As the local people determinedly continue to resist the commissioning of the Kudankulam reactors, the statements of the nuclear establishment have acquired a desperate edge. The chief of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) claimed that a “foreign hand” was behind the protests. The former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, while assuring the locals that the reactors were “100% safe,” also wrote an article in The Hindu (“Special Essay,”...

'Economic growth will need massive energy. Will we allow an accident in Japan, in a 40-year-old reactor at Fukushima, arising out of extreme natural stresses, to derail our dreams to be an economically developed nation?' Every single atom in the universe carries an unimaginably powerful battery within its heart, called the nucleus. This form of energy, often called Type-1 fuel, is hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of times more powerful...

Memories of the killer cyclone of 1999 continue to haunt Parvati Maiti every time the sky turns overcast. Today, it’s been exactly 12 years since the massive cyclone swept through the state, killing and leaving thousands homeless. However, the 52-year-old woman from Ambiki village, who lost her husband and elder son to the super cyclone, is yet to receive the compensation amount of Rs 3 lakh against the two casualties in her...

-The United Nations   Young men in Central and South America and Southern and Central Africa are most at risk of being killed in cases of homicide, while women face an increased likelihood of being murdered in domestic violence, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a report unveiled today.   Evidence points to rising homicide rates in Central America and the Caribbean, which are “near crisis point,” according to...

-One World South Asia The recent report on paid news by Press Council of India recommends that representation of the People Act, 1951, should be amended to make the practice of paid news a punishable electoral malpractice. The Report defines paid news as Any news or analysis appearing in any media (Print & Electronic) for a price in cash or kind as consideration. The Report records that “Sections of the media in India...