ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

Articles by Ashish KothariSubscribe to Ashish Kothari

Collective Dreaming

The process of Vikalp Sangam (Alternatives Confluence) involves visioning of an ideal built on grounded initiatives, spanning the full range of alternative approaches to justice, equity, and sustainability. The focus is on India, but the lessons and visions emerging are relevant globally. It attempts to document, network, and create collaborations amongst movements and groups involved in such alternatives.

We Are the River, the River Is Us

As per the recent ruling of the Uttarakhand High Court, the Ganga and Yamuna rivers have rights as a “juristic/legal person/living entity.” It raises a complex set of questions. What does it mean for a river, and its associated natural elements, to have rights? What does it mean for them to have rights as a “person?” How would such rights be implemented, given that rivers and other elements of nature would not be able to claim and defend such rights for themselves? What implications do these two decisions have for not just the rivers and those living in/on/along them, but for the relationship between humans and the rest of nature? This article addresses these questions in order to find solutions.

Rivers and Human Rights: We are the River, the River is Us?

As per the recent ruling of the Uttarakhand High Court, the Ganga and Yamuna rivers have rights as a “juristic/legal person/living entity.” It raises a complex set of questions. What does it mean for a river, and its associated natural elements, to have rights? What does it mean for them to have rights as a “person?” How would such rights be implemented, given that rivers and other elements of nature would not be able to themselves claim and defend such rights? What implications do these two decisions have for not just the rivers and those living in/on/along them, but for the relationship between humans and the rest of nature? This study addresses these questions in order to find solutions.

A Flawed Climate Road Map

India submitted its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution on 1 October. The policy document on climate change has received laurels from diverse quarters. INDC justifies the projected rise in India's emissions by emphasising the country's development imperatives. This obscures the fact that the well-off will stamp their ecological footprint and the country will justify the rise in its emissions by hiding behind the poor.

A Hundred Days Closer to Ecological and Social Suicide

The first 100 days of the Narendra Modi government which have been celebrated by the mainstream media saw what can only be called a widespread and large-scale assault on rules, laws and institutions meant to protect the environment, and more is on the cards. Side by side, the central as also state governments of various hues have moved against non-governmental organisations raising social and environmental issues. But resistance to corporate-driven growth continues and alternatives continue to be explored.

Attack on Paper

Thejas, a daily newspaper in Malayalam, published from Calicut and four other centres in Kerala, has been served with a notice by the additional district magistrates of Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram, to show cause why its declaration for publication shall not be cancelled for pub

Development and Ecological Sustainability in India

This paper is aimed at policy-level discussions, as well as an aid to civil society to push for necessary changes to take Indian economy, society and polity towards the goal of human well-being with ecological sustainability as one fulcrum. A possible post-2015 framework of implementation of the Millennium Development Goals that combines sustainability and human well-being that could be applied globally, including its key principles, is attempted at here.

Attacking INSAF

We the undersigned are shocked and dismayed at the Government of India’s action against Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF), a national coalition of 700 people’s movements, social action groups and progressive intellectuals with an act

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