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A reprieve for Dharavi
Urban planners have proposed alternative approaches to Dharavi’s redevelopment, which would view Dharavi as a thriving and functioning urban settlement and not as a slum that needs to be flattened and rebuilt. The October assembly elections may just have given Dharavi the breathing space required to discuss these alternatives, writes Kalpana Sharma More... The planet – and we – are in perilIn his victory speech President Obama spoke of a planet in peril. In doing so he fell prey to the cognitive lapse that pits us against the environment, rather than part of it, and miscommunicates the nature of the ecological threat as just another problem to be fixed with more technology, says Aseem Shrivastava More... Street superheroesPoliticians love the poor, who make powerful votebanks. Not so India’s 18 million street children, who do not have the vote. The many laws and conventions that cover them have little meaning. Only a few NGOs are battling for streetkids, with some like RLHP in Mysore reporting great success in educating and rehabilitating them More... Food insecurity in Incredible IndiaA concept note on the proposed National Food Security Act circulated to all states continues to push for a targeted public distribution system instead of a universal one, and proposes to reduce the issue of foodgrains to 25 kg per BPL household, completely ignoring the contentious issue of who is poor and what an adequate and nutritious diet consists of More... Entertainment + education: Why Balika Vadhu workedAs Indian TV serials finally get away from kitchen politics to tell stories set in real social milieus, Gajra Kottary, writer of the hugely popular Balika Vadhu, points out what it takes to make a serial about a serious social issue like child marriage click with rural and urban audiences More... Land reform: More problems than solutionsLand is the most contentious problem in India today. Although land policy development is taking place, the issue is being looked at in isolation, rather than in the overall framework of human rights, says Mukul Sharma More... Staring drought in the faceWith 167 districts being declared drought hit, including in major grain producing states, and several others registering a deficit rainfall, the central government is preparing to put into action its Crisis Management Plan for Drought More... The long transition to renewable energyGreenpeace states that the share of renewable forms of energy in India must be mandated to increase from 4% presently to 20% by 2020 and 65% by 2050. China is one of the first countries, certainly in the developing world, to have passed and implemented a strong renewable energy law. Why can’t we? More... SC flip-flops on irretrievable breakdown of marriageThe Supreme Court has in the past granted divorce based on irretrievable breakdown of marriage, but a recent judgment dismisses it. The law must be settled once and for all, in the best interests of society More... Negotiating on climate changeThe Indian position on climate change ought to be unequivocal -- we should not agree to any cap or cuts on emission until G8 countries agree drastically to cut their own emissions, says Darryl D’Monte, adding that the Global Responsibility Capacity Index might serve as a more progressive climate tax More... India’s amateur handling of the H1N1 pandemicOur panicky leaders have adopted the very strategy that the WHO warned against in dealing with the H1N1 outbreak, says leading virologist Dr T Jacob John, pointing out in this exclusive article for Infochange how government should have handled the pandemic More... Panic pandemicThe media and the government health services have unwittingly collaborated to create and escalate public alarm over the H1N1 influenza outbreak in India. Sandhya Srinivasan points out what their response to this public health crisis should have been More... Balika Vadhu: Showcasing reality through drama and textFar from “encouraging” child marriage as some politicians feel, Balika Vadhu is the rare serial that induces audiences to engage intellectually with social conflicts, albeit on an entertainment platform, says Sanjay Ranade More... Content regulation initiatives in IndiaThe recent controversy over the TV programme Sach ka Samna has led to renewed calls for regulation of the broadcast media. P N Vasanti who was involved in drawing up self-regulation guidelines for the broadcasting sector for the I&B ministry, explains the content of the guidelines which, she says, could have addressed the current issues. Instead, it has been put into cold storage More... Maid in the mediaIndrajit Gupta comments on two bizarre articles in the press on the Shiny Ahuja rape allegations More... |
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