E D I T O R I A L
Parliament for Brigands
SELF-perpetuation and to go with the rich and the powerful is nothing new to our legislatures.  Yet the great alacrity the Indian parliament demonstrated in passing two bills sets a new record of sorts. On May 16, just in a few hours and without any regard for the consequences, Delhi (special provisions), Bill, 2006 was passed. More

F O C U S
An Unsettling Question: Can Farmers Wait?
Gobind Thukral
Punjab chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh in an article on ‘Economic revival in Punjab’ in a leading English daily summed up his views on Punjab’s economic situation and role of his government. Ever since he has never shied away from singing paeans to his achievements. Remarkably this well written article makes only a passing reference to agriculture and the ever-worsening agrarian crisis. More

No Multiple Elections in Canada: Conservatives for Fixed Election Dates
By Bernard Nunan, Ottawa Correspondent
THE Conservative Party of Canada  has come up with a solution. Fixed election dates, they thought, would minimise the problem of multiple elections being held to close together, and would help address low voter turnout and growing cynicism in Canada. More

A N A L Y S I S
Conservatives begin Courting Quebec
From Bernard Nunan in Ottawa
PRIME Minister Stephen Harper has made it clear that he wants to "get the federal government's relationship back on the right foot" with Quebec. "Making sure that we get a renewed federalism that is positive and productive in the province of Quebec is obviously a priority for this government." More

Sunita Narain is a well-known crusader for a healthy environment and known for her courageous fights to cleanse the rotten political atmosphere. Here we take pleasure in publishing her recent editorial in Down To Earth [May 31, 2006] More

An open letter from Umendra Dutt, Executive Director, KHETI VIRASAT MISSION, Punjab to the Pesticide Industry and its Associations challenging their threats. He ridicules  Agro-Chemical Promotion Group [APG], Crop Care Federation of India, Centre for Environment & Agro-Chemicals and others which are attempting to throttle criticism. More

F E A T U R E S
Migrant Labour: Bane or Boom for Punjab
Professor Joginder Singh
THE Punjab agriculture has witnessed an unprecedented rapid structural transformation in agriculture during the last few decades. Wheat was a traditional crop while rice stormed into cropping pattern of the state with the onset of Green Revolution. More

Green Revolution in Haryana: Prosperity, Poverty and Debt Bondage
Professor Manjit Singh
THE use of forced labour in agriculture is not the story of the past; even today bonded labour chained with debt can be found working in rural Haryana. in 1979, the National Sample Survey, under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 identified as many as 1,29,000 bonded labourers in Haryana. More

L A W  &  J U S T I C E
Justice always prevails.... three times out of seven
Joginder Singh Toor
THERE is an old saying: the farmer who goes to moneylender or to a lawyer, his fate is sealed. This is perhaps a century old saying in Punjab. And holds true even now with an ironical twist; the old saying fits too well with the system. More

C O M M E N T
Nepal: The Rising Sun of Democracy
Gobind Thukral
IT has indeed taken too long for the people of Nepal to get rid of the ruthless kingship. It has taken too long to bring in even a semblance of democracy. The struggle has been painful, arduous and has cost many young lives. It started long ago, much before the Indian sub continent threw away the foreign yoke. More

A R T  &  F I L M S
Are Indians becoming more intolerant?
“Da Vinci Code” banned in Punjab and Fanaa in Gujarat.
New czars, Capt. Amarinder Singh [Congress] and Narendra Modi [BJP] join hands to stifle cultural freedom. They are no strange bedfellows in this game of vote bank politics and communal lineup. More

L I T E R A T U R E
Sati Kumar- The Return of the Native
Dr. Jaspal Singh
SATI Kumar  had claimed that he was writing modern poetry in the manner of French poet Rimbeau and the American poet Allan Ginzberg. The mainstream progressive writers disapproved these poems and Sati became a persona non grata in the Punjabi literary world. More

I N  F I R S T  P E R S O N
Tribute to the True Hero of Everest
Bal Anand
THE date of May 29, 1953 has got inscribed in the memory of mankind as the glorious day when man stood tallest on the planet:  Edmund Hillary, a lanky New Zealander and Tenzing Norgay, a diminutive Nepalese Sherpa had succeeded in climbing Mount Everest, officially identified in 1825 as Peak XV, measuring 29002 feet and renamed in 1865 after Sir George Everest, the long serving Surveyor General of India. More

M E D I A
News Stories that Desperately Need to Be Told
THIS happens all over the world. Issues of poverty, peace making and building a just social and economic order find a little or no mention in the mainstream media. Every year, the U.N.'s Department of Public Information announces its list of the world's 10 such under-reported stories. More

D O C U M E N T
Nepal House of Representatives proclamation
PEOPLE are now the sole source of state power of an independent and sovereign Nepal. The Kingship is gone. More