Full Coverage: South Asia

31.07.2007 New Delhi based organisation Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), announces a five-day refresher workshop on how to use the environment to eradicate poverty in rural India, from 19-23 November, 2007 at the Anil Agarwal Green College New Delhi 110062, India.

31.07.2007 Indian state Gujarat, which lies on the west coast, is celebrating a successful school enrollment drive that started five years ago to ensure all children, especially girls, are enrolled in schools. Through community mobilisation in 18,000 Gujarat villages the initiative has met with sizeable success.

31.07.2007 Greenpeace India has released a set of thermograph images of the Mysore Palace as a part of its campaign to phase out inefficient lighting in India to fight climate change. The palace uses approximately 96,000 ordinary light bulbs, which are energy inefficient and replacing them with compact fluroscent lamps (CFLs) can save Rs 41 lakhs and a significant amount of power.

31.07.2007 The tribals of Ranchi, the capital of the east Indian state of Jharkhand are bringing out handwritten newspapers to highlight the problems faced by them and raise issues that are overlooked by major newspapers. Through newspapers they also try to create awareness among people about government welfare programmes.

31.07.2007 Arms control advocates expressed "grave concerns" this weekend about U.S. concessions to India on key non-proliferation provisions.

31.07.2007 Tuhannet ihmiset joutuvat köyhyyden edessä työskentelemään teknologiajätteen kierrätyksen parissa. Altistuminen vaarallisille metalleille on muodostunut ongelmaksi jo ennen Intian astumista laajempaan tietoyhteiskuntaan, osittain länsimaista laittomasti maahantuodun e-jätteen myötä. Kehitystä on kuitenkin tapahtumassa Intian ensimmäisen yksityisen e-jätteen kierrätyslaitoksen rakentamisen myötä.

30.07.2007 Former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam encourages the media to encompass a classical model of mass media and national development.

30.07.2007 CMS, a Delhi based research and advocacy organisation is coordinating a film festival on environment and wildlife documentaries – 4th CMS VATAVARAN- Environment and Wildlife Film Festival to promote space for environment issues in the public media. The festival is slated for from 12 to 16 September 2007 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.

30.07.2007 The Delhi Police has printed a booklet on Security tips for North East Students /visitors in Delhi and advising them on how to behave well and to blend into the mainstream society of Delhi. But many activists and concerned citizens believe this a violation of human rights.

30.07.2007 Analysis of phone records by the Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM), an NGO in the western state of India, Gujarat, indicates that top police officials who were responsible for controlling the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat, in 2002, were not at the spot when two worst attacks against the Muslim community took place.

30.07.2007 ActionAid’s Hunger Monitoring project reveals that climate change and oppression in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh have worsened hunger and deprivation amongst the population. The study points out significant changes in weather patterns over the last four to five years which has adversely affected farming.

29.07.2007 Ranglai Mro, a minority community leader from the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh, has been sentenced to 17 years in jail after protesting against the eviction of his people from their land to make way for an army training centre.

29.07.2007 Parts of Sri Lanka have motored ahead with reconstruction efforts in the 30 months since the 2004 tsunami struck the divided island nation; others areas have lagged woefully behind.

27.07.2007 NEW YORK, Jul 27 (OneWorld) - Calls for increased help from Washington are on the rise as global efforts to tackle the world's burgeoning water and sanitation crisis have largely failed to produce any meaningful results so far.

27.07.2007 A special school in central Indian state Madhya Pradesh trains women to become ideal, obedient and submissive wives and daughters-in-law, which has drawn the ire of social activists and women's organisations who feel that men should also be part of the training for a balanced society.

27.07.2007 The cotton has now been dubbed "the killer crop" as continues to take the lives of farmers in the Vidarbha region of western India. High cost of farming and poor returns have taken the lives of nearly 8,000 farmers in four years says activist farmer Kishor Tiwari.

27.07.2007 North-east Sri Lanka goes unserved by both the government and aid agencies as the region remains inaccessible. 30 months after the tsunami even as other parts of the country forge ahead, the north-east lags behind in reconstruction efforts.

27.07.2007 New Delhi-based NGO, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) says that the crisis in the bus transport system in the Indian capital is due to policy failure to recognise the role of buses in making cities clean. The organisation has suggested some steps for the government to sort out the mess that has put commuters to great inconvenience.

26.07.2007 New evidence reveals that the toxic ship-for-scrap renamed "Blue Lady" and currently anchored 4,000 feet off India's coast has radioactive material on board.
From: Indian Platform on Shipbreaking

26.07.2007 Karachi's superintendent of Central Prison spends sleepless nights trying to figure out how to save the life of 107 inmates -- all of whom face the death sentence. Human rights organisations in the country have chosen to remain largely mum on the issue.