Tous les articles et traductions

As I write this piece, the finance minister has dispatched the Union Budget 2011. The press is busy reflecting the views of business and industry lobbies, as they quibble over duty exemptions, insist on financial stimulus and other incentives, and cry for big-ticket reform—foreign direct (…)

Germany’s policies prove that renewable sources of energy are a viable option. IN September 2010, the German Federal Environment Agency announced that by 2050 the country would be in a position to meet all of its electricity requirements from renewable energy sources as opposed to the present 16 (…)

The promise of the Forest Rights Act remains largely unfulfilled, says a committee set up by the Ministries of Environment and Forests and Tribal Affairs. It seems hard for a government used to controlling most of India’s common lands to let go of them. Even though it has passed a law mandating (…)

Ask Chennai’s (Madras’) fisherfolk and they will tell you that the road to hell is built on stilts. Various Central and state government agencies plan to construct three controversial expressways on stilts in the coastal city. These roads will displace more than 1 lakh people — mostly urban poor (…)

The United States is facing international scrutiny for its apparent failure to prosecute criminals who enter indigenous territories to prey on Native women and girls.
Between 60 and 80 percent of violent victimisation of Native American women is perpetrated by non-Natives, says a U.N. expert (…)

The Royal Society of Canada report on the tar sands released today, spurred concern by directly impacted communities and allies today as conclusions were put forward around the impacts of tar sands development within the region.
“With data coming from primarily government and industry sources, (…)

As long as there is a dominating status quo, marginalisation and violation of human rights, the Left has a role to play globally and in India, says John Samuel. But the new wave of left politics must go beyond party politics — to the building of a more ethically driven leadership, a non-violent (…)

Lock-ups, prisons and court cases have become an integral part of the lives of Jaitapur’s residents. The scenic village in Maharashtra, which is to be home to the world’s biggest nuclear plant, has virtually turned into a state of dystopia. The people of the five villages that would be affected (…)

On February 16th I read a comment was posted on the wall of the Kullina Khalid Saed ("We are all Khaled Said") Facebook page administered by the now very famous Wael Ghonim. By that time it had been there for about 21 hours. The comment referred to a news item reporting that European governments (…)

The Gaddafi regime in Libya seems to believe that if a government crackdown is murderous enough, demonstrations will stop.
In Egypt, the relatively short-lived military crackdown by the hated security agencies and pro-regime thugs actually strengthened the opposition, reminding the millions in (…)

Even as the new CRZ notification grants fishing communities the right to redevelop the land on which they live, it lays open coastal lands for other forms of development which will adversely impact their livelihoods, says Kalpana Sharma. Read more

The Environment Ministry’s clearance of projects such as Posco, Jaitapur and Lavasa will cause havoc in our gravely endangered environment. Even the worst pessimist could not have imagined that the January 31 order of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) approving the South (…)

Even four years after the Sachar Committee Report revealed that Muslims were one of the most economically backward and socially disadvantaged communities, nothing much has been done to address the development deficits of this community. Read more

Governments risk adopting policies that increase people’s vulnerability to climate change because of a general prejudice against migration, according to research published today by the International Institute for Environment and Development.
The research, which includes case studies from (…)

Facebook is not a game. It is a means of communication that transcends borders, but does not supplant national or international legality concerning civil liberties and rights of association and expression. Choosing such means to spread one’s message, is and will be useful and effective, if the (…)

The World Social Forum (WSF) is alive and well. It just met in Dakar, Senegal from Feb. 6-11. By unforeseen coincidence, this was the week of the Egyptian people’s successful dethroning of Hosni Mubarak, which finally succeeded just as the WSF was in its closing session. The WSF spent the week (…)

Plans to ban extremely and moderately hazardous pesticides in cardamom district, Idukki.
Endosulfan poisoning in Kasaragod district has made the Kerala government cautious in its approach to use of pesticides. Agriculture minister M Retnakaran recently announced that the ban on extremely and (…)

With his usual verve and sharpness Samir Amin examines the factors that brought about the 2008 financial collapse and explores the systemic crisis of capitalism after two decades of neoliberal globalisation. He lays bare the relationship between dominating oligopolies and the globalisation of (…)

The view from Israel is that if they indeed succeed, the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions are bad, very bad. Educated Arabs — not all of them dressed as "Islamists," quite a few of them speaking perfect English whose wish for democracy is articulated without resorting to "anti-Western" rhetoric (…)

Over the years, the Kadars, a dwindling aboriginal tribe who live on the borders of the southern Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, have survived pestilences, extreme exploitation and even mass sterilisations. But a new government plan to build a hydroelectric dam across the Chalakudy River (…)