Full Coverage: Politics

25.03.2008 The government’s loan waivers for farmers are more of a populist stunt in the election year and less of seeking solutions to the current agrarian crisis, says journalist P.Sainath. The waivers fail to address moneylender debts and limit beneficiaries by a pre-determined two-hectare mark.

25.03.2008 In the first ever parliamentary poll in Bhutan, the people have made clear their preference for a government that will preserve the peace and development enjoyed under a century of royal rule. The people want stability, says winning party DTP, whose past experience under the former king won the people by a large majority.

21.03.2008 Five states in India now want to start their own radio stations. AIR, the national broadcaster, does not highlight region-specific issues, they feel. Critics are however concerned that this move by the states is an invasion of the community radio space.

20.03.2008 Human Rights Watch has condemned Nepal’s use of excessive force to silence and detain protesting Tibetan exiles in Kathmandu. Protests mounted in the capital since March 10 in reaction to Beijing’s violent suppression of protesters in Tibet and neighbouring provinces in China.

11.03.2008 Bearing the brunt of decade-long violence, millions of poor in rural Nepal believe the elections in April will bring them lasting peace and prosperity. The recent peace accord between the government and the Madhesi community has come in wake of protests and strikes that almost crippled the economy.

04.03.2008 SAN FRANCISCO, Mar 4 (OneWorld) - The vast majority of scientists and other specialists at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have withdrawn from a key labor-management partnership, citing rising distrust of the agency's chief Stephen Johnson.