Governance

ये सच है कि जंगल साफ़ करके खेत बनाने की प्रवत्ति किसानों में बहुत पुरानी है। आदमी और जानवरों की लड़ाई भी बहुत पुरानी है। लेकिन इस सब में हम ये भूल जाते हैं कि बहुतायत भारतीय किसान अपने उत्पादन का अधिकतर हिस्सा घरेलू जरूरतों के लिए इस्तेमाल करते हैं। लेकिन औपनिवेशिक काल के ये उद्योग किसकी भूख को ध्यान में रख कर बनाये गए थे, क्या इसमें हमें कोई हिस्ट्री क्लास चाहिए? जिस औद्योगिक नीति से औपनिवेशिक काल में अंग्रेज़ों ने हमारे संसाधनों का शोषण किया, उसका असर अब तक ख़त्म होना तो दूर, बढ़ ही रहा है । मान लीजिये आप एक वनवासी हैं, और सरकार आपके जंगल में ऐसा एक पेड़ लगा देती है, जिसका इस्तेमाल आपको पता ही नहीं

Over a half of 15,000 respondents from across 22 states of India said that police discriminate on the basis of class, followed by caste, gender and religion. What makes the bias more worrisome is the lack of diversity in police. While SCs, STs and women have reservations in the police, the targets remain unmet. Muslims were most likely among all religious groups to feel the bias of police. They also have very low representation in the force which could have helped build trust. 

Lok Sabha passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 on January 8 this year triggering widespread protests in north east India. The bill changes definition of illegal migrants by providing citizenship to non-Muslims coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. North east people fear influx of outsiders and loss of indigenousness with these new rules. Most partners of BJP in north east have threatened to move out of the alliance if the bill becomes law. All eyes will be on Rajya Sabha as it takes up the bill for discussion soon. This short video explains the topic in 30 seconds. 

The Preraks provide coordination, management and monitoring support to the district administration for effective implementation of SBM-G. They are involved in developing district-level swachhta action, finance, and sustainability plan for monitoring mechanisms and quality supervision protocols. They also ensure monitoring and implementation support for district-level sustainability initiatives pertaining to the programme. That's not all. They provide support for the development and rollout of the Social Behavioural Change Communication (SBCC) strategy, with a focus on sanitation and personal hygiene issues.

At ‘Remember Bhopal’, the first community-led museum of India, voices of survivors lead you through the biggest industrial disaster of the world that killed over 5,000 people, maimed hundreds of thousands and continues to contaminate land and water even after 33 years. The ltragedymade it to the history textbooks but it’s here that one confronts the enormity of this man-made tragedy. 

As India celebrates 70th Independence Day, it stands as a polarised country. Divided on political lines with little room for tolerance to opposite view point. The sanctity of an elected post is often ignored and seen an extension of political affiliation. Political parties thrive and grow at the cost of Indian democracy and help in promotion of an organised lobby of selfish people. The spirit of the Constitution demands that good people contest elections on their own, reach the Parliament, select a leader and then work on a national agenda instead of working on the agenda of a political party.

India relies on regional comprehensive economic partnership (RCEP), a proposed free trade agreement with ASEAN members and the five states with which ASEAN has existing FTAs. Despite the impressive prospects the gains for India may not be as significant as assumed and may lead to dumping of cheaper imports which will hamper domestic producers.

The recent audit report on environmental clearance and post-clearance monitoring lists many such instances of violations from development projects across India. Inadequate environmental impact assessments, irregularities in public hearings, not meeting promises and unregulated use of natural resources are just a few of the points raised by the audit team. Companies also routinely went back on their promises made during public hearings whether that included compensatory afforestation, installation of instruments for pollution monitoring, rainwater harvesting, dust management systems or effluent treatment plants.

Cash notes worth over Rs 14 lakh crore have been junked by the government via its order on November 9 to curb black money. Pegged at over Rs 30 lakh crore, black money in India is estimated to be 20 per cent of the GDP. While most are optimistic about this move, many have also questioned if it will be worth the inconvenience people have been put to. Thankfully, we can always look back at history to know if we have done better than before. This is the third time India has gone through demonetisation of modern currency. In 1946, the British government demonetised hundred rupee currency and in 1978, currency notes of Rs 1,000 and above were demonetised.

