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‘Himalayas on the verge of a crisis now,’ says Ravi Chopra
Civil Society News, New Delhi
WHEN he set up the People’s Science Institute (PSI) in Dehradun all of 40 years ago, Ravi Chopra, with an ...
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‘People should get into the sanitation business’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
FOUR years ago, Raees Mohammad, with a PhD in English and a stint as an additional lecturer behind him, decided ...
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‘Violence on doctors is rampant in India’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
WHEN things go wrong, doctors face the brunt of public anger and angst. Dealing directly with patients, they are held ...
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‘Tensions between Centre, states going out of hand’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
RELATIONS between the Centre and the states have been fraught. A recent meeting of NITI Aayog was not attended by ...
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‘AI should be used to help doctors, not replace them’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
With the arrival of artificial intelligence (AI), the time is here to consider its implications for public healthcare. Currently, AI ...
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'Our way of looking at disasters has now changed'
Civil Society News, New Delhi
FROM floods to earthquakes and the Covid-19 pandemic, Doctors For You has played a key role in providing medical services ...
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‘Make cities inclusive, give them those small houses’
Civil Society News, Gurugram
AS India urbanizes, cities need to prepare to carry their new loads. New beginnings have to be made in injecting ...
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‘So-called activists only want to have dogs in the street’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
IN the last week of February, a two-year-old girl was killed by a pack of five street dogs in Tughlak ...
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‘The Indian village has been changing, connected’
Civil Society News, Gurugram
Stimulating rural areas should be part of any script for economic growth in India. Even as younger generations seek to ...
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‘Future belongs to nations who have grains, not guns’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Dr M.S. Swaminathan, who passed away on September 28, 2023, was a scientist ahead of his time. Even as he ...
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‘Fund small hospitals for their potential impact’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
FAR from the limelight, several small hospitals meet the basic healthcare needs of people in remote areas. Often, the services ...
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‘Polls are far too important to be left to politicians.’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
A committee under former President Ram Nath Kovind is setting out to examine the feasibility of holding elections to Parliament ...
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‘People with degrees do little to solve rural problems’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
THE Barefoot College has completed 50 years, a signal achievement for any voluntary organization. Based at Tilonia, in a corner ...
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‘Palliative care is integral to a caring health system’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Medicines deal with diseases. But patients coping with pain or the loss of bodily functions need more rounded care to ...
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‘Stupid to take people off farms for cheap labour’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
When farmers blockaded Delhi for more than a year in 2020-21, right through the pandemic, it seemed that they had compelled ...
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‘A shift from monoculture is needed for better health’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
IN these times of climate change and an increasing burden of metabolic disorders, what gets grown and eaten matters more ...
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‘There were 100,000 rice varieties till the 1980s’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
THIS is the International Year of Millets and millets are everywhere. But far removed from all this high-voltage action, enjoying ...
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‘Budget cut is part of a larger effort to disrupt rural jobs’
Civil Society News, Gurugram
Is the national scheme for guaranteeing rural employment becoming dysfunctional? Activists believe it is and especially so after this year’s budget ...
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‘If Goa dies real estate projects won't survive’
Civil Society News, Candolim (Goa)
THE green and lovely state of Goa with its sandy beaches and forests might soon become a shadow of its ...
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‘Good advice on Joshimath ignored,’ says Ravi Chopra
Civil Society News, Gurugram
The religious town of Joshimath is sinking and making headlines. Buildings have developed cracks and people are being moved to ...
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‘It took 12 years to research and come up with a script’
Civil Society News, Jamshedpur
MUCH store is placed by early learning in the mother tongue. But what if a child is born into an ...
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‘More people die in pothole mishaps than terror attacks’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
WHEN he was in the Indian Air Force, Prathap Bhimasena Rao was flying Jaguars and breaching the sound barrier. After ...
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‘Solar is now the cheapest power you get in India’
Civil Society News, Gurugram
WITH global warming, pollution and wildly unpredictable fossil fuel prices, renewable energy is the answer. India has played a leading ...
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Zakia on Bilkis and how the hijab keeps women down
Civil Society News, New Delhi
THE rights of Muslim women are as fragile as ever before. An unsettling reminder of the challenges they face is ...
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‘Cheetahs are for tourism, not conservation’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
The Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh was meant to receive the growing number of Asiatic lions from Gir in ...
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‘We have not understood the value of child development’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
For the past seven years, Kabir and Preeti Vajpeyi have been involved in bringing architectural and design changes to anganwadi ...
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‘In villages you need to disclose your Aadhaar’
Civil Society News, Gurugram
AN Aadhaar card has become indispensable. It has simplified a great many transactions, allowing them to happen almost instantly. But ...
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Venkatesh Dutta: ‘Every river must get recognition’
Civil Society News, Gurugram
INDIA’s once-splendid rivers have long been in decline. Traditionally, rivers were managed as part of larger water systems. Ponds, tanks, ...
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Amitabh Kant: ‘It is about governance based on data’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
VISIBLE improvements in government services are being reported from 112 backward districts in India under a special initiative involving the ...
