In a major climbdown from its stand during the opposition days, the Congress in Kerala on Wednesday decided not to evict energy major Suzlon from tribal land at ecologically-sensitive Attappadi hills, where the firm had illegally erected windmills. During the previous LDF regime, the Congress had vigorously campaigned to evict the windmill owners from tribal land and the party had even sought the intervention of the national leadership. Instead of pulling down...
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SC panel for ban on Karnataka mining by Dhananjay Mahapatra
The Supreme Court's environment panel, Central Empowered Committee (CEC), on Friday concurred with the Karnataka Lokayukta to report rampant illegal iron ore mining in Chitradurga and Tumkur districts and recommended a complete ban on private mining. Submitting the CEC's report to a bench of Chief Justice S H Kapadia and Justices Aftab Alam and Swatanter Kumar, amicus curiae A D N Rao said the adverse impact on environment in these two...
More »Arundhati Roy’s anti-Anna tirade: High on anger, short on rigour by Shalini Singh
While the rest of the world is saluting the birth of a miracle - the manifestation of the best of the human spirit in a peaceful movement that is uniting millions of people across religions, geographies and social and economic groups - Arundhati Roy has seized the opportunity to be intellectually irreverent. Sadly, her vituperative dismissal of this powerful human revolution in her piece, ‘I would rather not be Anna' published...
More »Ambedkar's way & Anna Hazare's methods by Sukhadeo Thorat
A group of people, with placards showing Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, staged a demonstration in Delhi a few days ago against Anna Hazare's proposals on the Lokpal and the methods used by his team. More often than not, Dalits look with suspicion on any attempt to tamper with the Constitution. Team Anna has, however, suggested that its Lokpal bill would benefit Dalits more than anyone else. This led me to look...
More »I'd rather not be Anna by Arundhati Roy
While his means maybe Gandhian, his demands are certainly not. If what we're watching on TV is indeed a revolution, then it has to be one of the more embarrassing and unintelligible ones of recent times. For now, whatever questions you may have about the Jan Lokpal Bill, here are the answers you're likely to get: tick the box — (a) Vande Mataram (b) Bharat Mata ki Jai (c) India is...
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