Let's assess the outcome of Cancun in terms of what the world has achieved to avert climate change. We know the threat of a changing climate is real, we in India are most vulnerable and the world needs drastic emission reduction. Just think: to keep the world below 2 degrees Celsius temperature increase, global emissions must drop to 44 billion tonnes of CO2e (all greenhouse gases) by 2020. The world...

Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel peace prize for his pursuit of freedom through peaceful and non-violent means. India was among the many nations that defied China's call for a boycott of the Nobel ceremony. New Delhi didn't quite welcome the choice. The decision to attend the ceremony may have had more to do with the need to adopt a public posture that India refuses to be arm-twisted by China. And,...

Farmers in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur district are taking to poultry business as the agriculture sector has suffered losses. Owing to increasing demand and the profit margins attached to it, growers have taken up poultry farming. To meet the shortage of poultry products in the domestic and international markets ahead of Christmas and New Year, many farmers have turned to rearing chickens. The export of poultry products has also increased by 49 percent. Om Yadav,...

Since the last few years, Prashan Bhushan, senior lawyer, has fired up the Indian political scene through his missionary legal practice.In the legal fraternity he is a loner because he is, always, on the wrong side of the power set up in New Delhi. In fact, when one meets the slow and soft-speaker, he hardly looks like a lawyer who is capable of shaking-up the government and its cronies.But, his...

Social exclusion of children belonging to marginalised groups and barriers to children's access to their rights-based entitlements were highlighted as crucial issues confronting the society at a workshop on children's rights here recently. Activists said children being forced to work as labourers was an “abysmal failure” of all institutions.The day-long workshop was organised jointly by Save the Children, Prayatna, Society for All Round Developemnt (SARD), Consumer Unity and Trust Society...