Resources & Sustainable Development

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

Vikalp Sangam core group statement on the need for creative, long-term alternatives in view of COVID-19

As India and the world face a completely unprecedented crisis due to the spread of COVID-19 virus, the first and immediate response must be health and treatment facilities, physical distancing, relief and basic needs packages to workers, basic need services, and other such measures that both reduce the risk of spread as also provide economic and survival security to those worst affected not only by infection but by the shutdown of ordinary life.

 

Heinrich Böll Stiftung

Plastic Atlas

The Plastic Atlas highlights the scale of the crisis, and the global impacts of plastic production, consumption and disposal on other key global challenges such as human health and climate change. It also outlines the role of plastic for key industrial sectors such as agriculture and tourism and describes the corporate interests and drivers behind the plastic crisis. Finally, the Plastic Atlas presents an overview of key anti-plastic regulations, zero waste solutions and a snapshot of the growing global movement working towards a future free from plastic pollution.
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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.

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Democracy & Society

Peoples long march conducted from kaloor to kochin shipyard. Photo By Mujeebcpy

This land is mine

In this article, the authors explain that the recent amendments to India’s citizenship law, and the processes for listing Indian residents and Indian citizens in national registers together constitute an unprecedented threat to India’s secular democratic constitution. It explains that this is the first time a legal regime is being established which differentiates based on religious identity, which strikes at the heart of the humanist and inclusive framework of the Indian constitution.
By Harsh Mander and Mohsin Alam Bhat
Locals and Jamia Millia Islamia students protest against CAA/NRC in New Delhi

Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019: A step towards undoing the Indian secular democracy

The CAA is not the first and by no means will be the last attempt to further the agenda of Hindu Rashtra. One can anticipate many such moves meant to keep the hatred against Muslims simmering. However, the divisive politics will only hurtle India onto the treacherous road of relentless anxiety, uncertainty and injustice, exposing million of its own citizens against the vagaries of statelessness.
By Neha Dabhade
Anti-CAA Banner with the slogan "One North East/One Voice/No CAA, demonstrated at Cultural Protest organised by Artistes of Assam at AEI playground Chandmari.

‘We will give blood, but not our land’: The Citizenship Amendment Act protests in the context of Northeast India

India’s Northeast, a land of volatile identities having an uneasy experience with migration, is held to-gether by a fragile consensus forged in the larger interest of peace and co-existence. The seams of these fault-lines pass by people’s lived realities, always at the risk of being burst open with an act of insensitivity. The enactment of the CAA is considered by many as one such act.
By Kaustubh Deka

Gender and economic policy discussion forum

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Digital India through a gender lens

This policy discussion paper seeks to present a critical overview of Digital India, evaluating the extent to which the outcome areas of the program address gender-transformative change. It also offers suggestions for building an enabling environment to expand opportunities and strategic life choices for women, and contributing to gender equality, as economic, social and political arenas are fundamentally redefined by digital technologies. This paper draws upon a detailed policy study titled ‘Digital India through a Gender Lens’, undertaken by the authors in 2017-18, with support from the Heinrich Böll Stiftung.

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Occupation of the coast – Blue economy in India

The Blue Economy involves economic activity that engages with the various components of the oceans. As the Blue Economy gets underway, this research report re-visits various aspects of coastal development and weaves together a narrative of their impacts on the fishing communities.

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India International

A note on green federalism: Sharing best practices

The success of green federalism depends on what institutional mechanisms are created to establish communication and procedures between the various tiers of government and the thematic resorts that need to be involved to adequately address projects and programmes towards ecologically sustainable development.

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Perspective Asia: Nationalisms and populisms in Asia

The latest issue of Perspectives Asia aims to draw a fine line between different forms of nationalism. The articles from various Asian countries focus on strategies and political styles adopted by populist leaders and explain how nationalistic and religious ideas are distorted by politics. 

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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.