As intermittent jubilation spreads through the crowd of 5,000-odd farmers at Moti Buru, outskirts of Ahmedabad, where the 'Jal, Jameen Jungle bachao padyatra' was on Saturday, Dr Kanubhai Kalsariya is quick to assert that this is not the final victory and that the fortnight-long yatra will continue till Gandhinagar as per schedule. The people's mass protest that has brought them this victory is spectacular in its own right. Fatigued from the...
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Why was Niyamat Ansari Killed? : The Politics of NREGA and the Maoists by Avanish Kumar
The gruesome murder of NREGA activist Niyamat Ansari has shocked the progressive civil society and political groups in the country. According to reports (one, two), Niyamat Ansari had exposed a case of corruption in NREGA and an FIR was lodged against a former BDO and another Panchayat Sevak of Manika block, Latehar (Jharkhand). On 2nd March 2011, Niyamat Ansari was picked from his house and beaten to death. The reports...
More »Govt tightens foreign fund flow for NGOs
Sweeping changes in the rules to enforce the law governing foreign contributions can make it easier for the government to put advocacy groups on a tight leash. Easily branded as having a political nature, they will have to run to the home ministry every time they want to receive foreign funds. The rules drafted by the ministry cover NGOs that comment on “political activities” and “habitually” employ common methods of political...
More »Delhi sets Oct deadline for UID
Delhi Government is gearing up to commence work on bringing the entire city under the "Adhar" project wherein every person will be enrolled and issued a Unique Identification Number. The state has set October as the deadline for completing the UID enrolment exercise. Chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday chaired a meeting to review the status of the UID project. The meeting was attended by education minister Arvinder Singh, urban development...
More »Live on FM radio by Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Money makes news. When it is found, promiscuously. And when it is lost, presumptively. And when it is found to lie hidden. Also when it stands brazenly, as in election candidatures. Does hunger, to satisfy which money, income, wages — the power to purchase food — are needed, make news? Does the crisis in our agriculture make news? When Amartya Sen speaks of hunger and malnutrition, when MS Swaminathan does so...
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