Activists hope that a popular agitation against the setting up of a factory to manufacture asbestos products in the eastern Bihar state will result in a nationwide ban on the large-scale import into this country of the deadly mineral fibre. Following six months of agitation against the setting up of the factory in the Chainpur-Bishunpur area of Bihar’s Muzzaffarpur district, state chief minister Nitish Kumar sought to lay blame on the...
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India's mineral wealth obtained by violating tribal rights, says ILO study by India's mineral wealth obtained by violating tribal rights, says ILO study Sangeeth Sebastian
The ministries of environment and coal may still be bickering over the classification of ' go' and ' no- go' areas for mining , but an International Labour Organisation ( ILO)- funded report on India's indigenous population claims that more than half the country's mineral wealth is obtained by violating the rights of tribals. 'India and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples', a report prepared by the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact with...
More »Rule and intent by V Venkatesan
The Central government's newly proposed RTI rules make its intentions suspect. GOVERNMENTS which have only superficial commitment to the promotion of human rights often come under considerable pressure from within to impose stealthily restrictions on their exercise. They try to introduce such restrictions without much publicity, seek to execute them in a tearing hurry, and couch them in legal jargon. The Central government's proposal to notify the Right to Information...
More »Posco paid for study on Posco by Priscilla Jebaraj
Claims about the benefits of Posco's $12 billion integrated steel project to Orissa's economy and job market come from a study by an “independent” research organisation — but was paid for by Posco itself. In January 2007, the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) published a report on ‘Social Cost Benefit Analysis of the POSCO Steel Project in Orissa,' which claimed that the project would directly and indirectly generate 8.7...
More »Secrecy around Bill by V Venkatesan
The Union Cabinet approves a new Bill to protect whistle-blowers, but there is concern whether its provisions will amount to much. ON March 22, a special court in Patna pronounced three persons guilty in the murder of Satyendra K. Dubey, a civil engineer from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. He was shot dead on November 29, 2003, for blowing the whistle on corrupt practices in the Golden Quadrilateral Project in Bihar....
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