A note on  UNFCCC Executive Secretary's address at an exclusive session on India’s Vision for Climate Action: Embracing the Global Perspective organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Chennai: *** “This year, July has been the hottest month in our history. We expect the next year to be hotter with every year, new records being broken. This is going to be the new norm as we tackle how to align the rising temperature and remain within the 1.5-degree Celsius target. We are currently at 1.1 degrees Celsius world with floods, droughts, heat, and vector borne diseases being witnessed every day in many parts of the world. Keeping this in mind, COP 28 to be held in Dubai this year will be the most significant COP since the 2015 Paris Agreement. What makes this exceptional is what we call the global stock take, wherein we would be taking a backward reflection on where we are, our goals, our aspirations, and targets,” said Mr Simon Emmanuel Kervin Stiell, Executive Sec...

Bureaucrat-turned-activist Harsh Mander Counterview Desk  The Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), consisting of retired civil servants, protesting against the amendments to the All India Services, has said the aim of the Government of India move is to armed itself with “unlimited powers to harass and persecute any pensioner, whose action is not to its liking, whether it be an article, an interview, participation in a protest march or seminar, or any form of criticism.

By Kuntal Mukherjee, Basant Yadav, Shivnath Yadav* This article is mainly based on a journey of the three of us since 2010 based on field experience, study of different articles, reflective journeys with local community based organisations, villagers and practitioners in Chhattisgarh. The slow growth of Agriculture in India with near stagnation in productivity since mid ‘80s in contrast to the remarkable growth during the green revolution period has come to the front as a great concern. In post WTO era Indian Agriculture has been witnessing structural changes, uncontrolled influx of agriculture goods and commodities from foreign countries due to open market nature. The gradual reduction in subsidies from internal production leads to increasing cost of production of agriculture produces at the farm gate. It causes gradual decrease in internal production as well as productivity and posing threats to small farm and stakeholders.  Despite adoption of modern methods of crop cultivation ...

By Noor Mohammad, Sion Kongari*  During British colonial rule in India, around 200 tribal communities across India were notified as “criminal tribes” under the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871. Members of these “notified tribes” were said to be "addicted to the systematic commission of non-bailable offences". 

By Kavita Kabeer*  When a deal takes place between two parties, it is supposed to be fruitful for both. But the recent deal with Micron, signed on PM Modi’s visit to the US and initially hailed as a major technological breakthrough, seems to be falling flat of its tall promises .

By Harsh Thakor  On June 27 in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, French neo-fascism was resurrected at a full brim. The police killed a 17-year-old teenager called Nahel Merzouk. The incident occurred after Nahel and his two passengers were pulled over by the police near Nanterre-Prefecture train station. One of the officers pointed a gun at Nahel’s head and threatened him—shouting “Hurry up! Or you’ll get a bullet in the head!”—and hit him. Terrified, Nahel took his foot off the brake of his automatic transmission car, which was starting to move forward again. Initially, the police attempted to cover the blame by claiming it as an act of self-defence, but a video of incident certified the truth. Not only had the police murdered a young man, but they had also tried to blame the victim for his own death. In a working-class suburb where residents have been continuously victims of police harassment and violence for decades, this most recent police crime was the final nail in the coffin. I...

By Abhay Kumar*  Adivasi rights journalist Rupesh Kumar Singh completes one year in jail. In his absence, the family has suffered hardship. Her wife Ipsa Shatakshi has been fired from her teaching job at a private school, yet she remains resolute in waging the battle outside.

