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'Love Jihad': A challenge to the Constitution?
The objection to inter-faith marriages, derisively called ‘love jihad’ by the Hindu right, goes against the very letter and spirit of the Indian Constitution, argues Arvind Narrain More... Carbon dating the World BankThe World Bank Group is poised to play a major role in managing climate change funds after Copenhagen. And yet, its lending for fossil fuels has more than doubled in the last decade. Since 1997, the Bank has financed over 26 giga tonnes of carbon emissions. The Bank’s lending to developing countries has ensured that no country will escape the carbon trap for at least 30-40 years More... Cities should be for people, not cars: Enrique PenalosaDenver, San Francisco and Seoul are demolishing their freeways and highways and attempting to return their cities to their people, not their cars, says Enrique Penalosa, former mayor of Bogota and founder of the BRTS in his city, advising India to learn from the mistakes of these cities More... Certification, corruption, and cost: The fight for a vaccine production policyIndia is a global exporter of vaccines but 50% of our children under one are not completely immunised. The government has ordered the reopening of vaccine-manufacturing PSUs, but a strategic plan on consistently meeting India's basic vaccine needs is still not clear. Venkat Srinivasan tells the story of India’s vaccine production programme, a story of politics, dishonesty and misguided priorities More... Climate change and food sovereigntyClimate change and economic policies are adversely impacting the food sovereignty of millions of people and both need to be combated. They both take away a basic human right – the right to adequate food More... Grootboom, Mayawati and the Supreme CourtsThe judiciary is always wary of intruding into the terrain of the legislature and executive. But increasingly, says Mukul Sharma, the courts in South Africa, Gambia and now in India with the Mayawati memorials case, feel it is their duty to question government’s resource allocation and policy prioritisation More... Ethics before economics: Towards ecological justiceWe are seeing the emergence of a new wave of Climate Capitalism, driven by the new market for green technology, carbon-trading, technology transfers and adaptation funds, writes John Samuel. But surely the ethics and politics of climate change need to precede the economic calculus of climate change? More... Impossible deadline for the Forest Rights ActThe December 31 deadline of the tribal affairs ministry for full implementation of the Forest Rights Act is absurd. How can implementation of such a complex Act be rushed through when issues involving processing of claims, recent encroachments, and the Act’s relationship with existing forest and wildlife laws have not yet been thought through? More... FOSS for the peopleThe Kerala government employs free and open source software. Even the BJP and CPM have announced their support of FOSS. But the Maharashtra government recently announced an MOU with Microsoft for teacher training using Microsoft programs. Wouldn’t it have been better to train the teachers in FOSS applications that are available to everyone and signify equity and democracy in society? More... Should India cut emissions?India’s stand on climate change is that our right to ‘development’ is non-negotiable. But, considering that the path to development we have adopted is neither sustainable nor equitable, it is time we took on voluntary emission cuts for our own welfare, even as we continue pressurising the West to cut its emissions substantially, says Ashish Kothari More... Towards a transformative politicsPolitics is part of almost all human activity. It is expressed in poetry and painting, through coercion and collaboration, in public and private spaces. But its ultimate aim must be to democratise society at all levels of human action and institutions, to celebrate the dignity of every individual and uphold his or her right to dissent and development More... Law and orderSuppression of the people was the primary goal of law-enforcement agencies in British times. Unfortunately, this tendency continues in independent India, where the response to a conflict situation is to rush additional forces in, without any attempt to resolve the underlying socio-economic conditions, says K S Subramanian in part 3 of his series More... Fighting urban firesThe urban poor do not worry about earthquakes or floods as much as they do about fires that frequently destroy their inflammable, densely-packed dwellings. In Mumbai, where half the population lives and works from slums, there is no disaster management plan, and only 1,503 fire hydrants out of 10,371 work More... India’s climate volte face: Tragedy or farce?Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has suggested to the PM that India opt out of the Kyoto Protocol, jettison the G77 developing countries, and voluntarily accept cuts in emission without any guarantee of funding or technology from industrial nations in return. This goes against every principle which India has articulated on behalf of all developing countries, says Darryl D’Monte More... Sharing the piePolicymakers say that the size of the pie in developing countries has to be enlarged before it can be distributed more equitably. But the way a country’s economy grows will determine whether there is anything left to distribute at the end of the growth process, says Aseem Shrivastava More... |
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