D-Sector for Development Community

   Friday, May 18, 2012
Agriculture - Duties and Rights - Education - Environment - Food - Global - Governance - Health - Indian Economy - Indian Society - Physical Development - Social Welfare - Water and Sanitation
Audio/Video
Find below links to Audio and Video files on diverse subjects and activities concerning development. If you have heard/seen A/V files on development issues and consider them useful for d-sector.org visitors, you can recommend such files to us. You can also sponsor a link of A/V files about your organisation and its programmes on d-sector.org.
 

Food poverty affects four million in UK
02 Oct 2011


Hundreds arrested over Occupy Wall Street protests
02 Oct 2011


Save Goa Campaign
28 Jun 2011


Protect the interests of Poor farmers
30 May 2011


Devinder Sharma on Hunger and GDP
30 May 2011


Women Leading Bangladesh Away from the LDC Tag
30 May 2011


Role of parliaments in the multilateral trading system
09 May 2011


Thousands Protest Corruption in India
27 Apr 2011


Interview with Aung San Suu Kyi
16 Nov 2010


India malaria deaths hugely underestimated, says report
21 Oct 2010


What's wrong with our food system?
04 Oct 2010


Chicken a la Carte
30 Sep 2010


Inside Story - Evidence of climate change?
19 Jul 2010


Growth of Walmart and Sam's Club across America
15 Jul 2010


Toxic Justice? BP and Bhopal
10 Jul 2010


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Bluff Times

Like the 'cabaret dance' of yesteryear movies is now called 'item number', news stories that were once termed 'scoop' in mainstream media are now called 'breaking news'. Not only the terms but the 'intent' behind the terms has gone through dramatic transformation too. Given the fact that majority of important news is either 'planted' or 'paid', it is left to the discerning reader to separate 'breaking' from 'broken' news.

Recent revelation by The Hindu has taken the lid off from the business of news making. Not only was the success of BT cotton reported by The Times of India in 2008 indeed 'planted' by Mahyco-Monsanto, the company promoting the genetically-modified seeds, but the same news was republished verbatim in 2011 to create policy impact by misleading the readers. The transition from 'paid news' to 'bluff news' has been rapid!

Celebrity Overdose
It is tough to imagine which way democratic governance may be headed. Celebrities are being engaged by elected governments to not only promote social programs but are being cajoled to help transform communal habits too. While controversial Chief Minister Narendra Modi hired Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan to promote Gujarat as a tourist destination, media friendly Union Minister Jairam Ramesh has persuaded sultry siren Vidya Balan to help push toilets in rural areas. Taking cue, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has passed on the responsibility of checking female foeticide to none other than actor Aamir Khan.

On all accounts, the respective ministers reflect political desperation borne out of policy paralysis. While Modi and Gehlot need an image makeover, Ramesh needs Toilet to lift himself higher on the political pedestal. Knowing well that Indians love to dream, politicians are increasingly using celebrities to help them continue 'dreaming' even if none of the dreams could ever get fulfilled. Passing the baton to the 'celebrity', at a phenomenal cost to the exchequer, absolves the politician of any failure of the campaign thereof. Shockingly, more and more politicians are queuing up before celebrities to rid them of their electoral responsibilities.

Lead View
MoEF: For environment or economy?
By Sudhirendar Sharma
08 May 2012

Jairam Ramesh as environment minister constituted an expert panel to submit report on conservation of ecologically critical Western Ghats. But his successor Jayanthi Natarajan has decided against making the report public ..
Book Shelf

Water: Asia's New Battleground

Slow Violence and Environmentalism of the Poor

Growing stories from India

Big-box Swindle
Commentators
Devinder Sharma
Carmen Miranda
Pandurang Hegde
Sudhirendar Sharma
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