Why when we want recognition as a nuclear power and a growing economic power, why when we want to boast of our educated and trained manpower, should we not come to grips with the issue of sanitation? Kalpana Sharma on the larger reality.

The Annual Status of Education Report, 2009 points out yet again that what stands between rural girls and a good education is often basic facilities like transport and proper toilets, writes Kalpana Sharma.

India cannot afford not to take a proactive approach to migration. In particular, adaptation measures in key sectors are needed to improve resilience and reduce the pressure on migration from climate change, writes Sujatha Byravan.

One woman dies every eight minutes due to complications arising due to pregnancy such as sepsis, haemorrhage or obstructed labour. These deaths could be avoided if there is timely medical intervention, writes Kalpana Sharma.

A large number of existing and proposed investments along the Tamilnadu coast are at risk from likely changes to sea level in the coming decades. Plans for the future must bear this risk in mind, writes Sujatha Byravan.

Women are no longer content with the status quo, and unwilling to wait till men dish out empowerment as a special privilege or favour. We must accelerate this trend, writes R Balasubramaniam.

A meaningful and enduring bilingualism, embracing both English and the mother tongue, remains out of reach of the vast majority of citizens, writes Ramachandra Guha.

The relationship between the two major parties in Parliament has broken down completely. For this both parties are responsible, writes Ramachandra Guha.

There is an urgent need to make politics belong to the people. A big tweak of the way parties function is needed to ensure this, writes R Balasubramaniam.

Tara Krishnaswamy takes a brutally honest and incisive look at Indian society to argue why far from being banned, India’s Daughter – the BBC documentary on the infamous 2012 rape and murder in a Delhi bus – should actually be made compulsory viewing for the Indian audience.

Adivasi Academy, a learning institute set up by Bhasha Research and Publication Centre is a must visit place for one to learn the importance of language and cultural diversity of our country. Ashish Kothari writes about his experience and learnings at the Academy.

Editorials by advertisers are terrible, but the rot in the media isn't new. The gradual introduction of small doses of poison into the body of this profession began a long time ago, says Sidharth Bhatia.

Lack of media concern for hunger and related issues makes it that much easier for the state to get away with doing nothing. An interview with Prof. Jean Dreze.

Dasu Krishnamoorty examines reporting in the aftermath of Godhra and the subsequent riots in Gujarat.

New ideas and initiatives are emerging from the liaison between the press and the advertisers. Advertorials and advertising features are manifestations of this relationship, says Deepti Mahajan.

Are exposes good journalism? Who exactly should media organisations be trying to inform and what is the information they should bring to their audiences? Darryl D'Monte finds himself in an unexpectedly pleasant bookshop in Mumbai, at a panel discussion on sting journalism.

A homely looking woman in her late fifties has for years run a small-scale business doing what is widely seen as a man's job -- providing computer hardware to companies. But she does not make the local news. A culture of community journalism in the English newspapers is missing and is much needed, says Nabina Das.

The government's recent CR policy is considered a big leap forward in enabling people to participate in the mass media. The next five years may see some self-help groups, fisherfolk and farmer groups, in areas remote and near, bid for radio stations of their own. Malvika Kaul reports.

Over the past couple of years or so, it appears that Indian television media are recklessly using and exhibiting children in breaking news and other stories, with the willing participation of parents. Does this constitute child abuse? Shoma Chatterji has more.

Applying for and getting a license to set up a community radio station in India is convoluted. A new publication offers a step-by-step guide to the entire process along with useful information on how and what to prepare before applying.

Television news in the southern part of the country has largely become the preserve of the various political dynasties, with a glut of channels acting as mouthpieces of the owners rather than objective news broadcasters. T S Sudhir brings us the true picture.

In today’s world, where everything can be done with a tap of a finger, why not something for the greater common good? That thought has led to the development of Equalize, which as its name suggests, aims to empower individuals to reduce social disparities. Rasika Dhavse-Wadodkar has more.

If the members of the board were concerned about protecting the academic research character of the journal they chose the wrong person to serve as the editor. Anup Kumar explains

For more than a decade now, Supriyo Sen has been making his way through awards bestowed for excellence in choice of subject and aesthetics of creative expression, the latest being accorded for Wagah. Shoma Chatterji looks back at his films.

Joshy Joseph's latest film captures the great poet candidly, minus the halo of genius and her achievements. It also marks a defining moment in the director's journey as a documentarist. Shoma Chatterji reports.

