http://sanhati.com Fighting neoliberalism in Bengal Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:33:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 en http://sanhati.com/excerpted/2119/ http://sanhati.com/excerpted/2119/#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:51:21 +0000 http://sanhati.com/excerpted/2119/ The devil’s advocate? It was a bizarre spectacle, Karan Thapar interviewing Dr. Binayak Sen on CNN-IBN on Maoist violence in India. The subject of Maoist violence, more than any other at present, agitates the powers that be, including the media. The choreography of the debate follows a similar pattern. Invite a respectable person(s) for a “debate” on the issue of violence, lure them into believing they are invited because the media wants to present a contrary point of view; once there, corner the person, prevent them from making their point of view, heckle them if necessary, and somehow wring a statement, even if by slip of tongue, that can be bandied about as endorsement for the military offensive against the Maoists, as a moral justification for the so called “war on terror”. This desperation for moral endorsement from respected citizens like Dr. Sen, is itself evidence of the moral bankruptcy of the powers that be.]]> http://sanhati.com/excerpted/2119/feed/ http://sanhati.com/excerpted/2118/ http://sanhati.com/excerpted/2118/#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:28:47 +0000 http://sanhati.com/excerpted/2118/ http://sanhati.com/excerpted/2118/feed/ http://sanhati.com/articles/2117/ http://sanhati.com/articles/2117/#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:03:48 +0000 http://sanhati.com/articles/2117/ http://sanhati.com/articles/2117/feed/ http://sanhati.com/excerpted/2112/ http://sanhati.com/excerpted/2112/#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:36:49 +0000 http://sanhati.com/excerpted/2112/ This study, from Nagarik Mancha and NESPON, outlines the causes behind the closure of tea gardens in North Bengal, the demand of workers from the ground, the extent of implementation of schemes like NREGA and the role of NGO's, and the functioning of Operative Management Committees (OMC) which are often glorified as outstanding workers' initiatives. ]]> http://sanhati.com/excerpted/2112/feed/ http://sanhati.com/articles/2114/ http://sanhati.com/articles/2114/#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:27:34 +0000 http://sanhati.com/articles/2114/ http://sanhati.com/articles/2114/feed/ http://sanhati.com/excerpted/2111/ http://sanhati.com/excerpted/2111/#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 06:32:12 +0000 http://sanhati.com/excerpted/2111/ http://sanhati.com/excerpted/2111/feed/ http://sanhati.com/articles/2106/ http://sanhati.com/articles/2106/#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 05:34:26 +0000 http://sanhati.com/articles/2106/ http://sanhati.com/articles/2106/feed/ http://sanhati.com/articles/2104/ http://sanhati.com/articles/2104/#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 04:40:50 +0000 http://sanhati.com/excerpted/2104/ February 7 2010. In April last year, the Supreme Court, in response to a public interest litigation filed by Gene Campaign (whose convenor is the internationally known geneticist Dr Suman Sahai), directed the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) to consider the toxicity and allergenicity of GM crops and to post the relevant material on the web so that independent experts could examine these. The Supreme Court asked the GEAC to study also the isolation distance of experimental fields to prevent contamination. ]]> http://sanhati.com/articles/2104/feed/ http://sanhati.com/articles/2103/ http://sanhati.com/articles/2103/#comments Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:39:30 +0000 http://sanhati.com/articles/2103/ http://sanhati.com/articles/2103/feed/ http://sanhati.com/articles/2102/ http://sanhati.com/articles/2102/#comments Sun, 07 Feb 2010 03:51:37 +0000 http://sanhati.com/articles/2102/ http://sanhati.com/articles/2102/feed/