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In the years to come, India’s expanding steel production will be largely driven by sponge iron. But its manufacturing process, based on coal, is highly polluting. The repercussions are already visible near sponge iron factories which have mushroomed in iron ore- and coal-rich areas. People are (…)

Seen by some as a desirable and irreversible engine of prosperity and progress, globalization is resisted by others as the soft underbelly of a corporate imperialism that plunders and profiteers in the global marketplace. Globalization has brought many benefits, including the reduction of (…)

On 24 December 2010, Dr Binayak Sen — a man who has now become a cause célèbre across the country — was sentenced to life imprisonment by a sessions court in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, for “conspiracy to commit sedition”. Sen had worked for 30 years with the tribal poor in the state both as a doctor (…)

Two recent judicial interventions on the exercise of freedom of expression have given rise to some uneasiness. Judge Navita Kumari Bagha, Metropolitan Magistrate of the Patiala Courts, New Delhi, delivered on November 27 a 12-page order that sought to reverse years of free-speech jurisprudence (…)

Today we are in the midst of a multifaceted crisis which touches the lives of everyone on the planet. Whether it′s growing poverty and inequality or shrinking access to food and water, the collapse of global financial markets or the dire effects of climate change, every aspect of this crisis can (…)

With settlement expansion and continuing human rights abuses against Palestinians, the lessons from the anti-apartheid movement continue to motivate the growing global opposition to the occupation.
On a full-day drive through the Jordan Valley late last month, we skirted the earth’s oldest (…)

October 2010 marks the fifth anniversary of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The Act and its implementation have been described in both administrative circles and civil society as “revolutionary” , “a blow for transparency”, “a check on corrupt practices” and “a people’s intervention tool (…)

Floods in the Indus, triggered by the heavy monsoon rain, devastate vast swathes of land and render millions homeless in Pakistan. Moving at a furious pace from the mountainous north-western region of Gilgit-Baltistan to the fertile south, the Indus river, swollen and bursting its banks (…)

June 26 may have been the last day of the U.S. Social Forum (USSF) in Detroit, but it might very well be the emergence of a more powerful antiwar movement in this country.
We can’t address the economic crisis blighting neighborhoods throughout the United States without moving money away from (…)

In a State where more than two-thirds of rural families live below the poverty line and other social indicators are as dismal, the process of industrialisation that began at the turn of the century ought to have been a cause for optimism. But, of late, people have been fighting tooth and nail (…)

Zimbabwe is currently the subject of sanctions designed to pressure Robert Mugabe and his colleagues to cease human rights abuses and remove other barriers to democratization in the country. Yet despite some recent positive developments — such as the appointment of independent commissions on (…)

Over the centuries, the poison of caste has been variously sung about, lamented, protested, outlawed and adjudicated in this region. During that time, the economic and cultural foundations of – and, most of all, the religious sanction for – this abhorrent practice have all been sculpted to (…)

While the Iranian government has intensified its aggressive efforts to expand Internet filters, Austin Heap, a young programmer in the U.S., says he has developed software that would enable Iranians to evade their censors. Read more

The Safai Karmchari Andolan, a grass roots movement by conservancy workers is working towards banishing the inhuman practice, with admirable success. This practice of ‘manual scavenging’ is the worst surviving symbol of caste untouchability in India. It drives people into this degrading daily (…)

MEDHA PATKAR, the 56-year-old leader of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), is fighting what she calls the “final battle”. After close to three decades of protests against the damming of the Narmada river, she is battling against the Gujarat government’s attempt to raise the height of the Sardar (…)

A success story from Tamil Nadu in the field of HIV-AIDS prevention and control, involving education and communication paradigms that bring about changes in healthcare-seeking behaviour. The project’s innovation was the engagement of “high-risk group members” as community health personnel. This (…)

From the LTTE to the Sinhala chauvinist forces, the Taliban to the forces of Hindutva, we have seen reactionary and rightwing forces attack our communities, but why is our solidarity and mobilisation against such reactionary forces so limited in the region? We have seen the onslaught of (…)

While the role of technology in the political struggle in Iran and elsewhere should not be overstated, it should not be underestimated either. The "next generation" controls with which authorities aim to manage the Internet mark a shift from heavy-handed filtering to sophisticated multi-pronged (…)

Activist Kitiry Roy’s arrest is a reminder of shrinking democratic space, says Thusha Mittal. His crime — holding a public hearing; holding the State accountable; attempting to hold the Constitution to its best face. In the FIR against Roy by the Anti-terrorist cell of Kolkata Police, the above (…)

Over the past three decades, in the shadow of hostile nationalisms fuelled by radical Islamic and Hindu politics, military crises, a runaway arms race, nuclear weapons and war, an amazing set of civil society initiatives has been taking root in India and Pakistan. A citizens’ diplomacy movement (…)