Heinrich Böll Stiftung

Pluralities

COVID-19: Who cares about trans bodies?

Dr. Rima Ghosh speaks to Shalini Yog Shah about transgender people’s ordeals during the pandemic and what needs to be done.

By Shalini Yog Shah and Dr. Rima Ghosh Patranabish

Empowering citizens through UBI

Article

In this article, the author reflects on the nature of the Indian social protection system and its limitations. He describes two lenses through which the government views its population to fulfil its welfare role: One, by way of regulating employment relationship with a view to protecting workers from arbitrariness and exploitation by employers; and two, by way of reaching out to the poor through in-kind transfers. Pointing out their shortcomings, he argues in favour of a basic income system, which views people as empowered citizens.

By Sarath Davala

India as archetype: What emerging data powerhouses need for effective information sharing

Study

The need for cross-border data sharing throughout the Covid-19 pandemic has shown that the future of multilateral threat management will hinge on steady yet flexible open-data publishing norms and multilateral data-transfer agreements. In many ways, India typifies the perspectives and needs of emerging economies related to data sharing, data flows, and related commercial regulation.

By Kim Arora

Follow us on Twitter

Tweets by boell_India

This English publication by Adrienne Goehler deals with the mutual relationship between sustainability, basic income and collective deceleration. The work shows that in the discourse on transformation and sustainability in the fight against the constantly advancing climate change, a systematic integration of the issues of social inequality and the global creation of decent livelihoods are absolutely necessary.

pdf

Perspectives Asia: Two Sides of the Medals

This issue of Perspectives Asia examines the intersections of sports and politics. We look at how, through sports, identities are shaped, myths and heroes are born, and unconventional truths are buried.

pdf

Ecology

Book Launch & Discussion

Alternative Worldviews: SHARING LIFE The Ecopolitics of Reciprocity

India and Paris Agreement: Past, present and future

Five years since the Paris Agreement, we are at an inflection point. The current policies of the countries have put the planet on a path to a 3.2°C temperature increase this century. Very soon, we will exhaust the carbon budget for 1.5°C. This will have devastating consequences on communities, economies and ecosystems in the developing countries like India. It is in India's interest that the global emissions are reduced significantly. For this, India will have to take a leadership role in climate negotiations. The energy transition taking place in the country provides space for India to be a leader in climate actions.

By Chandra Bhushan

Anthropocene assaults on biodiversity, painting a dismal picture of the future of life, including human life. Illustration by Abhishek Chauhan. All rights reserved.

Nourishing community in pandemic times

The corona pandemic makes us understand that the earth is a commons, and that our lives are shared. This insight is not a rational concept, but springs from an emotional need. Individuals accept hardships by restricting their contacts in order to protect community. The understanding that we need to protect others has been able to override economic certainties within days. Humans chose to put reciprocity first. Reciprocity – mutual care – is neither an abstract concept nor an economic policy, but the experience of a sharing relationship and ultimately of keeping the community of life intact. This community of life englobes humans, but also other-than-human beings. Only if we understand that the metabolic process through which we participate in life is an act of nourishing a community shared with other beings, can we move away from treating others – human and non-human beings – as objects. By Andreas Weber

Unpacked!

Book

Specifically developed and designed for a young international audience, the digital book "Unpacked! Plastic, Waste, & Me" answers 70 questions about plastic in colorful infographics and six true stories. Book designer and author Gesine Grotrian and a team of experts from the Heinrich Böll Foundation together with an advisory board of young people from all over the world have created an exciting non-fiction book for young people aged 12 and over.

pdf

Plastic Atlas Asia Edition

Publication

In 20 chapters, the Plastics Atlas Asia Edition wants to offer the growing risk of plastic waste in the environment, landfills and the oceans with a focus in Asia.

pdf

Perspectives Asia: Asia for Future

While Asia is home to some of the fastest growing economies and some of the world’s top polluters, it is also one of the regions worst hit by climate change. This edition of Perspectives Asia presents the work of climate change activists in Asia who are calling their governments and people to action. They are raising their voices, some of them despite severe restrictions on the right of free assembly and freedom of speech.

pdf

India International

Flags of G20 nations inside the main meeting room of the London Summit, 2 April 2009

Setting agenda for G20 Presidency 2023

Article

Hosting G20 Presidency in 2023 is a fitting aspiration and a welcome challenge for India. A major economy and a developing country with a mature democracy, heading into its 76th year of its independence, India has the unique opportunity to set ‘Agenda 2023’ with a focus on equitable green and resilient recovery. The groundwork must begin now, to embrace the troika, and soon after the presidency. India can showcase the standards, practices and policies being developed to align with 1.5-degree target, adaptation readiness for building resilience of its most vulnerable while strongly highlighting the need for industrialised countries of the bloc to do much more. The government will have to begin working together with civil society organisations, think tanks, businesses, youth and women to deliver on Agenda 2023 and the agenda of G20 that responds to the COVID-19 pandemic, climate and inclusive sustainable development.

By Dr Ajita Tiwari Padhi

Financing sustainable development: Civil society perspective on asian infrastructure investment bank

The study takes a civil society perspective to the workings of the Asian Infrastructure Bank. The frameworks, policies and modalities are analyzed to understand the role of civil society in interfacing with the Bank. This is a noteworthy endeavor in the direction of ensuring accountability and accountability standards in Multilateral Development Banks.

pdf

Unpacked! Plastic, Waste, & Me

Plastic Atlas Asia

Tech and COVID-19

No Women - No Peace

Global Energy Transition

About Us

Past Events

The Heinrich Böll Stiftung/ Heinrich Boell Foundation is a German foundation and part of the Green political movement that has developed worldwide as a response to the traditional politics of socialism, liberalism, and conservatism.

We are a green think-tank and an international policy network, our main tenets are ecology and sustainability, democracy and human rights, self-determination and justice. We place particular emphasis on gender democracy, meaning social emancipation and equal rights for women and men. We are also committed to equal rights for cultural and ethnic minorities. Finally, we promote non-violence and proactive peace policies. To achieve our goals, we seek strategic partnerships with others who share our values.

Our namesake, Heinrich Böll, personifies the values we stand for: protection of freedom, civic courage, tolerance, open debate, and the valuation of art and culture as independent spheres of thought and action.

Our India Liaison Office was established in 2002 in New Delhi. Working with governmental and non-governmental local project partners we support India’s democratic governance through informed national and international dialogue processes with a view to enhance the diversity of green thinking.

Current State of Affairs in India