Halt ongoing negotiations, says open letterWith Prime Minister Manmohan Singh set to hold talks with his counterpart in Brussels on trade and economic issues, a broad Civil Society alliance on Thursday called on the European Commission and India to immediately halt the ongoing negotiations for an India-EU Free Trade Agreement.The India-EU summit on Friday is likely to give a political mandate for working towards the conclusion of the FTA in...

More things change more they remain the same! UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has given her full support; two Congress chief ministers have written to the Prime Minister; a High Court (A.P) has ruled that the current wage rate violated the Minimum Wages Act 1948 --- but the rural workers are still getting the same old rate.  When the MGNREGA workers lifted their 47-day dharna at Jaipur after the Centre and...

Members of La Via Campesina and other groups condemn market-based solutionsHector Rodriguez, who runs an alternative radio station in Cancun called Reptil, decided on a novel way to protest the commercialisation of forestry.As hundreds of people marched to the venue of the United Nations Climate Change Conference on Tuesday, Mr. Rodriguez walked up to the posse of Mexican policemen with riot shields and launched into an impassioned plea to help...

This is the first time that the Planning Commission has sought engagement of the Civil Society NGOs have given suggestions for previous Five Year PlansConsultations on various topics plannedThe Planning Commission is involving leading non-governmental organisations and civic society, seeking their inputs, suggestions and experiences, for preparing its approach paper for the 12 {+t} {+h} Five Year Plan (2012-17), which will be the base document for the Plan itself.Though NGOs had...

Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) would reach city during its Kisan swaraj yatra on Friday to draw the attention to continuing agricultural crisis in India and call for a comprehensive new path for Indian agriculture. Baba Balbir Singh Seenchewal and Manmohan Waris would join the rally here. A public meeting would be organized in front of PAU gate number two. Out of 10 lakh farming families, 72,000 were forced to...