Reacting to a statement of the executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity ( CBD ), United Nations, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, on the occasion of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, which fell on October 17, well-known Thiruvananthapuram-based ecologist S Faizi has objected to the CBD’s plan for “effective integration of biodiversity for poverty eradication”. *** I compliment you for issuing this statement . However, I am disappointed to see that the CBD COP's output on poverty and biodiversity, namely the Chennai Guidance is not even referred to in your statement, particularly so since the 12th COP has asked the Executive Secretary to "continue the work requested by the Conference of the Parties in decisions X/6 and XI/22, for the effective integration of biodiversity for poverty eradication and development, taking into account also the related decisions of the Conference of the Parties at its twelfth meeting" and to promote the Chennai ...

River Buri Ganga, lifeline of Dhaka, and the port at Gatboli By Vikas Bajpai*  Earlier this month I was in Dhaka to attend a one on one photography workshop with an extremely talented Bangladeshi photographer GMB Aakash. As I was set to leave for Dhaka a student of mine remarked – “Comrade, tussi abroad challe ho” (comrade, you are going abroad)? Nothing could have been more tragic for me than to feel like being ‘abroad’ in Bangladesh. I told my student friend – “I would just like to feel like being at home in Dhaka; like an overdue homecoming.” My affliction here does not owe to any reason endogenous to me; it simply is for the reason that we are the same people either across our western border or the eastern border, united by a shared history extending over thousands of years. The borders albeit are only 75 years old and it is my belief that if people across the sub-continent could have their way, the borders, as a barrier to free intermingling of the people, would be gone sooner...

By Moin Qazi*  The story of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, is the story of early modern India. There is scarcely any public institution or aspect of the republic that Nehru did not shape or influence. He was an accomplished politician, writer, orator whose contemplative and scholarly books on various subjects are widely read. He wrote and spoke in impeccable English, a language that came naturally to him, because of his education at Harrow, Cambridge and the Inner Temple. His sentences were finely made and always memorable. Nehru was perceived as a complex person, embodying the clash of Eastern and Western cultures which, many felt, impeded India's attempts to leap ahead and catch up with more advanced nations. However, several supporters believe that this approach helped promote indigenous talent and helped India in the long term become self-reliant. Nehru’s importance in Indian history is primarily because he imported and imparted modern values and ways of thinki...

By Shankar Sharma*  Whereas most of the recent projections done by the International Energy Agency (IEA) for India (by 2030), should have been clear to any modest observer of the Indian energy/ economy scenario, some of the data mentioned in this scenario projection should be of lot more concern to our people as compared to what has been said so far by the domestic media houses on the topic so far. Some of such disconcerting facts, as highlighted by IEA, are: India is likely to see the world's biggest rise in energy demand this decade, with demand climbing 3 per cent annually due to urbanisation and industrialisation. While the push for renewable energy will see it meeting as much as 60 per cent of the growth in demand for power, coal will continue to meet a third of overall energy demand by 2030 and another quarter will be met by oil. Even though India continues to make great strides with renewables deployment and efficiency policies, the sheer scale of its development mean...

By NS Venkataraman*   The news that Ambani and Adani have emerged as amongst the top rich persons in the world have provoked derisive laughter amongst some political and leftist groups in India. The rapid rise of Ambani and Adani as wealthy industrialists have been mischievously interpreted as an example of widening the gap between rich and poor in India. To add insult to the injury, it is also freely said by the antagonists that Ambani and Adani could become so rich only due to the patronage that they received from the Government of India and from some state governments. What is conspicuous is that none of the critics of Ambani and Adani have recognised their business initiatives, dynamic management approach, capability to identify appropriate investment opportunities, implement their project plans efficiently in time bound manner , competently operating the completed projects and finally their capability to take on international competitors in India and global...

  By Dr Mike Ghouse* Not only do I congratulate Rishi, but the Hindu and the Indian community as well for giving some of the best political and business leaders to the world. It's supreme joy when one of our own makes super significant accomplishments; not only the Hindus but Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and others feel elated. It is the beauty of democracy; every capable citizen can become whatever he or she wants to be. Let's hope he will work on building stronger economic ties between his motherland and his homeland and bring prosperity and sustainability to both democracies. We, the Indians of all hues, will support him in working toward strengthening democracy and bringing peace and prosperity to the world. 36% of American and British Indians need to reflect on their privileges and hypocritical attitude towards minorities in India USA and UK are not perfect unions but are models for the world and other authoritarian rulers to emulate. No American or Britisher will scream at...

