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The impending extinction of wildlife committees
Civil society members on India’s most important wildlife conservation committees are mostly rubber stamps, says Ashish Kothari, making these forums so much greenwash for pushing ‘development’ projects that threaten wildlife habitats through More... From Empire to Monsanto: Challenges of seeking the truthUsing the MNC Monsanto as a metaphor for concentration of money power and political influence, Rajni Bakshi asks: How should we tackle the enormous distortions of power that are as much a reality in our times as the British Empire was in Gandhiji’s time? Can we speak truth to power today in the dialogic and persuasive manner that Gandhiji did? More... Is there really no alternative?If we want economic growth, ‘there is no alternative’ to nuclear power and to the displacement of 1,000 farmers and 6,000 fishermen in Jaitapur. When Lavasa builds over hundreds of hectares, overlooking environmental norms, then too there is no alternative but to appraise the project post-facto! Milind Wani on the mysterious compulsions of the MoEF More... Exit endosulfanIndia manufactures 70% of the world’s endosulfan, which explains why there has been such a strong lobby against its ban, despite evidence of its health hazards. But India has finally dropped its opposition to a ban on endosulfan, thanks largely to the campaign against the pesticide by Kerala’s people and government More... Nuclear disasters worldwide: 1952-2011Twenty-five years after Chernobyl and following the recent Fukushima disaster in Japan, a listing of nuclear accidents that have occurred around the world More... Molly’s storyThis April, which is Child Sexual Abuse Awareness month, a story about a searing summer of violations, to crack the wall of silence around the issue and remind us that over 53% of India’s children have experienced sexual abuse More... The multiple costs of India’s nuclear ambitionsAreva claims that the European Pressurized Reactors it plans to install at the proposed nuclear plant in Jaitapur will provide “an unequalled safety level”. If so, Areva should be willing to risk its financial health on the safety of its reactors and accept an unlimited amount of liability for accidents, instead of lobbying for a modification in India’s already absurdly low liability caps, argue MV Ramana and Suvrat Raju in the second of our series on rethinking nuclear energy after Fukushima More... How not to save wetlandsThe Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, notified in 2010, is a recipe for failure and conflict: it is unwieldy and contradictory, it concentrates all power in the hands of state and central governments, and it provides absolutely no role for citizens living around the wetlands to be conserved, says Ashish Kothari More... The making of the Lokpal BillA comparison of the government’s draft Lokpal Bill and the Jan Lokpal Bill of Anna Hazare and other civil society members reveals that the likely areas of contention for the joint committee drafting the Bill will be the Lokpal’s power to entertain complaints directly from the public, initiate suo moto investigations with the powers of a police officer and order prosecution of the guilty More... Nuclear tipping pointsNuclear fission has attracted dissent from the time of its inception. But the Fukushima disaster has pushed the nuclear industry into stormy waters worldwide. Local resistance and anti-nuke pressure will result in cost escalations for new nuclear power plants, possibly halting the current nuclear renaissance More... Making sanitation as popular as cricket700 million Indians have cell phones, but 638 million still don’t have access to proper sanitation. At this year’s South Asian Conference on Sanitation, social solutions to the problem were discussed, including “naming and shaming” and the CLTS programme which gets villagers to map the open areas where they defecate More... The sounds of silence: Child sexual abuse in India53% of children in India face some form of child sexual abuse. To what extent will the new Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill help? And is it time for campaigners to replace ‘vulnerability’ with ‘oppression’ and ‘protection’ with ‘empowerment’ in the battle against CSA? More... The myth of safe and peaceful use of nuclear energyThe Japanese have been very conscious of the dangers of nuclear weapons, but there has been little support for campaigns against nuclear power. Just as Japan’s unique Peace Constitution evolved from the ruins of World War II, the Fukushima disaster could initiate a new, peaceful and environmentally harmonious society, says Yuki Tanaka More... Rethinking fossil fuel subsidiesThe government has proposed direct cash transfers instead of subsidies on essential items including kerosene and diesel to the poor. The country certainly cannot permit the huge losses from subsidies any more, says Darryl D’Monte, but it remains to be seen whether cash transfers or a coupon system, or even a combination of such reforms, will work More... |
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