-The Economic Times   The West Bengal government on Thursday promulgated an Ordinance to re-acquire 400 acres of the 997-acre Singur property that was leased out to the Tatas in March 2007 for the Nano project . The ordinance has been signed by governor MK Narayanan. The ordinance presumably kills two birds with a stone. It will enable chief minister Mamata Banerjee to keep a nearly three-year-old promise she had made to Singur's...

Women speak out fears of resisting deep-seated taboos associated with menstruation, viewed even today as polluting in much of India The status of women in India, despite all the brave talk, remains as precarious as ever. This is, after all, a culture which not just condones, but actively encourages the termination of foetuses determined to be female. Other crimes of violence against women are routine. Can things ever change? We took...

"The Earth upon which the sea, and the rivers and waters, upon which food and the tribes of man have arisen, upon which this breathing, moving life exists, shall afford us precedence in drinking." - Prithvi Sukta, Atharva Veda Land is life. It is the basis of livelihoods for peasants and indigenous people across the Third World and is also becoming the most vital asset in the global economy. As the...

If access to information is the first step towards empowerment, then it is important to make Internet accessibility a human right because a lot of useful information, particularly relating to government schemes, is either unpublished or inaccessible by other means for most citizens The government’s approach towards universal Internet access is marred by dichotomy. While the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, calls Internet one of the most effective means of...

-The Economic Times   Development economist A K Shiva Kumar has been appointed as an advisor by the Sikkim Government for formulating the second State Human Development Report. Kumar, who is a development economist and adviser to the UNICEF- India , teaches economics and public policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He works on issues of poverty, health, nutrition, education along with women and children rights. He is also a founding...