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Erosion of the European economy?
Europe’s economic crisis needs to understood not only in the context of the crisis of credit-driven speculative finance capitalism worldwide, but also in the larger context of the economic, social and cultural history of Western Europe, writes John Samuel.More... Why nuclear power is not our gateway to a prosperous futurePhysicist Surendra Gadekar’s rejoinder to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and Srijan Pal Singh’s case for nuclear energy in their recent article in The Hindu More... What is the real goal of the Anna movement?It was clear from the start that the real root of corruption -- unaccountable power and impunity -- was not the target of the Team Anna campaign, writes Rohini Hensman. Is their goal then regime change, or constitutional change? And if so, could the movement unwittingly pave the way to fascism? More... Child health and the 12th PlanThe Approach Paper to the 12th Plan sees the projected 32% increase in India’s labour force in the next two decades as a demographic dividend. But is the 12th Plan focusing sufficiently on the health, nutrition and education of the children who will form this labour force in the coming decades, asks Alex George More... National Vaccine Policy: For industry, not people's healthThe new National Vaccine Policy Draft 2011openly favours industry. It provides for advance market commitments for new vaccines, whereby government guarantees a market for the vaccine before it is tested and even if it is not efficacious. Should our vaccine policy focus on the health of our children, or the viability of the vaccine industry? More... 53 million-plus cities vs 355 million-plus districtsAs long as the fixation with high economic growth rates continues, the focus in India will be on urban growth, at the expense of rural resilience, writes Rahul Goswami in this analysis of important data on rural India thrown up by Census 2011 More... Decadal journeys: Debt and despair spur urban growthCensus 2011, which reports a higher growth of urban population than rural as millions give up farming, does not record footloose migration, which drives desperate people to search for work in multiple directions with no clear destination. This is a giant drama that we have not even begun to measure, says P Sainath More... The exodus from rural IndiaFor the first time since 1921, India's urban population has increased more than the rural. In 1921, influenza left its fatal imprint on the enumeration. The 2011 Census speaks of another tragedy: the collapse of millions of livelihoods in agriculture and related occupations. And the ongoing, despair-driven exodus that this has sparked in the countryside, writes P Sainath More... The politics of corruptionWhile a strong anti-corruption law can reduce petty corruption, at the heart of the problem is the increasing lack of accountability in the political system, big corporations, media and even NGOs, writes John Samuel. Breaking the nexus between business elites and political parties could be the first ste More... Minimum-wage criteria provide a more realistic poverty lineWhat has been missing in the heated debates about the poverty line is a clear enunciation of which basic needs should be included. The 15th Indian Labour Conference of 1957 might have come up with the most comprehensive criteria for defining the minimum wage required to meet basic needs, writes Kathyayini Chamaraj More... Is sustainability truly built into the 12th 5-Year Plan?Perhaps for the first time, environment and related livelihoods issues figure in several chapters of a 5-Year Plan approach paper. But it is far from achieving the kind of integration of environment, economy, and livelihoods that is required if India is to meet its obligations to its people, to nature, and to international agreements, writes Ashish Kothari More... Compensation is the last mile in recognising rape as a crimeNo amount of money can restore the dignity and confidence of a rape victim, and certainly compensation is meaningless if the guilty are not punished. But monetary compensation does at least recognise rape or sexual assault as a crime, writes Manjima Bhattacharjya More... Twenty years of resistance at KoodankulamWhy have the concerns of local communities surrounding the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant gone unaddressed for two decades? Why did a comprehensive environment impact assessment never reach them, and were the mandatory public hearings largely stage-managed? More... Beyond the Lokpal: Fighting corruption on multiple frontsWhile punishing the corrupt is important, institutions such as the Lokpal or Lokayukta can play only a limited role, says Samuel Paul. What we need is reform of public service design and delivery, transparency in public governance, and the end of discretionary decision-making by bureaucrats and politicians More... Citizen's charters: Putting people firstA Lokpal may reduce corruption, but will it improve the abysmal quality of our public services? For that to happen we need citizen’s charters and legal guarantees of prompt and efficient public services. Madhya Pradesh and Bihar’s legislations on public services are excellent beginnings More... |
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