Opinion & Comment

28.04.2008 Helena Norberg Hodge first visited Ladakh in northern India in 1973 to study its culture and language. Fascinated by its gentle people and their earth-based way of life, she kept returning every year since then. In a freewheeling interview, she discusses how annihilation of the local culture can be stopped.

24.04.2008 Dr Marcella D’Souza, executive director of Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR) in western India, has been awarded the Indian Merchant Chambers' Woman Of The Year Award. During an interview to OneWorld South Asia, she talks of her dream where rural folk live in harmony, secure sustainable livelihoods and enjoy an enhanced quality of life.

22.04.2008 Women’s contribution to the economy and society remains largely unrecognised, underpaid and unpaid in most cases. The need for women to secure land and property is even more critical now, writes Dr Vibhuti Patel of SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai, India.

14.04.2008 The rise in food prices, the [Indian] government says, is an international phenomenon. But this argument is unlikely to cut much ice with the people. At the crux of the crisis is the tardy pace at which farm output has been growing in recent years, says senior journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta.

11.04.2008 Even in his criticism of the Chinese authorities in handling the current standoff in Tibet, the Dalai Lama never lost his composure. In a recent interview, the Tibetan spiritual leader has reiterated his stand that he wants a ‘meaningful autonomy’ for the protection and preservation of Tibetan ecology and culture.

10.04.2008 Despite the ban on hunting since 1991, rampant corruption and poor law enforcement have made it possible for poachers and forest dwellers to feast on some of India's endangered species. The craze for bushmeat is leading many creatures to near-extinction, says Shruti Ravindran

08.04.2008 Increasing resistance to antibiotic drugs around the world has many factors from overuse to poor diagnostic capability to faulty prescribing practices to abundance of fake drugs. Authorities, doctors and patients all have a role to play in fighting it, says Jia Hepeng.

02.04.2008 Social stigmas attached to leprosy continue unabated in India, home to over 50% of the world's leprosy patients. Ostracised by society and lacking government support, it is ghettos like the Village of Hope in Delhi that offer shelter, companionship and dignity to those afflicted by the disease, writes Aditi Rao.

01.04.2008 The Jan Haq Yatra, covering 16 Indian states, was recently organised to sensitise people on pressing social and economic issues. Faisal Anurag and Eknath Awad, spokespersons of NAFRE spoke to OneWorld South Asia in New Delhi and shared their viewpoints on the need and objectives of the people’s march.

25.03.2008 The government’s loan waivers for farmers are more of a populist stunt in the election year and less of seeking solutions to the current agrarian crisis, says journalist P.Sainath. The waivers fail to address moneylender debts and limit beneficiaries by a pre-determined two-hectare mark.