Mobile technology transforms farming in rural Africa. [Washington Post] The Obama administration’s role in funding and arming the Honduran police forces accused of human rights violations. [The Guardian] A new crop insurance program in Kenya that helps poor farmers overcome losses from drought and heavy rains hopes to stabilize incomes and make farming more attractive [...]
Tag Archives: India
Signs of the NY Times: Touch and go in Myanmar. Pessimism in Kenya. Farming meets YouTube. Science and the U.S. economy.
M.I.T. grad Rikin Ghandi has implemented perhaps the world’s best synergistic cooperation between communications technology and agriculture. Vexed at how difficult it was to share important agricultural developments with the farmers that need them most, he developed Digital Green, a platform and process for sharing and extending knowledge among farmers in the most remote areas. [...]
Press Review: Fighting indoor air pollution in developing countries & Syria’s children lost to war
Aiming to eliminate the indoor air pollution that kills 4 million people each year, an India-based company produces clean cooking stoves for developing countries,. [The Guardian] Creating social programs that help transform gender roles and empower women are the key to tackling issues like food security, education, and health care in the developing world. [The [...]
Press Review: Deadly pollution in India & Burmese activists fight against copper mine
Burmese activists fighting to close a copper mine responsible for extreme pollution and social problems are furious over Aung San Suu Kyi’s show of support for the mining company. [The Guardian] Pollution caused by India’s coal-fired power plants is responsible for 120,000 deaths each year according to a new study by Greenpeace. [The Guardian] A [...]
Indian Supreme Court ‘reverses order’ to ban ‘human safaris’
India’s Supreme Court reportedly reversed its previous ‘interim order’ to ban ‘human safaris’ in the Andaman Islands, dealing a major blow to the campaign against the controversial tours. Before the interim order, hundreds of tourists traveled along the illegal Andaman Trunk Road every day in the hope of seeing the isolated Jarawa tribe. Tourists used [...]
Press Review: Conflict-free smartphones & Educating girls in India
Despite its rising economic status, India fails to provide educations for girls and other marginalized groups. [The Guardian] George Monbiot searches for a smartphone made with conflict-free minerals. [The Guardian] The Congolese government expresses doubts about signing a peace agreement with M23 rebels on March 15. [Washington Post] Three challenges that all women face as [...]
Press Review: Land disputes divide Kenyans & Child trafficking laws in India
Land disputes are causing violent ethnic divisions in Kenya and are set to become a main issue in upcoming elections. [Washington Post] Despite an epidemic of child trafficking in India, the country’s parliament may abandon new legislation banning the practice. [The Guardian] Australian environmentalists say that decades of progress towards conservation could be lost if [...]
Press Review: Land grabs in Ethiopia & Private health care clinics scam India’s poor
Save the Children accuses Nestlé and other food giants of violating codes by undermining breastfeeding campaigns in the developing world. [The Guardian] Millions of Ethiopia’s most vulnerable citizens are forcibly relocated as the Ethiopian government encourages land grabs by Indian corporations. [The Guardian] Private health care clinics in India are blamed for performing unnecessary surgeries [...]
Press Review: Super-typhoons on the rise in Philippines & Wastefullness tours highlight corruption
Super-typhoons in the Philippines are on the rise, serving as another warning that climate change is changing the earth’s weather patterns. [The Guardian] India debates whether the end of British aid in 2015 is a welcome sign of national advancement or a blow to the country’s poorest citizens. [The Guardian] In countries like Spain, the [...]
Press Review: Land grabs in Burma & Diplomacy hindering help for Syrian refugees
Western leaders encourage investment in Burma, while the Burmese government routinely seizes land from its citizens to sell to foreign investors. [Washington Post] Diplomacy by wealthy nations and inefficient methods of aid agencies are effectively stopping relief efforts to Syrian refugees. [The Economist] Big oil companies looking for oil in risky areas of the Arctic [...]
ONE WOMAN RAPED EVERY 22 MINUTES: Can a Culture of Sexual Violence Ever Change in India?
As the trial of five men accused of the gang-rape and murder of a student begins in New Delhi, Fairplanet asks a 21 year-old Mumbai medical student about the cultural dangers of growing up a woman in India. India has a systemic problem with sexual violence: one woman is raped every 22 minutes, as is [...]
‘Human safari’ row goes to India’s Supreme Court
Survival has urged India’s Supreme Court to take immediate action against ‘human safaris’, exactly a year after the world was shocked by an international exposé of semi-naked Jarawa women being forced to dance in exchange for food. Despite the scandal attracting widespread condemnation, authorities on the Andaman Islands have continued to ignore a subsequent court order that imposed a five-kilometer buffer [...]
