Ratnagiri Collector Madhukar Gaikwad has denied permission for the two-day Independent People's Tribunal ‘public hearing' on the Jaitapur nuclear power project proposed to be held on March 6 and 7 at Niveli, one of the affected villages. Deepika D'Souza of the Tribunal said that Mr. Gaikwad, in a letter on Friday, refused permission as per orders from the police. No grounds for disallowing the meeting were given, she said. Ms. D'Souza said...

Why is every fourth Indian hungry? Why is every third woman in India anaemic and malnourished? Why is every second child underweight and stunted? Why has the hunger and malnutrition crisis deepened even as India has nine per cent growth? Why is “Shining India” a “Starving India”? In my view, hunger is a structural part of the design of the industrialised, globalised food system. Hunger is an intrinsic part of the...

Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has launched a legal battle, one day after he was sacked from the Grameen microfinance bank he founded. Prof Yunus lodged a case in Bangladesh's High Court challenging his dismissal from the post, lawyers said. The central bank sacked him saying he was past retirement age and had been improperly installed in his post. Grameen Bank disputes the accusations. He has been under pressure from the government to...

Activists opposed to a nuclear power plant in Jaitapur plan to go ahead with an “inquiry” by a people’s tribunal into environment and rights violations by the project even after 14 protesters were arrested for alleged rioting. The protesters were held over a riot that broke out in December following the death of a local resident after being hit by a police Jeep. Among those arrested is Milind Desai, a resident of...

Appointment to the post of Central Vigilance Commissioner “must satisfy not only the eligibility criteria of the candidate but also the decision making process of the recommendation. If a statutory body like the HPC [high power committee], for any reason whatsoever, fails to look into the relevant material having nexus to the object and purpose of the 2003 CVC Act or takes into account irrelevant circumstances, then its decision would...