruption does not seek to have the Lokpal cover NGOs, corporate houses and the corporate media? Gautam Navlakha (gnavlakha@gmail.com) is a member of the People’s Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi.   It would be churlish to dismiss “Team Anna’s” mass mobilisation which is an assertion of our collective right to protest. This is especially so in view of the fact that after having waited...

Water, the most vital of all resources, has emerged as a key issue that would determine if Asia is headed toward cooperation or competition. After all, the driest continent in the world is not Africa but Asia, where availability of freshwater is not even half the global annual average of 6,380 cubic metres per inhabitant. When the estimated reserves of rivers, lakes, and aquifers are added up, Asia has less than...

There isn't a single burning, insurmountable issue because of which workers at Maruti's Manesar plant have struck work thrice in the last five months . Sruthijith KK & Chanchal Pal Chauhan report from Manesar that at its core lie accumulated grievances and resentment, and events are adding fuel to the fire A day after workers at Maruti Suzuki's Manesar facility went on strike in June, 55-year-old MM Singh, the company's head...

The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes is upset that two important bills that would affect tribals have got the cabinet’s nod without incorporating suggestions given by the panel. “The ministries of mines and rural development failed to consult the NCST as mandated by the Constitution,” commission chairman Rameshwar Oraon told The Telegraph on Wednesday. Secretaries of both ministries had met Oraon, but what the NCST chief meant was the final drafts of...