Reports

Both Brazil and India have a lot in common as economies of the future, BRIC experts would like to have us believe. But what they invariably fail to tell us is about the ruthless marginalising and exploitation of indigenous people that have been taking place in these two countries in the pursuit of growth. A community of Guarani Indians in Brazil, however, have decided that enough is enough and have retaken part of its ancestral land, having lived by the side of a highway for a year and a half...

The much-awaited launch of Until My Freedom Has Come - The New Intifada in Kashmir happened. The editor of the compilation, Sanjay Kak, had been warned by the publisher about people walking out of book launches quite early in the evening. That didn't happen on May 25, 2011. The Gulmohar hall at India Habitat Centre remained choc a bloc till the end. And that too with the book being already available in stores. That's what made the evening special. The recording I have here has been split into...

This ought to be slap on the face of the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government. American diplomats consider the Indian government "unwilling and unable" to "end the exploitation and victimisation" of the country’s 84 million tribal people. This will be difficult for the government to dismiss since these are revelations that have been made in the secret cables that have been released by The Hindu. The cables reveal that the American government feared this neglect "plays into the hands of Naxalites."...

India has been ranked 135th in the Global Peace Index 2011 released on Wednesday. India ranks below countries like Myanmar (133), Nepal (95) and Bangladesh (83). It, of course, is better placed than Pakistan (146), Russia (147), Afghanistan (150), Iraq (152) and Somalia (153). The GPI is one of the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness. It gauges ongoing domestic and international conflict, safety and security in society, and militarisation in 153 countries by taking into account 23...

Vedanta must be the best in the business when it comes to when it comes to managing the media. Either they are successfully able to block news from trickling out, or they can control what appears in the media. Quite often it is a combination of the two. It is, therefore, hardly surprising that reports of a recent toxic waste leak from Vedanta Aluminium Ltd’s Lanjigarh alumina refinery into a nearby river made no headlines in major news outlets in India. The Vedanta-Cairn deal, however, has been...

His misty eyes and weather-beaten face belie his age. As Mushtaq slouches back against the wall, he listens to us with a resigned look writ large on his gnarled visage. He gives the impression that we are engaged in a futile discussion. A second look at him, and you will wonder whether he’s just waiting for the ordeal to tide over. He probably is. He, today, does not have a life. He has not a livelihood worth the name. Mushtaq was once an artisan who worked with furs; today he is just another...

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has recommended the closure of 23 public sector undertakings in Maharashtra. Describing these as non-working companies, the CAG in its latest report on the state tabled in the Maharashtra Assembly stated that since no purpose may be served by keeping these units in existence, the state government needs to expedite closing down of these non-working PSUs. Of these 23 PSUs, three have already commenced the liquidation process. In case of ten others...

Compared to the 2G scam, the amount of this is probably nothing; but this has graver significance. A new report tells us that the subsidy on diesel has been aggressively exploited by the telecom sector, resulting in an annual loss of around Rs 2600 crore to the state exchequer. The Greenpeace report, Dirty Talking – A case for telecom to shift from diesel to renewable builds, on the previous industry and government research which show that at current growth rates, the sector would require 26...

It’s difficult for a journalist visiting Kashmir to return without meeting her. For, hers is one face of resilience in the 22-year Kashmir conflict. The unlettered Parveena Ahangar has been the voice of families left traumatised and bereaved in this protracted unrest. Her placid face masks the ordeal she has herself endured. But as chairperson of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), she leads from the front – she does not give up hope. Ahangar’s tryst with Indian authorities...

The ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in New Delhi is known to introduce regulations on the sly, but this one comes across as sinister. The new Information Technology Rules Act 2011 seeks to regulate Web content that is deemed to be “disparaging,” “harassing,” “blasphemous” or “hateful.” The Department of Information Technology (DIT) can now block any website that displays disparaging content based on a list of criteria defined by the new rules. Any official or private citizen...