By Our Representative  A Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) meeting on 28th October at the Gandhi Peace foundation on, ‘Dangerous Brain: Saibaba and Others', held to scrutinise the Supreme Court judgement suspending Bombay High Court's acquittal order of Prof GN Saibaba, Hem Mishra, Prashant Rahi, Vijay Tirki and Mahesh Tikri, has demanded that the Apex Court should uphold the Bombay High Court’s order granting acquittal to Saibaba and others. Seeking compensation to family of Pandu Narote, CASR sought initiation inquiry into the custodial death of Narote and hold the officials responsible. Other demands put forward by CASR -- which is a network of several civil rights groups -- included repeal the anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and release all political prisoners. Addressing meeting, senior advocate Colin Golsalves talked about the two judgements on GN Saibaba and Umar Khalid, explaining how the Indian courts are giving judgements politicall...

By IMPRI Team  A consultative workshop was organized by IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute in collaboration with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), India Office on Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP): Exploring India’s Position at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The workshop began with Dr Simi Mehta giving a brief background of the event, the theme, and the experts for the event. She mentioned that FFP is gaining ground as a result of peacebuilding and peacemaking measures around the world by transnational feminist solidarity. She also said that the concept of FFP provides a robust framework to understand the power mechanism in the current global order. She then opened the floor for expert speakers while setting the agenda of the workshop by placing key aspects of the discussion into which the experts would delve. It included but was not limited to: the core concept of FFP, how inclusive FFP is, women’s role in Indian politics, countering gender-based violence and discriminat...

By Our Representative  Complaining against "severe restriction of movement and illegitimate restrictions on livelihood" of the villagers of Bohar, Bindol gram panchayat, Raiganj block, Uttar Dinajpur district, a senior West Bengal-based human rights activist has blamed Border Security Force (BSF) personnel for "not allowing" the local farmers to "take tractors, chemical fertilizers and pesticides in their respective farming lands." In a representation to the National Human Rights Commission chairman, Kirity Roy, secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), said, most of the farmers of the 3,400-stong village are Dalits owning 198 acres of cultivable land, located outside the border fencing. "The BSF regulates the ingress and egress of the villagers to their own agricultural land through the fencing gates according to their whims", he regretted. Pointing out that the distance between the border fence and the International Border Pilla...

By Rajiv Shah  The WhatsApp Business account created particularly to download vaccine certificate for Covid-19 has sent a strange message. The message said, "Cheetahs reintroduced into Indian wildlife after many decades!  Take part in different activities for the Cheetah Reintroduction Project", then goes on to offer the link telling me to find out how the Cheetah relocation project was progressing. Strange, to say the least. Loving to do propaganda on every issue, spending crores, why the Government of India had to use the WhatsApp account for vaccine certificates for the Cheetah relocation project of all the things?  Difficult to gauge.  The link takes you to the following site:  https://www.mygov.in/home/334741/discuss/ Here is the screenshot:

By Dr Ruchi Shree*  Book Review: Venkatesh Dutta (ed.) (2022), "Water Conflicts and Resistance: Issues and Challenges in South Asia", Routledge, New Delhi The recent arrival of this edited volume on changing nature of water conflicts in South Asia is a significant addition to the increasing literature on politics of water. I can recall two more texts namely "Unruly Waters: How Mountain Rivers and Monsoons have Shaped South Asia’s History" (Allen Lane, 2018) by Sunil Amruth and "Water Issues in Himalayan South Asia: Internal Challenges, Disputes and Transboundary Tensions" (Springer, 2020) an edited volume by Amit Ranjan. In the last two decades, politics of water has emerged as an interdisciplinary area of study and the framework of this book also suggests the same. The contributors range from water experts, govt. professionals to civil society activists and they capture the nuances of water conflicts at local, regional and transboundary scales. This book ...

By Vijay Prashad, Tings Chak*  The Communist Party of China (CPC) held its 20th National Congress from October 16 to October 22, 2022 . Every five years, the delegates of the CPC’s 96 million members meet to elect its top leaders and to set the future direction for the party. One of the main themes of the congress this year was “rejuvenation” of the country through “ a Chinese path to modernization .” In his report to the congress, Xi Jinping, the CPC’s general secretary, sketched out the way forward to build China “into a modern socialist country.” Most of the Western media commentary about the congress ignored the actual words that were said in Beijing, opting instead to make wild speculations about the deliberations in the party (including about the sudden departure of former Chinese President Hu Jintao from the Great Hall of the People during the closing session of the congress, who left because he was feeling ill). Much could have been gained from listening to what peopl...