A new round of UN climate talks opened in north China's Tianjin Municipality on Monday, which is expected to pave the way for the year-end Cancun summit in Mexico. About 3,000 delegates from party and observer countries under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol are attending the meeting on Oct. 4-9. They are expected to discuss the negotiating text reached at the Bonn talks in...

“India is Shining” in many ways, but the major hiccups in the run up to the Commonwealth Games (CWG), which opened on October 3 in New Delhi, highlight India's serious problems. Despite the colourful display of India's arts and culture at the grand opening ceremony, the frantic last minute interventions —including enlisting the Army (who did a remarkable job) to help with the final preparations — reveal the gross inefficiencies...

Per capita income, once regarded as the best index of the welfare of a society, has long since been dethroned from this status. People have argued persuasively that it is a measure that ignores not only income distribution but also the quality of life. Alternative approaches have been designed to explore these nuances of measurement and alternative indices constructed. Amartya Sen has developed a ‘capabilities approach’ to the question of...

An indefinite mazdoor haq (labourers right) satyagraha began at the Industrial Park near Statue Circle to press for the labourers' various demands. The satyagraha is spearheaded by Suchna Evum Rozghar Ka Adhikar Abhiyan. The demands of the agitators include increasing the wages of the NREGS workers to Rs 200 per day. The state government had recently increased the minimum wages of the labourers but the NREGA workers' rate is fixed at...

Eminent writer and social activist Arundhati Roy on Saturday alleged India is witnessing a war within itself since independence and is actually a poor super power. "Since the country gained independence there have been wars against tribals, dalits and others in several parts of the country leading to violation of human rights," she said. "Now people are struggling for human rights more than justice," Roy told a conference "Attack on Life,...