The latest NCPCR survey report reveals large-scale child labour in Bt cotton production; asks stakeholders to prepare an action plan to eliminate it Forced to work for 14-hours at a stretch and even carry pesticides on their back, the plight children engaged as child labour in the Bt cotton production has often gone unnoticed, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has said in its latest survey report. To rescue...
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A lasting signature on Bihar’s most violent years-Santosh Singh
Ara, Patna: To any old-timer, the earliest image of the Bihar caste wars is from 1977. Belchhi in Patna had seen 14 Scheduled Caste workers killed, and the enduring image is of a visit by Indira Gandhi, otherwise lying low since the post-Emergency defeat. She had to ride an elephant to the small hamlet of Dalits, the monsoon having waterlogged the approach road. The caste wars Belchhi triggered would not stop...
More »Banerjee admits debt-ridden farmers contemplate suicide
-IANS West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday conceded that there were 'debt-ridden peasants who contemplated committing suicides'. 'There are many farmers who take loans from money lenders at high interest and when they are unable to repay the money, they contemplate suicide. Do not give up life like that, life is most valuable,' said Banerjee, after giving Kisan Credit Cards to farmers here in the South 24-Parganas district, about 150 km...
More »Reaping gold through cotton, and newsprint-P Sainath
The same full page appeared twice in three years, the first time as news, the second time as an advertisement “Not a single person from the two villages has committed suicide.” Three and a half years ago, at a time when the controversy over the use of genetically modified seeds was raging across India, a newspaper story painted a heartening picture of the technology's success. “There are no suicides here and people...
More »Media cannot reject regulation-Markandey Katju
I have not read the Private Member's Bill on media regulation that Meenakshi Natarajan was scheduled to move in Parliament last week so I am not in a position to comment upon it, but I am certainly of the opinion that the media (both print and electronic) needs to be regulated. Since my ideas on this issue have generated some controversy they need to be clarified. I want regulation of the...
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