Past two months saw B D Sharma negotiating release of high-profile hostages by the Maoists in Odisha and Chhattisgarh. TV viewers saw and heard Sharma, probably for the first time. Widely respected in the civil society, he has been championing the rights of tribals for four decades now. He served as collector in the undivided Bastar district of Chhattisgarh in the 1970s, after which he quit the Indian Administrative Service....
More »SEARCH RESULT
Tribals have lost their farmlands over the century -KD Singh
The marginalisation of tribals in the last few decades has been enormous. Tribals have lost out in agriculture, and their forests also stand depleted, writes KD Singh In 2006, the Prime Minister described the Maoist threat as “the single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by the country” and suggested development in insurgency-affected regions as the key remedy. In 2009, the Union Government announced a new nationwide initiative, the ‘Integrated Action...
More »How PH Kurien took on global patents system to make very costly drug affordable for poor-Arvind Panagariya
It is said that only God and a few good men and women run India. One such man is P H Kurien. For readers unfamiliar with his name, Kurien was India's Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks until March 12, 2012. On March 9, 2012, just three days before he left office, he issued the first-ever compulsory licence in India for the manufacture of a drug still under patent....
More »The Constitution, Cartoons and Controversies Contextualising the Debates by Kumkum Roy
A close reading of the Political Science textbook shows that it is complex, moves beyond pat answers, and treats the Constitution as a living document. It was produced in the light of the National Curriculum Framework 2005, which in itself was a major attempt to democratise education, and reverse the National Curriculum Framework 2000 which was casteist and sexist. Kumkum Roy (kumkumr@yahoo.com) is with the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru...
More »Govt moots one-time tax amnesty to recover black money stashed abroad
-The Times of India The government's white paper on black money, tabled in Parliament on Monday, listed a one-time tax amnesty to recover funds stashed abroad and a gold deposit scheme for locals as possible ways to deal with the menace, while suggesting that individuals get the tax department's go-ahead for all property deals and face undue scrutiny on cash in their possession. It also called for setting up of independent regulators,...
More »