This is the first time that the Planning Commission has sought engagement of the civil society NGOs have given suggestions for previous Five Year PlansConsultations on various topics plannedThe Planning Commission is involving leading non-governmental organisations and civic society, seeking their inputs, suggestions and experiences, for preparing its approach paper for the 12 {+t} {+h} Five Year Plan (2012-17), which will be the base document for the Plan itself.Though NGOs had...

The Kerala government has decided to detoxify' Kasaragod district which has been bearing the brunt of indiscriminate spraying of the highly toxic endosulfan in cashew plantations for the last two decades. All highly toxic Red and Yellow categories of pesticides, including endosulfan, will be banned in the district and the soil and water bodies will be frequently monitored for pesticide content to enable remedial measures, state agriculture minister Mullakkara Retnakaran told...

There was a time when editors were not seen or heard, only read. One of the best illustrations of the original 'ivory tower' approach was NJ Nanporia, a venerable editor at 'The Times of India' in the 1960s. Apparently, Nanporia was shopping in a local market when he found a certain gentleman smiling at him continuously. His curiosity getting the better of him, Nanporia asked the man who he was....

Has Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), one of India’s best-known peoples’ movements, run out of steam? Or is it still relevant in its new avatar as a force to reckon with? After all, the NBA has failed to achieve its primary goal of blocking big dams on Narmada, including the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat. The short answer to the question of NBA’s achievement is that it has forced a paradigm...

Familiar battle lines emerged on Sunday on the eve of a conference to restore the credibility of the UN's talks on climate change after last year's near-disaster in Copenhagen. Campaigners said the interests of the environment and poor countries would not be sacrificed to help boost the faltering process, while the European Union (EU) called on China, the United States and India to agree to "fair" curbs on their carbon emissions. Nearly...