The wider democratic role of panchayats was very much in evidence on April 8, 2011 at a conference on 'Agriculture and Panchayats in Rajasthan in the Specific Context of Agreements with Multinational and other Big Agribusiness Companies'. In this conference panchayat leaders from 14 districts of Rajasthan unanimously called upon the Rajasthan government to cancel agreements on farm research with seven multinational and other big agribusiness companies during 2010.

The UK government issued a press release confirming BP had contravened human rights r

The documentary Bananas!

As Royal Dutch Shell and other oil companies prepare to drill offshore in the Alaskan Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), a new report commissioned by the Washington, DC–based Pew Environment Group concludes current response capabilities aren’t adequate to contain and clean up a major spill in the area.1 Marilyn Heiman, who directs the group’s U.S. Arctic program, says drilling on the Alaskan OCS requires a science-based precautionary approach. “And right now, we don’t know enough about the potential consequences of a spill to the ecosystem,” she says.

Nearly 2 billion people (a third of the world's population) lack access to essential medicines. In low-income and middle-income countries, drugs account for 20

Under the asean-India Free Trade Agreement, the trade bloc

This study examined the pollution levels in the coastal water resources and its socio-economic effects on the Iko Group of Communities. Water samples were collected from 19 locations and analyzed while socio-economic data were collected using questionnaire. The input data from laboratory analysis were correlated with socio-economic data using correlation and regression analyses.