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Saturday, April 18, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
ENERGY-INDIA: Biofuelling Confusion
A cactus-like plant spread over acres of red, laterite soils in the Tree Oils research farm, in this arid part of southern India, is at the centre of huge divisions over India’s ambitious biofuel programme.
DEVELOPMENT-NEPAL: Women Everesters Talk Gender Equality
Seven young women have started a seemingly commonplace programme of video presentations at schools in this mountainous Himalayan country. The programme’s contents however are unique.ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Goa Agitated by Shady Real Estate Deals
Simmering resentment against major, concrete development in rural Goa - famous for its exotic beaches and idyllic rural countryside - has now exploded in violent agitations against corrupt local administrations.RIGHTS-INDIA: Clamour for Police Reforms Louder Post Mumbai
Following the Nov. 26-29 terror attacks on the port city of Mumbai, which exposed lack of coordination among various security forces, the clamour to implement long-pending police reforms in India has become louder.LABOUR-INDIA: Getting 'Bangalored' Back
The term 'getting Bangalored' , or having jobs outsourced from the West to this international IT hub, looks set to acquire another connotation - this time of professionals being fired right here.CLIMATE CHANGE: Indian Scientists Competent But Still at Sea
The prestigious Indian Institute of Science (IISc), set up here in May 1909, is celebrating its centenary with year-long lectures and seminars, some of which have revealed Indian science’s lack of coherence in dealing with climate change in India.DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: Celebrating Sanitation
Everywhere there was the seductively deep bass sound of Indian drums as crowds of local villagers shouted ‘Jai Swachhta’ (long live cleanliness) and punched the air.ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Sanitation Concerns Shift Into Space
India may be grappling with problems of basic sanitation but, at another level, its top scientists are turning their attention to human pollution in space.ENVIRONMENT-BURMA: Conflict Threatens Karen Biodiversity
On top of 60 years of military occupation, the Karen people of Burma are now facing severe impairment of their environmental and cultural foundations, say activists.
INDIA: Water Privatisation – 'No Need For Costly Consultants'
The Indian corporate conglomerate, Tata, says it is ready to provide water services in this vast country and also prove that privatisation does not have to involve expensive foreign consultants and providers.
ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: In Sore Need of E-Waste Regulation
India’s lack of safe electronic waste-disposal is growing to a crisis situation, needing strong laws to control the situation, say experts.INDIA: Bank Accused of Environmental, Human Damage
A 13- member distinguished jury of Indian and international economists, scientists, retired bureaucrats, legal experts and social leaders have charged the World Bank with harming the environment and lowering the standard of living of most Indians.
ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Green Buildings Popular With Builders, Clients
India’s energy conservation laws for buildings are voluntary but this is one area in which the country is already ‘greener’ than in many parts of the developed world.
INDIA: Mining Boom Affecting Tribals, Environment
While India has been steadily attracting foreign investment into its booming mining sector, the fact that the best prospects lie in tribal-dominated and heavily forested areas is cause for concern.POLITICS-INDIA: Exploiting Terrorism
In the aftermath of the spate of serial bomb blasts that rocked Ahmedabad in western India and the southern city of Bangalore, late July, prominent civil rights activists, advocates and experts have criticised the government, for political interference in and misuse of the country’s counter-terrorism laws.CLIMATE CHANGE: Insubstantial Shadows
Amidst the cacophony of discussions and negotiations within the international climate change caucus, one particular group, the G8, had held out hope for effective implementation - more than the United Nations Kyoto Protocol (KP), which remains bogged down in various degrees of non-compliance.
INDIA: Media Lessons From Rural Women
"We don’t know how to read or write, but we make our own films,’’ is how Narsamma, 42, a farmer from Pastapur village in Hyderabad, introduces herself and her colleagues.
G8: Japan Showcases its Environmental Policy
Japan has one of the world’s most aggressive environmental policies, set both to meet 2012 emission reduction targets and to make the country - which has no natural resources of its own - less dependent on imports, according to experts meeting here. At a meeting of influential parliamentarians of GLOBE (global legislators for a balanced environment) ahead of the upcoming G8 summit in Hokkaido, Jul. 7-9, several high-profile Japanese politicians spoke of Prime Minister Fukuda’s low-carbon initiatives.
G8: Trying to Move Beyond Debate on Emission Targets
Approximately 133 parliamentarians from 23 countries along with prominent politicians under a caucus called GLOBE (global legislators for a balanced environment) have gathered here ahead of the Jul. 7-9 G8 meetings in Hokkaido. They hope to influence the G8 - the world’s most industrialised countries - to adopt a policy for tacking climate change post-2012 when the current Kyoto Protocol ends.RIGHTS-INDIA: State-Sponsored Repression, Say Human Rights Activists
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), a 32-year-old Indian human- rights group, has decried India’s judiciary for refusing bail to ‘jungle doctor’ and human rights activist Binayak Sen. Sen is widely-respected for his 30 years of healthcare work among tribals in the central Indian State of Chhattisgarh, and has criticised the State for the mass-eviction of thousands of tribal villagers.INDIA: Urged to Lead UNEP Upgrade
India is sitting out on an opportunity to take the lead in ensuring its own and developing countries’ interests in the ongoing debate to upgrade the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) into a stronger body, says a leading expert on international environment law.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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