"I wanted to show not just a few victims, but to help viewers understand the mechanics and the politics of trafficking and migration," says Ananya Chatterjee. Shoma Chatterji revies Understanding Trafficking.

Hope Dies Last in War is a saga of individual and collective struggle, spanning three generations, to get back the men who remained as prisoners of war after the Indo-Pak conflict of 1971. Shoma Chatterji reviews the film.

Bhor is a psycho-social journey into the minds and lives of inmates of a rehab centre, trying to build a world away from the mainstream. Shoma Chatterji reviews the play.

Bauddhayan Mukherji's film series hands men a proactive role in tackling domestic violence, simply by letting abusers know that they are being observed. Shoma Chatterji reviews Bell Bajao!

The System of Rice Intensification, known to increase rice yields significantly merely by following a few simple rules, is spreading throughout Bihar, thanks to an award-winning film that educates farmers. Shoma Chatterji reports.

Flickering Angels, a moving documentary on the lives of children of imprisoned parents in West Bengal, helps a child of an illegal immigrant caught in tragic circumstances to go back to her homeland. Shoma A Chatterji dwells on the reformative capacity of cinema.

The recently held Kolkata People’s Film Festival – an offshoot of the founding movement called The Cinema of Resistance – screened powerful documentaries and feature films portraying the struggle and resistance of the marginalised and downtrodden. Shoma Chatterji reports.

Debaranjan Sarangi, a documentary film maker, writer and human rights activist was arrested recently in Kashipur, Odisha. Shoma Chatterji writes about Sarangi's arrest, his activism and his films which deal with Adivasis and their struggles.

Shunyota, a feature film in Bengali, has an all-India resonance that will echo across the country if and when it’s subtitled version will be screened, writes Shoma Chatterji.

Since 1979, this Kolkata school has pioneered an educational process where kids from different economic and social sections of society study, play and share together as equals.

Free Bird Productions, a Kolkata-based documentary unit that makes cultural, ethnographic and documentary films, has made two of the more noteworthy films about the recent events in Singur and Nandigram. Shoma Chatterji notes the unanswered questions the films raise.

Irrespective of the dress they wear, or, their ages, their looks, their educational, professional and marital status, never mind the time or place, women in Kolkata and elsewhere are being subjected to all kinds of harassment, including eve-teasing. Shoma Chatterji peels the layers and exposes myths.

At Santiniketan, Tagore's presence still inhabits many buildings; the keepers of which buildings are often knowledgeable about his legacy. But the place needs to be de-parochialised to make it once more inclusively Indian, writes Ramachandra Guha.

At the crux of Ekbalpur's women boxers' passion lies a sense of liberation and recognition that they do not get from anything else. Sudhiti Naskar reports.

Violence during college union elections, the death of a protesting 22-year-old student in police custody and a resultant chain of events have led to earnest debates in West Bengal over whether students should stay away from active politics. Promona Sengupta explores the reality underlying prevailing sentiments.

Character assassination, social and economic ostracisation and even assault, seem to have become the standard responses to all who protest against the culture of violence against women in West Bengal. Shikha Mukerjee reports on the ground realities in the state.

The tragic reversal of roles is the result of national policies that have neglected agriculture and farming in the wake of globalisation, says Devinder Sharma.

Science's biggest tragedy, as we are reminded by the Columbia disaster, is that truly independent criticism is simply gone from its midst, says Devinder Sharma.

With the 2003-4 budget giving agriculture the go-by, Devinder Sharma outlines five criteria that nation's finance minister must keep in mind while crafting budgetary policy for agriculture.

Biofortification is no cure for hunger. Devinder Sharma says boosting nutrients in various crops isn't going to make them any more affordable for the poor.

The negative terms of trade against agriculture have to be turned around if the country is keen to emerge from the hunger and poverty trap, says Devinder Sharma.
Q&A on the Minimum Support Pricing policy

A new publication from the Delhi-based Forum for Biotechnology & Food Security. (40 pages)

Removal of agricultural subsidies should be a pre-requisite to further movement on the WTO agricultural negotiations, says Devinder Sharma.

With an estimated 24,000 people succumbing globally to hunger every day, more than 120 million people could perish by the year 2015 from this shameful scourge. In Gleneagles, however, the leaders of the world's richest economies did not even provide lip-service to the hungry and malnourished, Devinder Sharma writes.

For the sixth time in a row, the trade ministers of the developing world have been duped to believe that agricultural trade is for development. Despite making loud noises and fuming over injustice, the faulty framework that underlies the WTO remains very much in place, says Devinder Sharma.