Without equality, democracy and social justice, which are three interrelated factors, secularism cannot exist as a positive value in society. I HAVE known Prof. Romila Thapar for about 45 years, most of it as a colleague at the Centre for Historical Studies of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Romila, as she is called by almost everybody – from her eight-year-old grandnephew to all of us present here – had helped to...
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Prof. Mohan Gopal, director, Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, New Delhi interviewed by V Venkatesan
PROFESSOR Mohan Gopal, director of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies (RGICS), New Delhi, is a strong proponent of the government's Lokpal Bill. The RGICS provided key inputs to the making of the government's Lokpal Bill and the Constitution Amendment Bill. Prof. Mohan Gopal, a scholar in constitutional law, headed the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal, for five years and the National Law School, Bangalore. He was appointed by Parliament...
More »Sharada Srinivasan, assistant professor in International Development Studies at York University Toronto interviewed by Meenakshi Kumar
She has spent considerable time researching female infanticide. Sharada Srinivasan talks about why elimination of the girl child is prevalent all over the country. Daughter elimination is very much prevalent in Tamil Nadu even if not as intense as in other parts of the country. Sharada Srinivasan, assistant professor in International Development Studies at York University Toronto, has spent a considerable amount of time researching this subject. Her book Daughter Deficit:...
More »India’s forest cover falling: Study by Dipak Kumar Dash
India's forest cover has declined by 367 sq km between 2007 and 2009. While the figure may not seem alarming, it runs counter to the impression that afforestation and conservation programmes are yielding results. The largest dip in forest cover was in the northeast which lost 550 sq km. This loss was very partially made up elsewhere, even as there was an overall negative growth in green cover. There was better...
More »Aruna Roy, RTI activist interviewed by Pallavi Polanki
The lone Indian activist on the 2011 TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world, Aruna Roy has been more successful than most, when it comes to getting the government’s attention. The Chennai-born former bureaucrat who was an instrumental force behind the revolutionary Right to Information Act has also been credited by the government for “incorporating strong citizen entitlements” in the ambitious National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). A constant...
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