The games are over and Delhi will get back to its ways; traffic jams will endure, people will urinate on the walls of the new stadiums – an expression of relief, of lack of facilities and also contempt for the organizers for the games – and the posters, banners and paint, like public memory, will…
Nominations are invited for ‘SCHOLL Research Challenge 2010’. Nominations are invited from young and bright researchers who are into high caliber action based research in development and governance thematic areas within the larger social science research domain. Papers / case studies having practical, policy & programme impact in addressing development and governance challenges in the…
Lee Iacocca, one of America’s business leaders said, “Humans have brains — at least most of us do — and that means we can act based on reason, hope and possibility.” Lee poses three fundamental questions for anyone launching into something innovative but he did so based on what was America’s great need at the…
The Forest Rights Act of 2006—also known as the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act—came after considerable and bitter opposition from conservation groups. They said the Act, which would grant land rights to tribals and other forest dwellers, would destroy forests and wipe out wildlife. Worse, the rights would…
A new scientific discovery has been reported on the remarkable communciation skills of the bottle nose dolphins, the sea cousins of the fresh water Gangetic dolphins of Assam, West Bengal and other parts of India as well as Bangladesh and Nepal. The research was carried out off Sardinia in the Mediterranean Sea as reported in the…
Dear friends, Samrakshan, with the support of local communities of the Balpakram Baghmara landscape in Meghalaya, India, has launched a nature-based tourism programme in collaboration with Titli Trust (www.titlitrust.com). This initiative is aimed at providing the local community with an economic incentive to conserve the landscape. We invite you to join the first butterfly tour in…
Agencies of the State and the private sector are collecting a variety of data on individuals. Adequate regulatory measures are needed to rein them in and safeguard individual privacy and data protection, says VENKATESH NAYAK, discussing government consultations on a proposed privacy law. Read more: http://www.thehoot.org/web/freetracker/story.php?storyid=149§ionId=62
Dear all, A short while ago I sent you an preliminary analysis of the Public Interest Disclosure and Protection of Persons Making Disclosure Bill, 2010 (the Whistleblower Bill) has been tabled in the Lok Sabha (Lower House of India's Parliament) yesterday (26th August 2010). Here is an additional facet to the complex issue. The Department of Personnel which prepared this Bill…
The elderly owner of the guest house in the upper Assam tea town of Dibrugarh was worried. It was near midnight and his young guests were not in yet. A search party set out, a frantic search began. They were finally located at the only restaurant open, watching the Greece, Nigeria soccer World Cup group…
Floodwaters ravage the remote island of Lamba Sapori in Assam’s Dhemaji district as the monsoons rage. Trapped in their water logged home, Punyadhar and Oipuli Morang are in dire distress. Their two-year child has had an acute asthmatic attack. There is little they can do but hope. Time ticks off, each moment’s breath a greater burden…