The movement against global mining behemoth Vedanta Corporation led by a small adivasi community of around 8,000 people was likened to many grassroots-level organic and contemporary struggles. However, the popular perception remained that this indigenous community does not want development. That they may yearn for the benefits of modern age was lost in the din of voices as varied as seeking their mainstreaming to leaving them on their own. A recent study conducted by Kalpavriksh draws attention to the needs of the community which they want to fulfil through means that are amiable to their culture and surroundings

Across the world, rapid development restricted to few growth centres has induced a major change in land use. Forests and traditional set up have given way to farm houses, orchards, plantations, industries and residential societies. On January 28, 2011, the Supreme Court gave much needed judicial recognition to the importance of ‘Commons’. Commons can be understood as a community’s natural resources such as forests, wastelands, and water resources, where every member has access and usage facility with specified obligations. A policy review draws key lessons from the SC’s directions and steps taken up by state administrations to comply.  

भूमि सुधार कानून स्वतंत्रता के बाद बनी सरकार की मुख्य प्राथमिकता थी जिसके तहत जमीन को अमीरों से लेकर गरीबों में बांट कर परंपरावादी जमींदारी प्रथा को समाप्त करना था। लेकिन आज किसी भी पार्टी के घोषणा-पत्र में यह नजर नहीं आता।  वर्ष 2012 में एकता परिषद् ने भूमि सुधार की मांग को लेकर ग्वालियर से दिल्ली तक पद यात्रा की थी। एकता परिषद् के अध्यक्ष पीवी राजगोपाल बता रहें हैं कि क्यों यह भूमि सुधार के लिए कठिन समय है और कैसे इससे निपटने के लिए अपनी जड़ों की ओर लौटने की जरूरत है 

Despite the changing ethos and increased interest among the women to engage in police organisations, their composition has not gone beyond 7.28 per cent nationally, shows the latest government data. It is believed that presence of women in the police force will encourage women victims of crime to approach the police stations without any inhibitions especially considering that overall crimes against them are on rise. 

The Union budget saw increase in share of states in the gross tax receipts. While in actuals this might translate to an increase of a nominal 4 per cent in terms of tax revenue shared from Rs 7.62 lakh crore in 2014-2015 to Rs 7.93 lakh crore in 2015-2016, it is the nature of these resources that add value to fiscal devolution. Studies have indicated that states are better capable of administering their finances, while at the same time steadily increasing public investments, when compared to the Centre. so, should we celebrate this development in the fiscal architecture?

Forest Rights Act proposes to do away with historical injustices done to those living in and around forests. It might be a tribal sourcing out forest foods and cultivating the land or a non-tribal using the wood for building own house, the Act gives powers back to the people not only for using the resources but also for conservation and protection. But there's still a lot of ground to be covered and we should not miss trees for the wood. Here's the data and voices from the ground that tell us more about this.

In India, only 4 per cent of transportation is by private cars; but these contribute 20 per cent of passenger transport emission. The policy of encouraging private cars and neglecting public transportation makes transportation of both the car owners and others miserable. Width of the roads becomes inadequate and cannot be increased due to crowding of buildings on both sides. Our policy makers offer flyovers and metro rails in big cities as solutions but experience and studies reveal that only an efficient bus service can free up road space and reduce cost with smaller carbon footprint.

A major change has taken over the Indian skies. Gone are the days of aluminium rod antennas decked with torn kites. The small direct to home (DTH) dish antennas of today signify the shift from terrestrial (over the air) transmission to satellite telecast. In India, this also implies easing out of the national public broadcaster Doordarshan (DD). While most would like to believe stiff competition from private channels and lack of autonomy are the only reasons for DD’s downfall, a five state study conducted by the Media Foundation throws up some interesting findings.

In a country where savings of poor families are meagre and banks not ready to risk giving loans, how do you fund local business plans? You let the poor be the bankers themselves. That’s what 2.5 million aptly named self-help groups (SHGs) do across India. The core belief behind SHGs is that poor can help each other by pooling in their savings and lending the money to the members in need. Linkage with banks also gets them easy credit for group entrepreneurial activities. Perfect at concept level, the scheme has done well in states like Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Bihar. But there’s still a lot of ground to be covered.

