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.

They protest when the BJP or Shiv Sena bans a book or intimidates an artist, should they not do likewise when the CPI(M) does likewise? The Taslima Nasreen case has tested, and will test, the integrity of the Left intelligentsia even more than Nandigram, says Ramachandra Guha.

Samir Chanda's Ek Nodir Galpo, which premiered in Kolkata in November 2007, offers the moving experience of a father who makes it his mission to name a river after his dead daughter. His struggle evolves into his way of reinventing his daughter. Shoma Chatterji has more.

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.

The rural Muslim women of Murshidabad district in West Bengal have circumvented religious curbs and successfully used a prevalent religious tradition to eke out a living as well as create social awareness. Ajitha Menon has more.

A CRY report from Nandigram finds that children's experience of the violence there is intensely personal. Their vocabulary now includes words like shilpo, santrash and proshashon. Shoma Chatterji reports.

A division bench passed a series of orders last month while hearing a public interest litigation alleging that the West Bengal government had failed to enforce the ban against violence on children in schools. Shoma Chatterji reports.

Not many trace their way back to the human tragedy that has given rise to the culture of violence that marks Lalgarh today. The women do not appear scared of any police reaction in response to their protests. Soma Mitra has more.

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.

Over the years, several thousands have made their way to this Kolkata eatery to feast on authentic local food. It's the star feather in the All Bengal Women's Union's cap. Aditi Bhaduri has more.

Young women and girls in red light areas face extreme levels of desperation, stemming partly from poverty, but also because of sheer physical exploitation, even by husbands and fathers. Ruchi Choudhary reports.

Motivated by the media attention in Nandigram, six volunteers of Child Rights and You decided to examine how the urban poor are faring against State-sponsored eviction. Shoma Chatterji reports.

Grounded in its feminist views, Praajak works with runaway boys and young men, to give them livelihood options and help them reunite with their families. Shoma Chatterji reports.

Eleven years after journalist Rina Mukherjee was fired following her allegations of sexual harassment against a senior, the West Bengal Industrial Tribunal passes an order against The Statesman, offering hope of redress for other victims. Navya P K 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.

Moved by a personal tragedy, young Bengali engineer-turned-actor Bobby Chakraborty has launched a singular campaign to educate schoolchildren about the impact of alcohol and other addiction and deter them from the path. Shoma A Chatterji brings us his story.

In West Bengal, girls are being empowered to refuse early marriage thanks to a state government initiative that enables them to stay longer in school. The Kanyashree Prakalpa scheme has been remarkably successful in curbing child marriage and promoting girl child education, says Saadia Azim.

The death of 14 women in Chhattisgarh following botched sterilisation procedures has rightfully led to furore across the country. But a detailed, historical analysis of family planning as it has evolved, by Shoma A Chatterji, exposes an inherent and sustained gender bias in policy as well as practice.

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.

Developing countries must take a collective stand on 'Zero-Tolerance to Subsidies' to protect their agriculture, says Devinder Sharma.

Has the introduction of Bt Cotton been successful? The deliberate attempt to find a "yes" answer has required a lot of incredulous 'science', 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.

The concerns of Third World citizens have been routinely overlooked - until now, i.e., as technologies developed for animals are conveniently passed off as adequate for the world's poor as well, says Devinder Sharma.

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

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

If you raise the price of your product and offer a discount on the higher price, some people will get taken in by such 'sales'. The WTO has just pulled off this kind of scheme, says Devinder Sharma.

Compare the cost of agriculture subsidies to government salaries or the cost of farm policies that favour imports over domestic produce, to separate reality from rhetoric, says Devinder Sharma.

Devinder Sharma points out the deeper flaws in the thinking behind Budget 2004-5.

According to the European Union's plans for agricultural reforms, subsidies received by farmers will now become their entitlement until 2013. The big businesses that get most of these subsidies are quite happy; meanwhile the subsidies continue to create starvation and death in the developing world, notes Devinder Sharma.

Eight months before the upcoming WTO ministerial of December 2005, prominent economists are closing ranks to dwarf sustained criticism of agricultural subsidies in developed nations. Devinder Sharma asserts that the continued undermining of food self-sufficiency in developing nations is economic lunacy.

President Kalam's vision for rural development is at odds with Ashutosh Gowariker's Swades where Shah Rukh Khan charts a simple location-specific path to village development. The two different routes to the same objective bring out the conflict in our understanding of the rural crisis, 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.

In clear disregard for the ongoing multilateral negotiations, the United States is attempting to protect its already heavily fortified agriculture further. The House of Representatives passed the US Farm Bill 2007 in July, proposing 286 billion dollars of support for American farmers over the next five years. Devinder Sharma on the implications.

With 60 per cent of India's population directly engaged in agriculture, and another 200 million landless workers indirectly banking on farming, the real stimulus to the economy can come only if the focus shifts to agriculture, says Devinder Sharma.

It is ironic that 'Conservation Agriculture' the new wave from agriculture scientists, requires so much new technology, and focuses so little on existing traditional knowledge of conservation techniques, writes Devinder Sharma.

The real reason behind the Congress' performance in the recently concluded Assembly Elections may not be the rise of the Aam Aadmi Party per se, but more the economic concerns of the real aam aadmi. Devinder Sharma analyses.

Though FDI in retail is being projected as a cure-all for the ills in the agriculture and food sector, Devinder Sharma cites examples from the world over to argue why we should not be pinning our hopes on it.

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