-The Hindu Hundreds of landless farmers, agricultural workers and labourers from across 20 States assembled at Jantar Mantar here on Tuesday under a joint platform ‘Bhumi Adhikar Andolan’ (Land Rights Movement) and observed December 15 (Forest Rights Day) as ‘Chetavni Divas’ — day of challenge and warning. Addressing a gathering, social activist Medha Patkar said the Forest Rights Act (FRA) was enacted in 2006, but successive governments have never taken efforts...
More »SEARCH RESULT
A Dalit village in Cuddalore was left to fend for itself through 36 days of flooding -Nayantara Narayanan
-Scroll.in The 45 houses of Ambedkar Nagar received no flood warning, no relief material and no visit from the authorities for a least a month. “For 36 days no one has come to check on us. Forget bringing us things and giving us help &NDAsh; no one has even come to ask ‘how are you’ll doing?’, ‘are you’ll safe?’, ‘are you’ll alive?’” L Pavai was in tears as she spoke of...
More »Once plentiful in rain, North East now faces frequent drought
Often considered to be a rain-abuNDAnt region, the North East has been receiving lesser rainfall during the South West monsoon in the recent years as compared to the 1980s and 1990s. This has been revealed in a study entitled Unprecedented drought in North East India compared to Western India done by Bikash Ranjan Parida and Bakimchandra Oinam (see the link below). Appearing in the December issue of prestigious peer-reviewed scientific...
More »A Judgement on Democracy That is Frightening in Its Implicatons -Indira Jaising
-TheWire.in The judgment of the Supreme Court in the Raj Bala case deals a near fatal blow to the health of the Indian democracy. In essence, the court has held that those who have no formal education, those who have no “functioning toilet” and those who are in rural indebtedness cannot contest an election for the position of sarpanch. The judgment effectively disenfranchises &NDAsh; and it recognises this &NDAsh; 68% of Scheduled...
More »The Problem in Dals
-Economic and Political Weekly Why has pulse production stagnated despite measures to boost production being well known? This season, the prices of pulses (dals) have been on fire. According to the Price Monitoring Cell of the Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, the average retail price of red gram (tuar) doubled from around Rs 80 a kg in March 2015 to Rs 150&NDAsh;Rs 160 a kg in November 2015. What could...
More »