-The Hindu   His party will raise issue with NHRC, Scheduled Castes panel The Paramakudi police firing was State-sponsored, brutal murder of six Dalits and an attempt to suppress and oppress the democratic form of Dalit assertion in the State, said John Pandian, founder president, Tamizhaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK), here on Wednesday. Tension prevailed at Government Rajaji Hospital during his visit to meet those injured in the firing and rioting at Paramakudi and...

Managing our soil and water resources in a sustainable and equitable manner needs a new political vision, which can be expressed through the proposed Land Acquisition Bill and the recently formed Global Soil Partnership. On the basis of a proposal I had made three years ago, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) launched a Global Soil Partnership for Food Security and Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation at a multi-stakeholder conference, held...

Do agencies like the Ford Foundation push their own agenda through the NGOs they support? It’s often said, tongue in cheek, that India’s “shadow” government works out of the nondescript, low-slung buildings abutting the Lodhi Garden in Delhi. That’s partly hubris, but it also stems from being close to the centre of power. This rarefied zone houses powerful “cultural” institutions like the India International Centre, as well as a host...

Interview with social activist and Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal. THE organisational abilities of Arvind Kejriwal exhibited during the recent Jan Lokpal Bill movement earned him the sobriquet “Field Marshal of a peaceful agitation”. The social activist and Ramon Magsaysay Award winner played a significant role in conceiving the slogans, the symbolism and the trajectory of the movement. He is credited with anticipating some of the moves of the government...

-The Hindu   The Communist Party of India has protested against the decision of the Centre to support the Chhattisgarh government's move on the Salwa Judum, and urged it to withdraw support to the State government ordinance. The ordinance, which reappoints the Special Police Officers (SPO) “to do precisely the same activities and with the same qualifications as earlier, shows complete disrespect for the spirit of the Supreme Court judgment [declaring the Salwa...