Concern for public health goes up in smoke India's leading cigarette manufacturer, ITC Ltd, made financial contributions of Rs. 6.78 crore in the last two years to all major political parties in the country, causing public health activists here to question the possible interference of tobacco companies “in the Central government's efforts to bring in tougher anti-tobacco laws in the country.” Figures disclosed by ITC Ltd — and released recently by activists...
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There's something rotten in the locality of Sion Koliwada by Shoumojit Banerjee
Koli people struggle for their hearths and homes as politico-businessman lobby mows down homes for redevelopment project Ugly tidings were round the bend for Kalpesh Shivkar when a registered letter arrived from Pilot Constructions Pvt. Ltd. in March 2010 requesting him to vacate his house in the interests of redevelopment. This was followed by an impassive notice issued by the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation pasted on his door, directing the Shivkar family to...
More »Rio+20: What Is at Stake By: T Jayaraman, Divya Singh Kohli & Shruti Mittal
There are major issues at stake in the Rio+20 Summit on Sustainable Development to be held on 20-22 June. Yet governments of developing countries have not given adequate importance to the run-up to the conference. As has happened in the climate change negotiations, the outcome draft now under negotiation shows a concerted move to rewrite the terms of global environmental governance. There is an attempt to push through the decidedly...
More »Not a minor challenge by Mohammad Ali
11 children go missing every hour in India. This and other disturbing statistics cry out for urgent action Every hour, 11 children go missing in the country. Four of these remain untraced, concludes a nation-wide research on missing children. During 2008-10, close to 1,17,480 children were reported missing in 392 districts. Of them, 74,209 children were traced while 41, 546 remain untraced. The information has been collated by Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA)...
More »Taking the stink out of city sanitation-Kalpana Sharma
In South Mumbai's upscale Malabar Hill, a neighbourhood of 6,000 people share 52 toilets, 26 for men and 26 for women. That works out to around 115 people per toilet. Nearby live some of the oldest and richest families of the city with homes where one person may have a choice of many toilets. But this is Simla Nagar, where 720 households are precariously perched on a not so wealthy slope...
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