Reports

The black-naped hare, or the Indian hare, is so commonly found in the wild in India that it is described as a species of Least Concern by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and accorded least protection by India’s Wildlife (Protection) Act. But a recent spurt in poaching of this animal in South India has wildlifers worried. This came to light earlier this month when forest officials nabbed 21 poachers involved in the hunting of the Indian hare ( Lepus nigricollis) in...

In July this year, the Editor of Mint, R Sukumar, created a bit of a flutter when he wrote of an anchor with a business news channel who got three times her earlier salary, for agreeing to leave the top two buttons of her shirt unbuttoned, after switching jobs. Sukumar admitted that the column was all about losing friends and offending people, and maintained a diplomatic tone throughout. But did he have a point? Maybe. But a study conducted by two Indiana University researchers recently found...

Tension prevails in the remote Saal Valley of Chamba in Himachal Pradesh where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has been turning a blind eye at repeated attacks on villagers protesting against the Hul hydropower project. All attacks have been allegedly carried out by goons hired by the Hyderabad-based Hul Hydro Power Private Limited (HHPPL). The attacks were carried out in the backdrop of the people of eight panchayats of Saal Valley, under the banner of the Saal Ghaati Bachao...

It is women in Jharkhand who have been facing the brunt of Operation Jharkhand. There have been several reports and allegations of police and other security forces inflicting brutal violence on villagers during their anti-Maoist operations in areas under Operation Greenhunt, including rape and sexual violence against women, which rarely, if at all, get reported. This investigation by Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS), a non-funded group, were told of news reports of rape...

It was the Punjab government’s well-guarded secret for a while. Till, of course, word trickled out, and dirt hit the proverbial fan. The coalition government of the Akali Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party did everything in their means to browbeat the farmers of a small village called Gobindpura in Mansa district of the state into submission. All fundamental rights– right to speech and expression, right to organise and struggle, right to free movement – were trampled upon by a ruthless police force...

Over a third of Indian pharmacies continue to sell diclofenac to livestock farmers. Manufacture and sale of this drug for veterinary use has been banned in India since 2006, because of its toxicity to critically endangered vultures. Farmers are still illegally purchasing human diclofenac to treat their cattle. Diclofenac was held responsible for bringing three South Asian species of Gyps vultures to the brink of extinction. The population crash was first noted in the late 1990s. Nepal and...

Did Berkshire Hathaway, one of the largest insurance companies in the world resort to a back-door entry into India in order to circumvent caps on foreign direct investment (FDI) in the insurance industry? A closer look at the facts indicate enough grounds for suspicion. Berkshire India Private Limited is a majority owned non-direct subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc incorporated in India, with 100 per cent FDI in paid-up capital. It is a licensed corporate agent of Bajaj Allianz General...

A recent Tata DoCoMo advertisement has drawn flak from all sections of society for depicting domestic workers in a negative light. The ad, one in a series of 13 with the catchline “No Getting Away”, shows a maid stealing a mobile phone from her employer and getting caught in the act. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), the self-regulatory body of the advertising industry in India, has so far received eight complaints from citizens over the ad. “This advertisement is extremely...

South Africa has made a move that will not please rhino conservationists anywhere. It’s a move that may soon seek lifting of the global world ban on rhino horn trading, something that has been in place for 34 years. The Department of Environmental Affairs of South Africa last month placed two advertisements on its tenders website to initiate a series of studies that could pave the way for a resumption of controlled rhino-horn trading. These are ostensibly meant to include a detailed assessment...

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s recalcitrant stand on the sharing of the Teesta river waters with Bangladesh has been widely criticised in that it has severely strained bilateral relations. In the bargain what has been sidelined has been the issue of the river itself. The cruel truth is that the last stretch of the Teesta river is under threat of disappearing underground — forever. The cascade of “run-of-the-river” dams being built on the Teesta and its tributaries require extensive...