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‘We are mapping officers for competence and capacity’
Civil Society News, Gurugram
THE Government of India is a leviathan and bureaucrats are widely accused of being mired in procedures. They are also ...
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‘We approach environmental cases like criminal lawyers’
Civil Society News, Gurugram
TAKE a good cause to court and what can you hope to get? Only as much as the law can ...
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'Headline hungry officers will land in trouble’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
GOVERNMENT officers have been in the news recently for what many would consider the wrong reasons. There is a growing ...
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‘Tech has to be teacher driven in schools’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
MUCH store is being placed by online learning. Companies in the business of tutoring children are now being valued at ...
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‘In a pandemic official data is crucial. We need it daily’
Civil Society News, Gurugram
THROUGHOUT the first and second waves of the coronavirus pandemic, the extent of the tragedy in India was mostly unknown. ...
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Messy regulation and bad vibes are hurting NGOs
Civil Society News, Gurugram
VOLUNTARY organizations have increasingly been under pressure to meet regulatory requirements, find funds for causes and cope with COVID-19 and ...
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‘With GI status, farmers do get better prices’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
WHEN Dr C.R. Elsy did her Ph.D. it was in breeding rice plant varieties. But when she retired this month ...
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In Goa, Rainbow Warriors build on community
Derek Almeida, Panaji
GOA is famous all over the world for its resplendent beaches and dense forests. Yet, for decades, the state has ...
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'I knew things were bad in Bihar but actually seeing it...'
Civil Society News
Dr Taru Jindal earned her medical degrees in Pune and Mumbai, but it was in a district hospital in Motihari ...
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‘Let Ayurvedic doctors be surgeons but train them’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
AYURVEDIC doctors trained as surgeons in Ayurvedic colleges have been allowed by the government to perform 58 types of surgeries ...
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’Why can’t big players buy in the mandi?’
Civil Society News, Gurugram
Even as the government holds talks on its three contentious farm laws, promising amendments, farmers insist that nothing less than ...
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‘Basic worker protections lost under new laws’
Civil Society News, Gurugram
When millions of workers literally burst on to the scene during the sudden lockdown in India, the entire country was shocked ...
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Are investors, NGOs ready for a Social Stock Exchange?
Civil Society News, New Delhi
The idea of having a Social Stock Exchange in India has been circulating since it was proposed by Union Finance ...
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'Farmers need predictable linkages with markets'
Civil Society News, New Delhi
After their agonizing experience in cities during the lockdown, migrant workers, in very large numbers, are back in their villages. ...
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‘Green approvals given online are a mockery’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
The future of the human race depends on the health of the planet. This is the lesson from the coronavirus pandemic. ...
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‘We need an inter-state migration council’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
MIGRANT workers have been at the core of the Indian economy. People from villages work in cities and industrial hubs ...
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'People better than govt in family planning'
Civil Society News, New Delhi
A useful voluntary organization should be ahead of its time. The Population Foundation of India was one such when it was founded by ...
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'I was recreating those times through the prism of love'
Saibal Chatterjee, New Delhi
The plight of the Kashmiri Pandit community, uprooted from its homeland three decades ago due to the rise of militancy ...
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'I believe in people's participation'
Sidika Sehgal, New Delhi
The surprising new entrant into Delhi politics is Arbind Singh, national coordinator and founding member of the National Street Vendors ...
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'We work for everyone, in every area'
Sidika Sehgal, New Delhi
It is pretty much a done deal that the vote of the poor will go to the Aam Aadmi Party ...
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'The Northeast's fears of being swamped are genuine'
Civil Society News, Panaji
A jumble of assertions has engulfed India over the passing of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and plans for a ...
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Aishe Ghosh: 'JNU is worth fighting for'
Sidika Sehgal, New Delhi
Aishe Ghosh, president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU), spoke to Civil Society on the JNU campus about ...
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'Bill on data gives little to citizens, too much to State'
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Right through the debate on Aadhaar, the absence of a law on data protection found repeated mention. When the Supreme ...
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Shireen Vakil: 'The justice system isn't working.'
Civil Society News, New Delhi
The strength of a democracy can be measured by the working of its justice system. If cases are piling up ...
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'Delhi's Central Ridge could be a beautiful urban forest'
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Pradip Krishen is a home-grown expert on trees. Insightful and sensitive to cultural influences, Krishen breathes life into botanical knowledge. ...
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'MPs could spend their local area funds better'
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Members of Parliament get Rs 6 crore a year to spend on the uplift of their constituencies. It is called ...
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Ankit Srivastava: 'We will bring water bodies back'
Rwit Ghosh, New Delhi
In days gone by Delhi used to be dotted with water bodies. Many have disappeared under roads and buildings and ...
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'Bring back bacteria and sanitise less'
Raj Machhan, Chandigarh
Dr Pallab Ray explains the findings of a study led by him on resistance to antibiotics among Indians Is ...
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'Education policy doable but will it get done?'
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Madhav Chavan, CEO of Pratham, provides a perspective on the provisions of the draft National Education Policy (NEP). Released by the new ...