The rural job scheme, officially known as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), has received more brickbats than bouquets in its six year run. With Rs 1,66,000 crore spent between 2006 and 2012, many call it a government dole rife with corruption and lack of long term vision. Lately, claims about its negative impact on agriculture have also been made. 

Surekha Gaikwad is a high school graduate. She started picking waste along with her mother-in-law after getting married. Till five years back, she would not even bother to dress up as the day would be spent at a hot and filthy garbage bin. “Even if I had a bath in the morning, by midday I was stinking. So I never bothered to stay clean,” she says. But now Surekha wears a nice fresh sari to work, with a rose in her hair. She leads a team of eight waste pickers

March 2, 2013, proved to be a day of symbolic victory for the critics of Unique Identification Number (UID) as the Chandigarh Administration decided to revoke its order making the number compulsory for vehicle registration and issuance of driving 

Thousands of years have passed, and a woman’s existence is still verified by that of a male in her life. We’ve all heard of the famous saying – “Behind ever successful man is a woman”, and people often say it in passing without realising its significance.

Disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose has been the biggest mystery of modern India running for almost seven decades and involving multiple international link ups, national political interests and mysticism. GOI Monitor talks to journalist-turned researcher Anuj Dhar who recently came up with his second book on Bose which tries to clear several doubts

Donesh Bajaj had been waiting for last 10 months to get the building plan sanctioned for a 210 square yard plot at Kharar in SAS Nagar district of Punjab. Under the Punjab's Right To Service (RTS) Act 2011, the time limit for delivery of building plan sanction is 30 days

On June 1, two sewerage workers died after entering a manhole in Lucknow city due to inhalation of methane gas from the sewer. Not even a simple rope was available at hand which could have been thrown in to pull the men out. The workers both in their 20s, were engaged by a private contractor to clean the manhole before operationalisation of the new civil lines laid down by the Lucknow Jal Nigam.

Q It is estimated that by 2050, 54 per cent of Indians will live in cities. But with such a high premium being placed on urban land, how are the cities going to host migrants, especially the poor?

Firstly, that estimate is probably incorrect. Already, as indicated by the 2011 Census, urban growth is slowing down - from 54 per cent in the 1970s to 32  per cent currently even though the Census has

After a long procedure involving multiple RTI applications and complaint before the Central Information Commissioner, Software Freedom Law Centre (SFLC), a donor-supported legal services organisation for protection of freedom in the digital

In this world of 7 billion people, the global rural-urban balance of populations has tipped irreversibly in favour of cities. But what, exactly, is a "city" in 2011? Hania Zlotnik, the director of the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic

Last year, 969 employment exchanges spread across 28 states and seven Union Territories of India registered 6.18 million new job seekers. However, only 0.5 million (8 per cent) of these got a job. This figure officially released by the Union Ministry of

The nuclear plant accident in Japan earlier this year marked the 25th anniversary of world’s worst nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in Ukraine. Both the incidents, though separated in time, are grim reminders to the world that we need to apply brakes

It is an accident of history that tobacco became a legal product. It would be a fallacy to assume that a product which kills half its consumers was given a legal status by way of logic. When in the beginning of 19th century, tobacco was commercially used for the first

“Greater participation for a stronger democracy” When I came across this slogan of the Election Commission of India, the first thing that came in my mind was: “Do we really participate to make our democracy strong?” For last 63 years since independence the

The launch of GSAT 12 satellite last month invited much applause with India now having more than 60 satellites in the space. However, the acclaim dies out in face of the delayed benefits of this technological advancement bringing all the efforts of great scientists to a naught.

Vote every five years (or lesser). Pay taxes on time. don't damage public property. Abide by law of the land. Monitor the government. Surprised? You should not be. Because the way things are shaping up in our country, the task of proactively monitoring the 

Grimy plastic jars of various sizes sit proudly on the shelves of Amarjeet Sharma’s room. A 55-year-old farmer in Chaina village of Punjab’s Faridkot district, Sharma says the containers hold seeds that go back to his young days.