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...

Amnesty International has urged Indian authorities to order an impartial inquiry into the police firing leading to the death of two persons against demonstrators objecting to a thermal power project in northern Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh. On February 28, at least two protestors were killed, allegedly as a result of police firing, and five others sustained injuries as police tear-gassed them. The protests for cancellation of the project took place at the...

In the recent meeting of the apex National Tiger Conservation Authority, members pointed out seven specific instances where Forest Rights Act has been violated in an attempt to hastily declare an area free of people. Environment minister Jairam Ramesh said he would investigate each claim and allegation of violation of FRA. TOI highlights four such reserves. Will he now send a fact finding team to these sites? BRT Tiger reserve,...

The children of Khatima village couldn't take it anymore. The headmaster in their government school had been turning up drunk for over five years. That is, when he turned up at all. Last year, they finally took matters into their own hands. Activist Devendra Ojha had held a cartooning workshop with them. The comics produced by the children were photocopied and pasted all over the village: behind rickshaws, near the...

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...