-The Economic Times   Manipur's 'Iron Lady' Irom Sharmila Chanu, who has been on a fast for over 10 years in support of her demand for scrapping the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, on Tuesday extended her support to Anna Hazare's anti-graft mission. Sharmila has written a letter to Anna Hazare, expressing her solidarity with his movement. Sections had derided Hazare's hunger strike, comparing it with the Manipur Iron Lady's anti-AFSPA agitation,...

-IANS   Civil rights campaigners in Manipur are upset with the mainstream media for blowing up activist Anna Hazare's anti-graft fast that entered its sixth day on Sunday and ignoring the over decade-long hunger strike by Irom Chanu Sharmila against rights violations by the security forces in the region. "There is a general sense of feeling that we, the people of the northeast, have always been neglected, discriminated, and looked down upon by...

A Tamil economist, the late S. Guhan, used to say that Delhi was a capital in search of a country. I was reminded of that remark during the fortnight of May 29 to June 11, 2011. In that fortnight, if one watched the ‘national’ channels or read the ‘national’ newspapers, one would think all of India was involved in one way or the other with the ideas and practices of...

It is the improper mode of application, violating the law and regulations, that is responsible for the apparent adverse toxic effects of endosulfan. FROM a scientific perspective, an extremely pertinent question in the endosulfan story is why adverse health effects similar to those seen in the villages of Kasaragod district in Kerala have not been reported from other parts of the country where the pesticide is used in much larger...

Irom Sharmila Chanu and Anna Hazare have one thing in common – the ability to fast indefinitely for what they perceive is right. But the similarities end there. She has been on a political fast for 11 years but her silent resilience moves you when you realize the sheer magnitude of what she is single-handedly trying to achieve. Far from the glare of studio lights of television channels and tangled wires of...