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Sunday, October 18, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Diesel Ban Will Clean Air, But Paralyse Capital
Come April, the 15 million residents of the Indian capital will breathe easier, thanks to a stern Supreme Court order banning all diesel-powered buses and taxis from the roads. But there are apprehensions that this ban would paralyse activity in the national capital.POLITICS-INDIA: Opposition Smells Revival Chances in Arms Scam
India's main opposition Congress party, in the political wilderness since 1996 for past venality, sees chances for its revival in the arms bribery scandal that has rocked the political party and government led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.POLITICS-SOUTH ASIA: Annan’s Visit Makes Little Headway on Kashmir
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's just- finished tour of South Asia has once again brought out India's reluctance to open dialogue on disputed Kashmir with Pakistan's military ruler Pervez Musharraf.POLITICS-SOUTH ASIA: Annan’s Visit Makes Little Headway on Kashmir
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's just- finished tour of South Asia has once again brought out India's reluctance to open dialogue on disputed Kashmir with Pakistan's military ruler Pervez Musharraf.POLITICS-INDIA: Defence Minister Goes, But Govt. Still in Trouble
The resignation of George Fernandes, India's defence minister, failed to bring respite to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's coalition, troubled by the exposure of shady defence deals.POLITICS-INDIA: Defence Purchases Under Cloud
The defence deals scandal shaking the Indian government, has brought under a cloud, the country's recent shopping spree for arms, including an ageing Russian aircraft carrier.INDIA: Corruption Scandal Revives Plea for State Poll Funding
As yet another corruption scandal rocks India and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government this time, questions are being asked again why this happened.SOUTH ASIA: Kashmiri Separatist Leaders to Appeal to Annan
Disappointed by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's stand that the Kashmir dispute must be resolved by India and Pakistan alone, key Kashmiri separatist leaders say they will directly appeal to Annan for the world body's intervention. The All Party Hurriyat Conference -- a coalition of 14 Kashmiri political separatist groups -- decided Tuesday to send a senior leader to meet the U.N. secretary general when he arrives in the Indian capital Thursday, on the final leg of his South Asian tour.HEALTH-INDIA: Prisoners’ Blood Safe Too – Rights Groups
In an unusual complaint, India's top prison official has accused the country's biggest blood bank of violating the human rights of jail inmates.HEALTH-INDIA: Government Rebuts Drug Piracy Charge
Accused of 'piracy' by Western transnational drug companies, India is defending its right to make cheaper generic medicines, on legal and ethical grounds.DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: Govt. Accused of Favouring TNCs Over Tribals
The global hunger for aluminium is fuelling conflicts between trans-national corporations (TNCs) and India's tribal communities living in areas with rich deposits of the industrially- valuable mineral.CULTURE-AFGHANISTAN: Indian Experts Fear for Other Relics
Indian experts who had helped conserve the world's tallest statues of the Buddha, which were reportedly smashed over the weekend by Afghanistan's Taliban militia, are now fearing for the safety of other relics in that country.ECONOMY-INDIA: Budget Criticised as Pro-Rich
India's pro-reform budget proposals for the fiscal year beginning April, have been criticised as blatantly pro-rich and serving corporate interests.RIGHTS-INDIA: Govt. Economic Policy Takes Note of Gender Equality
The emphasis on gender equality, for the first time, in the Indian government's annual economy survey ahead of Wednesday's budget presentation in parliament, has failed to impress women's rights activists in the country.POPULATION-INDIA: Accuracy Questioned as Census Nears End
When census officials visited India's first family to start the nation's once-in-10-years population count early February, they were embarrassed to find they could not record a vital social fact about President K.R. Narayanan.INDIA: Worry Over Growing Influx of Drugs
From a major transit route for illicit drugs produced in central and South-east Asia, India is fast becoming a big end user of these psychotropic substances, warn top drug control officials. "For decades, India had a role as a major transit point for processed heroin...but is now itself turning into a consumer," says C. Chakrabarty a member of the Austria-based, International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: UNDP Helps in Tackling Drought
If India's eastern coastal Orissa state is able to cope with a severe drought looming over the province, it will be due to lessons learnt from a 'super- cyclone' that killed thousands of people 16 months ago.DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: UNDP Chief Visits Cyclone Village
"The storm took away everything we had. What is there left to protect now?" laments Radhi Kandi in this hamlet in India's eastern coastal Orissa state.INDIA: Three Weeks After Quake, Relief Still to Reach All
Nearly three weeks after India's worst earthquake devastated a large part of western coastal Gujarat state, authorities and foreign relief agencies still face an uphill task reaching out to those in need.TRADE: India to Pay Power Bills in Controversial Power Deal
The Indian government has agreed to pay 19 million U.S. dollars in electricity bills owed to American energy giant Enron Corp., ending speculation on the fate of the world's biggest private power project in western Maharashtra state.POLITICS-SOUTH ASIA: Quake Goodwill Between India, Pakistan Ends
The show of goodwill between India and Pakistan generated by the Jan. 26 earthquake in Gujarat state is now over, and the South Asian neighbours are back to bickering over the long-disputed territory of Kashmir.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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