The Swachh Bharat Mission needs a broader vision of what constitutes cleanliness India’s Swachh Bharat Mission is receiving global praise for attempting to close the sanitation gap of nearly 60% of the rural population not having access to a toilet at home in 2014. The NDA government invoked Mahatma Gandhi’s …

Brazil votes this week in an election charged by an anti-establishment campaign The campaign for Sunday’s elections in Brazil is beset by an anti-establishment mood, as in several democracies. Legislators at the state and national levels are being elected, but it is the contest for the President’s post that has …

The government’s revised guidelines for conducting exams for persons with disabilities are unfair and regressive In an 1850 report, Samuel Gridley Howe, popularly considered the ‘father of the American blind’, emphatically wrote: “The blind as a class, are inferior to other persons in mental power and ability.” It is dismaying …

The progression from poor to bourgeois to elite is a welcome evolution in nation-building — the apex court missed it As citizens, we expect two certainties from any verdict on public policy by a constitution bench of the Supreme Court. One, it must hold whether the underlying principle(s) is/are consistent …

We need a clean environment for human empowerment Yesterday, the United Nations honoured me with the Champions of the Earth Award. While I was extremely humbled at receiving this honour, I do feel that this award is not for an individual. Instead, it is recognition of the Indian culture and …

Abolition of untouchability in all its forms, including scavenging, remains an unrealised constitutional right “The issue of the rights of sweepers and scavengers has never entered the mainstream legal consciousness in the country,” wrote Upendra Baxi in Law and Poverty: Critical Essays . “Nor have the Bar and the Bench, …

The Museum of Goa (MoG) Foundation will hold a “colourful flying exhibition” titled “Freedom is in the air” to celebrate the recent striking down of Section 377 of India Penal Code by the Supreme Court of India, from November 10 to 30. Celebrated Goan artist and sculptor Subodh Kerakar, Director …

UN agreement now expands to 70 countries The 28-nation European Union on Monday ratified the Marrakesh treaty to ease access to reading material for people who are print-disabled the world over. The coverage of the 2013 United Nations treaty now expands to 70 countries across the globe, according to a …

As politicians embark on their final days of campaigning for Bosnian elections on Sunday, there is one small corner of the country where they cannot pass: Podgora, a poor hamlet fed up with the government’s broken promises. “You’ve been lying to us for years. No party is welcome in Podgora,” …

UNESCO declared Sabratha to be at risk in 2016, mainly due to damage caused by armed groups Perched on the edge of Libya’s Mediterranean coast, the ancient city of Sabratha remains an awe-inspiring spectacle, the pink columns of its amphitheatre towering above turquoise waters. But the world heritage site is …