A meeting of India's top seismologists and earthquake specialists, which discussed issues arising from the Sikkim earthquake, has strongly recommended that northeastern states set up their own state disaster response units instead of being dependent on centralised forces like the National Disaster Response Force. In addition, the national workshop on 'Housing, Resilience and Rehabilitation' on…
As she guided the young children to the bus, Juri Gogoi was apprehensive. Could she handle this boisterous lot for a whole day and hand them safely back to their homes? She started a head count, all 25 in, so far so good….. The bus took off with a jolt, splashing slush from the wobbly,…
Noted film maker and activist Anant Patwardhan has called for the repeal of the Armed Forcers Special Powers Act and said that the widespread attitude of ‘my country, right or wrong’ needed to change. Mr. Patwardhan, who is well-known for his espousal of human rights and critique of communal forces, was launching the C-NES report…
Joynal Abedin was a hunter and poacher. But two accidents changed his life: an unborn buffalo calf’s untimely death and a forest officer’s squashing by a rogue elephant. He has now dedicated his life to wildlife conservation in Assam’s Dibru Saikhowa forest. The gun has hypnotic powers. I realised this very early in life. I…
The earthquake in Sikkim and the sheer terror and sense of helplessness that it inspired among the victims as well as those who have been trying to rescue them and document/report on event is a grim reminder of the power that nature can unleash without warning. I’m not talking about the ‘havoc’ that our natural…
The report of the Task Force on development processes for Himalayan Hill States set up by the Planning Commission, Government of India, and which was handed over to the Planning Commission in December 2010 talks of the importance of the Boat Clinics initiative (see below). The premier agency mandated to conduct the study was the…
Madras University's Political Science Department under Prof. Ramu Mannivannan, head of department, is hosting a three-day outreach programme on campus beginning on Sept 22 with the release of the Report 'Bearing Witness: The Impact of Conflict on Women in Nagaland and Assam'; this will be followed by the opening of the photo exhibition; a screening…
Swaminathan S Aiyar writes in his hugely popular column Swaminomics in The Times of India about the ‘Ships of Hope on the Mighty Brahmaputra’.
The Northeast is poised for a leap forward, as is the rest of the country. This may sound paradoxical at a time when there are so many prophets of gloom and doom. As one who has been reporting on India since the birth of the new Republic, I have heard such apocalyptic forecasts time and…
Twenty-two year old Manjula reached the radio station before daybreak one day in August last year and started broadcasting Tsunami alerts at 5:00 a.m. Early morning listeners were caught unaware as they are used to the community radio station, Kalanjiam Vaanoli, beginning its broadcast only at eight. By mid-morning, Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu and the surrounding…