Articles by: Pradeep Baisakh

Real Action, Not Words Alone, Needed to Achieve UN Agenda 2030: Civil Society

Real Action, Not Words Alone, Needed to Achieve UN Agenda 2030: Civil Society

  As politicians and policymakers make speeches at the United Nations during a high-level summit next week to assess the lack of progress on the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, people’s leaders representing some of the world’s most marginalised communities will come together  just across the UN Headquarters  in New York to highlight the governments’ failings and present[Read More…]

by 17/09/2023 Comments are Disabled World
Asia hardest hit by new COVID cases, deaths as WHO declares global health emergency ‘over’

Asia hardest hit by new COVID cases, deaths as WHO declares global health emergency ‘over’

Asia currently accounts for more than half of the world’s new and confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths, with India, Indonesia and the Philippines being among the hardest-hit.  Combined, WHO regions Western Pacific and South-East Asia reported 1,140,000  new cases and increases of more than 20% in hospital and ICU admissions reported in several countries. These figures are widely considered as[Read More…]

by 10/05/2023 Comments are Disabled World
Never Again: Three years into pandemic, 190+ world leaders call to end vaccine inequality

Never Again: Three years into pandemic, 190+ world leaders call to end vaccine inequality

Ban Ki-Moon, Helen Clark, Joyce Banda, Joseph Stiglitz, Winnie Byanyima join scores of leaders in open letter three years into the COVID-19 pandemic. Inequity of vaccine rollout led to one preventable COVID-19 death every 24 seconds in first year of vaccination alone. Governments must embed equity and human rights in pandemic preparedness and response after COVID-19 left “a scar on[Read More…]

by 13/03/2023 Comments are Disabled World
G20 urged to “face up” to global Covid-19 challenges, as rich countries still monopolise vaccine supply

G20 urged to “face up” to global Covid-19 challenges, as rich countries still monopolise vaccine supply

Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia: Wednesday 16/11 : Rich countries have delivered seven times more doses of COVID-19 vaccine per head than low-income countries[1], civil society groups have warned, as the G20 summit continues its session in Bali. The groups have called on the G20 governments to address the intellectual property barriers that have frustrated the sharing of vaccine and treatment technology.[Read More…]

by 16/11/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Global People’s Assembly at the UN General Assembly: Over 1000 civil society groups propose bold steps to transform the world 

Global People’s Assembly at the UN General Assembly: Over 1000 civil society groups propose bold steps to transform the world 

New York, 23 September 2022 – Seven years after the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals – almost halfway to the 2030 deadline – the visionary promise of social justice and a rights-based, equitable and ecologically just world for all appears to be a distant dream. 1300 participants from groups who have historically been marginalized and excluded as well as civil society[Read More…]

by 23/09/2022 Comments are Disabled World
End Violence, Exclusion and Discrimination Against Women: Global Civil Society Campaign

End Violence, Exclusion and Discrimination Against Women: Global Civil Society Campaign

On the International Women’s Day today Global Call To Action Against Poverty (GCAP), a global civil society campaign working in 58 countries, in a statement expresses deep concern over the war in Ukraine and especially the security and survival of women and girls in Ukraine and in all conflict-affected countries like Yemen, Syria, and Afghanistan. Women and girls are facing[Read More…]

by 08/03/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Faces of Inequality: Stories of the poor and underprivileged from India’s grassroots

Faces of Inequality: Stories of the poor and underprivileged from India’s grassroots

Amid the talks of a five trillion dollar Indian economy, there is still an India where people struggle to arrange two square meals a day. Many strive hard for basic needs of food, health and education. Often unheard and ignored, these voiceless people mostly don’t matter to the mainstream media. This book, through various ground reports over a decade and[Read More…]

by 27/01/2022 Comments are Disabled Book Review
Millions of Asians urgently need developed countries to stop blocking their access to vaccines

Millions of Asians urgently need developed countries to stop blocking their access to vaccines

Across Asia, a surge in coronavirus cases is prompting fresh restrictions and pushing people further into poverty. While fast-moving vaccination drives are allowing developed economies to bounce back, most Asian countries have managed to vaccinate less than 10 percent of their populations. As the WTO TRIPS Council meets for talks today, the Peoples Vaccine Alliance-Asia has called upon leaders of[Read More…]

by 07/06/2021 Comments are Disabled World
Better stay outdated

Better stay outdated

If you do a google search, “Ramp Show” you get about 2660 million links. Ramp shows are quite popular across cities in the world and have well engulfed the minds of both young and old. Everyone wishes to be ‘up-to-date’ on fashion clothing – seasonally changing the costumes. And, this of course maintains your flamboyance! Or at least that’s what[Read More…]

by 05/05/2020 Comments are Disabled Climate Change
Civil Society in Odisha rises to the occasion to help the destitute during the lockdown

