The relationship between indigenous peoples and forests was among the major issues discussed during a two-week forum at United Nations Headquarters that wrapped up today, with participants voicing concern about the impact on lives and livelihoods of deforestation, extraction activities and large-scale building projects. The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is “still very much concerned about the continuing eviction of indigenous peoples from their forests,” said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, a...

The institution of the BPL list has probably become the most potent symbol of the self-defeating approach of the Indian state towards poverty. Ostensibly this list, that identifies households below the poverty line so that benefits can be directed towards them, was meant as an instrument of poverty alleviation. Now it has become one of the biggest sources of obfuscation of the challenges of poverty. A poverty line is, at...

Is the Indian government bargaining away the rights of millions across the world to essential drugs supplied by India, hailed as the pharmacy of the developing world, in the name of free trade with the European Union (EU)? That's a fear being expressed by civil society groups in the developing world. Commerce minister Anand Sharma vehemently denies such a possibility, claiming that the free trade agreement (FTA) under negotiation with...

Around two decades ago, Lawrence Summers, then World Bank chief economist, outraged many when he argued in an internal memo that the economic logic behind dumping toxic waste in low-wage countries was “impeccable”. His rationale: less developed countries are “under-polluted” and that “foregone earnings from increased morbidity and mortality” would be lesser in countries with lower wages. Cut to now and the thing to ask is: does India too believe...

Various estimates of the extra cost to the government for an improved food security Bill are doing the rounds, but many agree the Union government’s proposed food subsidy bill would double. The proposed Bill offers 25 kg per family per month at Rs 3 a kg, to only families below the poverty line, or about 84 million households. Activists are insisting this be raised to 35 kg a family and to...