Human rights investigators in India have been harassed and intimidated by large gangs of men apparently paid to stop any outsiders reaching the site of a controversial proposed mine in India. The men, known locally as ‘goons’, have become increasingly active in villages around the Niyamgiri Hills, Orissa, site of a giant bauxite mine planned by the UK FTSE-100 company Vedanta Resources. The hills are the ancestral home of the Dongria...

We live in the age of institutionalised corruption. From politicians to judges, from senior bureaucrats to policemen, from corporate tycoons to petty officials, everyone it seems has a price. As Journalists, our profession demands that we enquire, interrogate and expose corruption. So, when a Madhu Koda is jailed we rejoice that the law has caught up with a former chief minister. When allegations against a judge lead to impeachment, we...

Sri Lankan Journalists suffered worst by all standards Tendency to sell news space for trivia grew in India A dozen Journalists were killed in South Asia — most of them in conflict situations — during the year which also saw the media come under strain due to “over-commercialisation, monopolisation and excessive political clout.” Taking stock of the circumstances under which the media functioned this year, the South Asia Media Monitor for 2009...

The impact of the global financial downturn has been felt keenly in the Middle Eastern emirate of Dubai - and that in turn is affecting the remote Indian village of Akhopur in the state of Bihar, from where Amarnath Tewary reports. In August 2008, Bharat Bhushan Tiwari - from Akhopur village in eastern Indian Bihar - took a loan of 71,000 rupees ($1,500) from a village moneylender to pay a...

After Copenhagen, there is no “developing world” — there are several.  About 45,000 travelled to the U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen — the vast majority convinced of the need for a new global agreement on climate change. So why did the summit end without one? Key governments do not want a global deal: Until the end of this summit, it appeared that all governments wanted to keep the keys to...