Farmer harmer

NILOTPAL BASU

Terrible magnate

SUNITA DUBEY

Largesse with agenda

ANIKET ALAM

A tiger in your bank

The old Exxon ditty,"Put a tiger in your tank", has been adopted by the World Bank. Reportedly prodded by its president, Robert Zoellick, the Bank will announce a new global initiative to save tigers. The 'signature tiger event' in Washington DC on June 9, will be co-hosted by several international conservation groups. Because such interest in wildlife conservation has been rare at the very top hitherto, there is much excitement within and outside the Bank.

Judicial excessivism

The Right to Environment was not initially guaranteed by the Constitution as a fundamental right. Indira Gandhi's otherwise infamous 42 nd Amendment made it a constitutional expectation (Article 48-A). After the emergency, the Supreme Court of India converted this expectation into a guaranteed "collective" right for all people in India as part of their 'life and liberty' right (Article 21).

A better PIL

There is something amiss about the present debate on the need to frame guidelines for public interest litigation (pils). It ignores the rationale that the Supreme Court of India put forth for such lawsuits in 1982.

Goodbye Indian mermaid

On April 11, the union cabinet gave the go-ahead to conservation authorities to sign an mou with international counterparts to protect the dugong and its habitat. Indian efforts to conserve this virtually-unknown sea creature will get international recognition as a result. But this initiative has probably come too late.

Largesse too little

KANCHI KOHLI,    MANJU MENON Ministers of the United Progressive Alliance government are often heard mouthing platitudes about inclusive growth. On the face of it, inclusive

Villagers see reason in protesting against POSCO

Little did I know that the seven of us would be branded "Maoists" when we set off for a protest rally against posco in Orissa on April 1. We had reached Bhubaneswar a day earlier and booked a taxi to Dhinkia, a hamlet 10 km off Paradip port. A local boy travelling with us sounded out the prospect of having to walk down the last kilometre by the coast to "avoid trouble"; he had information that a police vehicle was doing rounds of the area.

Not so lovely fair trade

SONIA KUNDU After travelling in Himachal Pradesh to visit friends, I had an idea to export wild mushrooms to the uk. Not really crazy when you consider how much Europeans love their wild mushrooms and how abundantly they grow in Himachal.