So, Shashi Tharoor has gone. Lalit Modi may follow. Or not. Cricket’s great jamboree may be cleaned up. Or not. Does it matter so much? The Indian Premier League (IPL) brouhaha could not have come at a worse time. India was, finally, if reluctantly, starting to focus on long-festering-but-urgent issues that prevent this country from being a just, equitable democracy. As Tharoor and Modi self-destructed, the circus around them diverted all...
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UN forum on indigenous issues opens with Ban calling for respect for values
The annual United Nations forum on indigenous issues opened today with a call from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for Member States to promote development while respecting the values and traditions of indigenous peoples. “The loss of irreplaceable cultural practices and means of artistic expression makes us all poorer, wherever our roots may lie,” Mr. Ban told the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York. This year’s theme at the forum is...
More »UN forum on indigenous issues to focus on rights in development processes
Nearly 2,000 indigenous representatives from all over the world will gather at United Nations Headquarters in New York on Monday for the start of a two-week meeting aimed at ensuring their full participation in development while preserving their culture and identity. At the meeting, the ninth session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, they and Member States, UN agencies and civil society groups will discuss efforts to guarantee...
More »Gross Violation of Tribal Rights: Independent People’s Tribunal
By the end of the third day (i.e. 11th April, 2010) of the The Independent People’s Tribunal that took place at Constitutional Club between 9 and 11 April, 2010, Retired Supreme Court judge Justice Sawant, while concluding, said that participatory democracy has been lacking in India. Democracy can never be equated with elections only. The jury during the 3-day long People’s Tribunal heard the testimonies of a large number of...
More »Maoists in India apologise for blowing up schools by Amarnath Tewary
Maoists in the Indian state of Bihar have apologised to students for blowing up their school buildings. More than 25 school buildings have been razed to the ground by Maoists in Bihar over the last year - at least five have been destroyed in the past week. The rebels said it was necessary to destroy them because they were being used as camps by the security forces. On Tuesday, rebels killed...
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