The children of Khatima village couldn't take it anymore. The headmaster in their government school had been turning up drunk for over five years. That is, when he turned up at all. Last year, they finally took matters into their own hands. Activist Devendra Ojha had held a cartooning workshop with them. The comics produced by the children were photocopied and pasted all over the village: behind rickshaws, near the...

Young women are part of a campaign to bring much-needed social change and improve sanitation facilities If you don't have a toilet at home, you might not get a bride in India. In a silent revolution of sorts, Indian women across the country, especially in rural and semi-urban areas, have a single condition before they agree to a match – the groom must have a toilet in his home. The "No Toilet,...

A good marker of a country’s progress is the environment in which its children grow up.  Prevalence of malnutrition, hunger, unhygienic surroundings and forced child labour cost a country dearly in terms of its real growth. The State of the World's Children 2011 report shows how little is being invested in the future citizens of our world. The theme of this year’s report is “Adolescence: An Age of Opportunity” and...

United Nation Development Programme's India Urban Poverty Report, 2009 has pegged the number of slum dwellers in Uttar Pradesh at 44 lakh. The sample survey, which was conducted under the 58th round of the National Sample Survey Organisation, also suggests that UP is next only to Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, where 1.2 crore and 52 lakh urban poor are apparently living. The high numbers, however, it appears, are not the only...

‘It will hinder access to quality, affordable generic medicines produced in India' People in Asia living with HIV and who depend on affordable generic AIDS medicines to stay alive have impressed upon the Indian government to stand strong against European Union demands on the sensitive Intellectual Property (IP) chapter in ongoing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations. The EU is pushing for harmful IP provisions to be included in the trade agreement...