Uttaranchal tea estates bane for farmers

a shameful scam has been perpetrated in the hills of Uttaranchal. Some years before the new state was inaugurated the then Uttar Pradesh government conceived a grandiose scheme of acquiring 12,000 hectares of land to launch a number of tea estates. Thankfully, it now appears, most of the plan remained on paper, with only one estate getting off the ground.

Cola controversy lesson for media management

the day after Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss told Parliament that the Centre for Science and Environment's (cse's) exhaustive study on carbonated beverages was "inconclusive", the Delhi edition of the Hindustan Times carried the story as its lead story on page one. As part of the lead package, the newspaper juxtaposed Ramadoss's mugshot with that of cse director Sunita Narain.

Information power imperative

every once in a while, India demonstrates that its flawed democracy is actually driven by the people. Elections are, of course, the pre-eminent event for people to send out their message. Deliver or perish is the signal sent out time and again. It's just not delivery of services, though that is very important. It's also the delivery of the basic tenets that determine whether or not we shall live in a public sphere that is shaped by principles of accountability.

Multiculturalism a vague concept for West

holocaust-denial laws are the ultimate bunkum. Just think about it. The state of Israel has used the history of the Nazis to perpetrate untold miseries on the Arab world. This is not a rant. Think about recent history. The Western powers divided west Asia, creating Israel, a Jewish oasis in an Arab world -- the implicit logic goes back to really ancient history. The Arabs were not consulted, nor, to be fair, were the Jews.

Red said go

three decades ago, the Left Front government in West Bengal started its rule by distributing land to the landless through its famous land reform programme. Now, the political grouping is preparing to grab 17,200 hectares (ha) of mostly agricultural land for industry -- from the same people it once empowered.

Biotechnology for poor farmers

five million farmers in China accepted Bt cotton since 1994. We have heard no end of how biotechnology can help small and marginal farmers earn better. International development agencies, such as the un Development Program, have put their multilateral weight behid biotechnologies. Agrobusiness giants and thier public relations agencies have lost no opportunity to dismiss protests against biotechnology in developing countries.

It's a bad, bad world

the Union ministry of communications (moc) has plans for a blissful world, one in which lampooning or mockery shall be anathema. As part of its plans, it prohibited access to certain blogs and websites. It later revoked the ban when its impracticability became plain. Anyhow, the ban raised pertinent questions.

Big deal

essar Steels is on the road to opening a steel plant in Chaibasa, Jharkhand. The Mittal-owned company has promised an ambitious rehabilitation project for the villagers they are going to evict. The fundamental premise of the deal is that Essar will not start operations until alternative accommodation and livelihoods are found for the people who will be turfed out of their homes. The options on offer are contiguous relocation with limited jobs in the proposed plant, or, presumably, more distant peregrinations. Even the job offer, however, is a hedged bet.

Government's relief for Maharashtra farmers not enough

if it were not bad enough that farmers have to take their lives before the government sits up and takes notice that something is seriously wrong, we now have a cruel farce on our hands. Prime minister Manmohan Singh went to Maharashtra's Vidarbha district where heavily indebted cotton farmers have been committing suicide in large numbers from last year.

Government's decision on public sector units bad news for neo-liberal economists

the United Progressive Alliance government has recently announced a moratorium on disinvestment in public sector units. That's bad news for supporters of neo-liberal economics. The media has gone into a tizzy. Cassandras are at work overtime predicting a sharp fall in "economic growth". The country's fourth estate -- by and large -- has again demonstrated its propensity to take up the cudgels on behalf of its corporate chums.