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‘A candidate’s allegiance is to the ticket-giver not voter’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
The past two decades have witnessed growing concern over diminishing fair play in elections and lack of transparency in the ...
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'The higher education market has gone wild'
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Is the proliferation of privately run colleges and universities in India a good thing or is it leading to a ...
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Small biz: How to make it cool for the young.
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Everybody has got the lowdown on the unemployment problem. Nobody seems to have figured out how to fix it in ...
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'We must unionise women workers, speak for them'
Kavita Charanji, New Delhi
The feminist movement has taken different turns over the years, but to remain relevant it needs to primarily address the ...
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'A basic income will enable youth to make choices"
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Sikkim has a lot going for it. The state’s economy has been growing at 12 percent. It has the third ...
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'Tech must go bottom up and take people into account'
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Digital technology has brought major changes in India and there are more coming. It has speeded up the way people ...
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State and people: 'We need dialogue for development'
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Development is about demand and delivery. If people know what to ask for, governments will learn to respond. In the ...
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‘We have set up palliative care centres in 8 districts’
Civil Society News, Hyderabad
Telangana has become a frontrunner in State-supported cancer treatment by opening palliative care centres in eight districts in partnership with ...
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‘Gurugram must be dealt with as a single city'
Civil Society News, Gurugram
Barely a year after it was created, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) found its Chief Executive Officer, V. Umashankar, ...
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'If we earn more at Amul, we pay the farmer more'
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Amul is easily one of India’s most recognised and loved brands. Much of the following it enjoys is because of ...
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‘To fund green projects look beyond banks’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
India’s environmental record stares the country in the face, be it the foul air in its cities, the shrivelling up ...
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‘Affordable housing needs better processes’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Affordable housing allows people with low incomes to live decently and stay healthy. The idea has been moving along in ...
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‘Poor families need balanced home cooked food first’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
In 1974, Dr Samir Chaudhuri, a paediatrician working in Kolkata’s slums, founded Child in Need Institute (CINI) to tackle the ...
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‘When you are in govt, you can’t afford to be defiant’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Governance in Delhi over the past three years has come to resemble the traffic on the capital’s roads — slow-moving ...
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Japanese billionaire speaks up for leprosy patients
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Every year, on World Leprosy Day, Yohei Sasakawa makes a Global Appeal to end stigma and discrimination against people affected ...
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‘We have raised crop output but not farm income’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
THe rural sector faces multiple challenges ranging from environmental decline to lack of infrastructure and inadequate access to markets. Recent ...
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Pvt hospitals: Why health can't be a business
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Every now and then, tragic stories about the consequences of poor quality healthcare make news and come to public attention. ...
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Metro fares: Let a regulator decide on a hike
Civil Society News, New Delhi
When the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC) decided in May to raise fares to meet rising costs, it was faced ...
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India can go electric by 2030, says Chetan Maini
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Chetan Maini is the pioneer of the electric car in India. His Reva was an iconic, cutely designed four-seater packed ...
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‘NGO funding has been falling quite drastically’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
The voluntary sector in India has been under regulatory pressure for one reason or the other. Thousands of organisations have ...
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‘GEAC and Niti Aayog are wrong on GM mustard’
CIvil Society News, New Delhi
Differences are out in the open once again over genetically modified (GM) crops with the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) weighing ...
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‘A lot of work is being done in govt schools’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Interest in government schools has been growing. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has sought to ensure that every child is in ...
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‘India is on the cusp of energy change’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Ajay Mathur took over as Director-General of TERI (The Energy Resources Institute) in 2016. He came with a formidable reputation. ...
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‘We are unusual as a university and attractive'
Civil Society News, New Delhi
The Azim Premji University was founded five years ago to contribute to achieving a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society. ...
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‘Disabled people now have jobs in best of companies’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
A new law on the rights of people with disabilities was passed in the winter session of Parliament. It had ...
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‘Gurgaon can be a walkable, cyclable city one day’
Civil Society News, Gurgaon
Gurgaon’s rapid growth has come with wide roads, lots of cars, gated communities and shopping malls. It is the exact ...
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‘Note ban has put digital inclusion on fast forward’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
With the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes the goal of rapidly converting India into a cashless economy ...
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‘Midday meals for children are a national investment’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Madhu Pandit Dasa oversees the world’s biggest midday meal programme. He is chairman of the Akshaya Patra Foundation. The figures ...
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‘Urban heritage should have wide ownership’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
As urbanisation spreads, how can heritage be saved? In the rushed transformation that Indian cities are undergoing can traditional homes, ...
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‘Give cities a share of GST to make them viable’
Civil Society News, Hyderabad
India’s long-term economic prosperity will be closely linked to how its cities perform. Can they emerge from decades of neglect ...
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‘Govt has asked for advice on net neutrality’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Are net neutrality and discriminatory pricing of data on the Internet on their way back into the news? Last year, ...
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‘We have become guinea pigs for biometrics’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
For the past decade state governments have launched a series of Internet-based initiatives to deliver services more efficiently. Technology has ...
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‘Let this be the last photo-op for drought’
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Two headlines on water have competed for mind space. The first was on a train carrying water to Latur, which ...
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