Civil Society in Odisha rises to the occasion to help the destitute during the lockdown

The crisis emerging out of the threat from Coronavirus is herculean. Several civil society actors in Odisha have risen to the occasion in different ways to intervene on behalf of the poor and the destitute. On March 25, this reporter found some homeless people starving in Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Odisha due to the lockdown and shared their plight[Read More…]

by 30/03/2020 Comments are Disabled India
Migrant Workers’ Woes: An Open Letter to the Prime Minister

Migrant Workers’ Woes: An Open Letter to the Prime Minister

Migrant Workers’ woes: Please address the nation to assuage their fear, Dear Prime Minister To Shri Narendra Modi Honourabe Prime Minister of India Respected Modi Jee, You have received accolades from the World Health Organisation, the opposition party leaders and from several other quarters for your statesman-like approach in dealing with the emergency situation arising out of the threat from[Read More…]

by 29/03/2020 1 comment India
People’s Assembly held in New York demands climate justice and ending inequality

People’s Assembly held in New York demands climate justice and ending inequality

300 people from 80 countries and 203 civil society organisations participated in the People’s Assembly 2019 on 24-25 September in the UN Church Center in New York. There were many representatives from social movements fighting for justice at the local level. They analyzed the people’s perspectives and challenged heads of state attending the UN SDG Summit across the road in the UN[Read More…]

by 17/10/2019 Comments are Disabled Climate Change
Photo Credit: Manoj Kumar Swain.

Triumph of People Power

On 7th September, thousands of people gathered at the Raj Mahal square in Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Odisha and protested against the implementation of the newly amended Motor Vehicle Act, 2019. Under the amended law, implemented from September 1, the police are collecting hefty penalties from common people for the violation of traffic rules e.g. not wearing helmets, not[Read More…]

by 29/09/2019 Comments are Disabled India
Sita Bhoi with her temporary shed

Sustainable Development is meaningless for these people in an Indian village

The United Nations High Level Political Forum (HLPF) commences from 9th July and will continue till 18th July in the UN headquarters in New York, which will, among other discussions, review the working of the much touted Agenda 2030, also known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and suggest course corrections so that we achieve 17 ambitious goals by 2030.[Read More…]

by 09/07/2019 Comments are Disabled India
Negligence of the elderly in an exploitative economic system

Negligence of the elderly in an exploitative economic system

The study done by HelpAge India titled, “Elder Abuse in India: Role of family in care giving – challenges and responses” brings about some glaring facts about the state of care to the elderly in our society. The study, among other things, found out that 35% of the caregivers never felt happy looking after the elderly. Caregivers here mean mainly[Read More…]

by 15/06/2019 Comments are Disabled India
Recipe for sustainable development in Odisha

Recipe for sustainable development in Odisha

“Social exclusion, malnutrition and degradation in quality education are the major challenges and break the speed of development process. Grassroots level development needs inclusion of all the stakeholders like civil society organizations, policy makers, government officials, academia and community based organizations, said Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, Government of India during the OdishaVikash Conclave 2018 held in Bhubaneswar[Read More…]

by 18/09/2018 Comments are Disabled India
Who killed Zia?

Who killed Zia?

On August 17, 1988, the then President of Pakistan General Zi-Ul Haq died in an air crash. It was termed as an accident then. But was it really an accident? A very important person of the time Johan Gunther Dean, the then Ambassador of US to India did not agree. Is he suggesting that Zia was killed? Who killed Zia[Read More…]

by 01/07/2018 5 comments Book Review
Smriti Nagpal

Two Ladies, Who Made The Mission Possible!

A 6-14 year old minor girl could be an‘object’used for dispute settlement between two parties. No matter how absurd it may sound, this practice, known as “Swara” (http://bit.ly/1PWTLKm), is prevalent in some parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan, mostly in tribal belts. This is a 400 year-old tradition based on principle of “blood for blood” for dispute settlement where virgin girls[Read More…]

by 27/08/2016 2 comments Life/Philosophy
BRICS And Civil Society

BRICS And Civil Society

India is going to host the 8th BRICS Summit in Goa on October 15-16, 2016 as part of India’s chairmanship of BRICS this year. BRICS is the acronyms of its member nations: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, all of which are fast growing developing economies. The formation came to existence in 2009 but South Africa was taken as[Read More…]

by 16/07/2016 2 comments World
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