Why is it that the Anna Hazare-led movement against corruption does not seek to have the Lokpal cover NGOs, corporate houses and the corporate media? Gautam Navlakha (gnavlakha@gmail.com) is a member of the People’s Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi.   It would be churlish to dismiss “Team Anna’s” mass mobilisation which is an assertion of our collective right to protest. This is especially so in view of the fact that after having waited...

Jamshedpur, Oct. 29: For 29 years, men and women of a village in a rebel-hit block have been staying awake to guard the trees. It could have been another forest conservation legend like the Chipko Movement in the 1970s, where Himachali women embraced trees to prevent commercial felling. But here, the unique effort of Pindrasol, a village under Ghurabandha block, 84km from Jamshedpur, is a tucked-away secret in the hinterland, though...

-The Telegraph   Tribals will now be involved in value-addition and marketing of minor forest produce (MFP) such as honey and tamarind so they can get better prices. For the first time, a group of private companies has come forward to set up units that will carry out the value-addition and train tribal youths in the process as well as marketing the products. The firms will set up such units under the public-private-partnerships (PPP),...

-The Hindu   Apart from ensuring the immediate appointment of 18,000 panchayat development officers and as many junior engineers, the Centre has drawn up a blueprint to provide jobs to three-lakh youth in the 60 left wing extremist affected districts in the country. Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh, in his consolidated note for the approval of the Empowered Group of Secretaries for the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) under Planning Commission member...

The death recently in Nairobi of Kenyan environmental crusader and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai brings to mind the work of another development activist and Nobel peace laureate (2006), Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh. Their fields were different but their goals were the same: empowering poor, ordinary women for social and economic growth. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that this year’s Nobel Peace Prize has gone to three women who are...