South Asia Citizens Web

Down to Earth, 15 November 2008
The river is almost totally absent in modern day discourse
Barrage, dam, embankment, flood, irrigation have a common thread: a river. But it is symptomatic of our preoccupation with things ‘developmental’ that while we talk about dams, barrages, embankments and irrigation, the river is almost totally absent in modern day discourse. The river as a unique ecosystem on earth, the only ‘watery’ system that flows and hence creates a distinctive zone of (…)

Express Buzz, 3 November 2008
When bomb becomes the symbol of failure
Initial reactions are an important indicator of how people take stock of events beyond their control. On October 30, as the news of serial bombs exploding around Guwahati spread, people around our office complex called friends and family to make sure that they were safe. As the enormity of the blasts sunk in, one heard that similar explosions had occurred in Barpeta Road, Bongaigaon and Kokrajhar. The overwhelming (…)

by Aditya Mukherjee (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi) Mridula Mukherjee (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi) Sucheta Mahajan (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)
Published : June 2008 Pages : 120 Size : Crown Octavo: 5" x 7.5" Imprint : SAGE India India, Nepal, Bhutan (INR) Rs 195 Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives (USD) $ 5 ISBN 9788178298542
__3__ RSS, School Texts and the Murder of Mahatma Gandhi (…)

A perusal of environment impact assessments for hydel projects in Uttarakhand brings out various deficiencies in the reports, and the unstudied manner in which such projects have been embarked upon. That many more of such projects have been proposed points to the muddled direction adopted for energy supply, reminding us of the hydropower story in the United States.

Dated October 6, 2008
Mr. Asif Ali Zardari President, Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Assalam - O - Alaikum,
Dear Mr. President!
Every Pakistani must be having a sense of satisfaction on assuming of power by the largest political party of Pakistan, after almost a decade of military dictatorship. Masses of Pakistan expect adoption of pro people policies in all fields by the civilian government. The process of selling of national assets, in the name of privatization, has been continuing (…)