South Asia Citizens Web

Report on Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) struggle for Conservation and Protection of Mangrove Forests.

In the passing of MF Hussain, there is more to be mourned than the death of an Indian artist in exile. Nor is this terminal condition confined to India.

Aung San Suu Kyi discusses what freedom means in the first of her 2011 Reith Lectures, entitled Liberty. The Burmese pro-democracy leader reflects on her own experience under house arrest in Burma, exploring the universal human aspiration to be free and the spirit which drives people to dissent. She also comments on the Arab Spring, comparing the event that triggered last December’s revolution in Tunisia with the death of a student during a protest in Burma in 1988.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed alarm at torture against students of Punjab University’s Philosophy Department by armed activists allegedly belonging to Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) on 26 June 2011.

The Planning Commission of Government of India commissioning the World Bank to review key anti-poverty schemes of the government such as Public Distribution System (PDS), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Rashtriya Suraksha Bima Yojana (RSBY), Indira Awaas Yojana among others is most shocking and unacceptable. We oppose and reject it in strongest possible terms. It is shocking to see how the UPA II government is undermining India’s sovereignty. In 2004, the UPA government had tried to induct the World Bank into the decision making of the Planning Commission directly, and had to back track following the strong public outcry against the move.