The Supreme Court criticises the Chhattisgarh and Central governments and orders the disbanding of Salwa Judum. THE case Nandini Sundar vs State of Chhattisgarh arose out of a writ petition (civil) filed in 2007 in the Supreme Court by Nandini Sundar, a Professor of sociology at the Delhi School of Economics; Ramachandra Guha, a historian; and E.A.S. Sarma, former Secretary to Government of India and former Commissioner, Tribal Welfare, Government...

In the past 50 years or so, we have come face to face with unusual climatic occurrences, weather changes and environmental disasters. These are a corollary of the global pursuit of rapid growth, in particular rapid growth of industrialisation, and very often the mindless and predatory exploitation of natural resources. These have happened across the world, without distinguishing between rich and poor nations... In the increasingly integrated world that we live...

-ANI   Kanker, (Chhattisgarh) July 20 (ANI): The evils of society somehow seem to impact women more. This is true down the ages, in practically every society. Women bear the brunt of regressive practices, not necessarily relating to them as women specifically but affecting society in its entirety. Superstition, age-old prejudices and even so-called 'social norms ' actually hurt them more than anyone else in society. 'Sati' horrifies us today. It is illegal....

Ruth Manorama started her work with the urban poor in her youth; there has been no turning back ever since. She is the powerful voice of Dalit women today. Is it easy being a Dalit in India? And a woman at that? Have things changed for the better for the Dalits who constitute roughly 16.23 per cent of our population, since the Constitution of India “cast a special responsibility on the...

-The Hindu   ‘Will work on full-time basis to evolve more objective standards of scrutiny' Amid criticism that industrialisation and economic growth were getting blocked due to delay in granting “environmental clearances” to industries, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday announced the government's plans to set up an independent regulator for giving environmental clearances. “We also hope to establish an independent regulator — the National Environment Appraisal and Monitoring Authority — soon. This...