South Asia Citizens Web

Video recording of Ananya Vajpeyi speaking to Justin Vogt on censorship, freedom of speech and Hindu nationalism in India as we transition into a new right-wing political dispensation.

The most persistent objection to agricultural biotechnology, and the most common, is that, by cutting DNA from one species and splicing it into another, we have crossed an invisible line and created forms of life unlike anything found in “nature.” That fear is unquestionably sincere. Yet, as a walk through any supermarket would demonstrate, nearly every food we eat has been modified, if not by genetic engineering then by more traditional cross-breeding, or by nature itself. Corn in its present form wouldn’t exist if humans hadn’t cultivated the crop. The plant doesn’t grow in the wild and would not survive if we suddenly stopped eating it.

It was quite an extraordinary way of celebrating the 67th anniversary of Pakistan’s independence last week. Believing that they could usher in freedom/revolution by bringing their supporters out on the street, Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri succeeded only in creating polarisation and instability in a crisis-ridden country.

FORTALEZA DECLARATION III BRICS TRADE UNION FORUM
Fortaleza, Brazil, July 15th 2014
We, trade union leaders from the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the Republic of India, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of South Africa, representing the workers of our nations, have met in Fortaleza, Brazil, on July 15th 2014, while the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the BRICS countries also took place.

On the 17th of August, (Sunday) at 10:10 pm, an SUV automobile (XYLO, with no. DL7CM1368) on its way from Kashmere Gate towards Jamuna Bazaar [New Delhi], swerved towards a road divider and injured 13 people, some of whom are till today, in a critical condition.