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Despatches from Choutuppal, where handloom weaver Shankariah committed suicide
Choutuppal looks fairly prosperous, with a myriad ISD and Internet kiosks. But in this and other centres of the handloom industry in Andhra Pradesh, around 400 weavers, struggling to make a living, are estimated to have killed themselves in a single year. What is going wrong? A first-hand report by Safia Sircar More... The benefits of advocacy on women's rightsChandni Joshi, regional programme director, South Asia, of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the women's fund of the United Nations, talks about the impact of globalisation on women, and the difference that advocacy has made to the way women's rights are perceived More... Women workers demand visibility and a voiceOn March 8, 1908, women workers in the needle trade in New York marched in the streets, demanding suffrage and an end to sweatshops and child labour. Almost 100 years on, over 100,000 workers took to the streets of New Delhi this February, to register their protest against the government's anti-worker policies and the severe impact of liberalisation on women workers More... The costs of river-linkingExternal funding for the ambitious river-linking project has been rejected. Instead, industry has been called upon to support the costliest endeavour that the country has ever undertaken. But, by opening up the floodgates to private sector investment, the government could be bargaining away the traditional rights of people over water resources More... River IncFollowing on Chhattisgarh's heels Kerala has been planning to give easy access to groundwater to private operators. And some 30 Indian cities are inviting bids for their municipal water supplies from a handful of multinational corporations specialising in water More... Nowhere does a mother give poison to her children except here'People living in Andhra Pradesh's Nalgonda district are forced to drink water that contains dangerously high levels of fluoride. Many suffer its effects -- bent bodies, nervous disorders and premature ageing. But little is being done about the problem. Safia Sircar tours the district where over 600,000 people are severely affected More... How to evaluate rural development schemesIn 2000-01, almost Rs 10,000 crore was spent on rural development schemes. The central government has almost a dozen major schemes in operation. But how is the success or failure of these schemes to be evaluated? By the quantum of funds allocated? By the fulfilment of targets?Or do we need a social cost-benefit analysis for each scheme? More... Can loans eradicate poverty?Do loans actually help ease poverty? If one were to go by the results of the World Bank-supported District Poverty Initiatives Project in Rajasthan, it would seem not More... Sex selection: Getting down to businessAn estimated 20 million females in this country have been eliminated following sex-determination tests. But not a single doctor has been convicted. It is the providers of this technology who have to be held ethically as well as legally accountable. Will the recent amendment to the PNDT Act change anything? More... Adverse sex ratio results in no brides in RohtakDecades of female foeticide and infanticide have finally caught up with the people of Haryana. With the sex ratio in Rohtak district down to 796 females per 1000 males and the rest of the state faring not much better, young men are desperate to get married but cannot find themselves brides More... Water vending is a booming businessFarmers in Goa and Tamil Nadu are abandoning their farms for the more lucrative business of extracting and selling groundwater. The groundwater trade is close to Rs 30 billion today, with 50% of the urban and industrial demand met through groundwater. And yet, there are no regulations to prevent this dangerous over-exploitation of groundwater resources More... Carnival of resistanceJohn Samuel reports from the World Social Forum in Porto Algre, Brazil, a global meet that presents the counterpoint to the World Economic Forum at Davos. The myth that there is no alternative to globalisation is being busted here by 150,000 participants from across the world More... |
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