By Harsh Thakor  Kenyan Police killed six protesters and detained over 300 on July 19 in a merciless crackdown on the protests against the US-IMF backed Finance Act 2023. Up to 23 people have perished in the crackdown by the police on the recent protests in Kenya against the new tax regime introduced in the Finance Act 2023, with sanctioning of the US and IMF. On the 7 th of July ignited massive protests engulfing Kenya , mainly in the capital, Nairobi, as well as in other two important cities, Mombasa and Kisumu. Anti-government demonstrators in Kenya lit bonfires and blocked major roads in the capital Friday as part of nationwide protests against the government’s plans to increase taxes . Hundreds of protesters turned up in Nairobi, as well as in the coastal city of Mombasa and the lakeside city of Kisumu, where the opposition enjoys huge support. These protests caused the closure of multiple businesses. After the first day of riots, there were more than 20 people in police ca...

Counterview Desk  An open appeal to the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh to stop communalization of education, allowing the Ganga Jamuna HS School, Damoh, to function, has said that the   school  came under controversy because of their uniform which included a headscarf for adolescent girls. 

By Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD*   Decades ago, when test matches were the dominant form of the game, I, like most of my peers, was addicted to cricket, both playing and watching or rather listening as those days we did not have TVs but the transistor. During the test matches be it in Australia, West Indies, India, England, or anywhere else, there used to be groups of young and old around “paan” shops trying to catch the running commentary. Students and office goers, young and old had their ears glued to the transistor following the ups and downs of the two teams and individual players over the course of the 5 days test match, with one day break for rest in between.

By Nava Thakuria*  As one more first information reports (FIR) was lodged against the corruption and money laundering by concerned officials while updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam and the petitioner, Gitika Bhattacharya, a Guwahati-based social worker, in her complaint at Dispur police station demanded legal actions against the government officials along with the private parties as well as some individuals, it added more dimensions to the controversy. The complaint, received on 13 July 2023, also categorically highlighted the matter of exploitation to nearly 8000 contractual workers, who were denied legalised monthly salaries during the process of NRC updation in the north-eastern State of India. It was in fact the fifth FIR, lodged before Assam Police, against the former NRC State coordinator, Prateek Hajela, who was appointed to look after the massive exercise under direct monitoring of the Supreme Court of India engaging 50,000 government employees and a...

By Sudhansu R Das  India’s largest community, the Hindus are facing many problems which were created by them only. The community is divided and subdivided on the basis caste, sub-caste, language, dialects, regions and sects etc. As a result, the community’s social, economic and cultural growth is badly affected. The community is also divided on the basis of wealth and status; there are divisions within the families. How to address the problems of the community is the biggest challenge before the Hindu leaders. The Hindu community is the worst victim of the vote bank politics. There is mushroom growth of caste and parochial leaders across the country. Even National parties passionately cling to the caste equation. The caste factor in UP, Bihar, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat etc influence the election results. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, it is expected that caste would play a dominant role and block the door for many deserving candidates....

By Nasri Bai Ningwal et al*  Adivasis of Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan (JADS) in Barwani, Burhanpur and Khargone organized protests on 26-27th July against the state-sponsored violence against Adviasis in Manipur. Violence and illegal eviction in the name of "conservation" is not new for Kukis and other forest dependent Adivasis in Manipur. A number of villages were recently displaced in one such drive in February-March, sparking fierce protests from Adivasis in Manipur.

By Harsh Thakor  On July 23rd we celebrated the 70th birthday of former English opening batsman and captain, Graham Gooch. Graham Gooch in full flow manifested batting domination, in realms rarely surpassed. He may have lacked the finesse of a David Gower or solidity of Boycott but for sheer counter attacking ability, no English batsmen of his time was as mercurial. At his best he could sit alongside Hobbs or Hutton Few batsman ever improved with age as Gooch. In the course of an innings, Gooch resembled a surgeon digging deeper and deeper into the skin of a patient. Rarely has an opening batsmen scaled such heights in combative spirit or made leap of such a spectacular scale, at such late stage of an international career. The dazzling cover drives, square cuts, hook and pull shots of Gooch, put fan son the edge of their seats. An unusually high backlift, did not hinder his ability to plunder runs. On his day, like Barry Richards and Greenidge, he literally peeled the skin of bowle...