The government wants to sell the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), which is worth about Rs 34 trillion (USD45 billion). The stage has been set with increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) in insurance to 74%, followed by Initial Public Offer (IPO) this year. This is ostensibly to enhance transparency, enhance accountability by enabling the common citizen to have shares of LIC and decide its policies, and unlock value. The move has been met with disbelief and dismay.

A toolkit on worker collectives dealing with Sexual Harassment at workplace, particularly in garment factories and similar workspaces.

This toolkit was put together based on several feedback sessions from members of the Garment Labour Union and Munnade, organisations based in Bangalore.

It includes a section on worker engagement with factories and brands, as well as a checklist for unions and similar worker collectives.

Right from the time that little boys say ‘show me yours, I’ll show you mine’ to ‘mine is bigger than yours’ (fingers, fathers, take your pick) to entire cultures and civilisations that are based on the male obsession with size, male insecurity has been the driving force of much of civilisational markers. The bigger is better credo cancerously grows and infects everything from religion to culture and secular science.

Commercial Mining – not a boon but a curse
Concerns about Commercialisation/Privatisation of coal mines, particularly in Adivasi lands

Misjudged and misled: What the Justices missed in their understanding of SC/ST Act
We break down the existing law in a bid to understand what it really says and whether the apex court had to revisit it and issue guidelines.
By Anita Cheria and Edwin

Over the last 10 years the transgender community in Karnataka has been at the receiving end of different shades of attention and activity in the form of schemes and services from the state government. In the wake of the recently passed Karnataka state transgender (TG) policy, expectations are high and only matched by the urgency of community needs.

The United Nations Democracy Fund invites civil society organizations to apply for project funding. Project proposals may be submitted on-line between 18 November 2016 and 18 December 2016 at www.un.org/democracyfund. You can find guidelines, FAQs and lessons learned for applicants at http://www.un.org/democracyfund/application-materials.

It’s no secret that our society relies on the Internet now more than ever before. And while it has many wonderful benefits, it also poses some dangers. For example, nearly half of all US adults had their personal information hacked in 2014, with data like credit card numbers, home addresses, and even photos ending up in the hands of criminals.

The implementation of the SCs and STs (PoA) Act 1989 and Rules 1995 can be tracked systematically by the precise provisions of the Act and Rules.

Given below are the entire set of documents that go from the Act to the Rules and then the tools to monitor this Act. They will tell you all you need to know in a practical, step by step guide.

Use the set along with the Right to Information Act 2005 (RTI).

Download the whole set and use!

The ‘Vocabulary of commons’ is a socio-linguistic enquiry into the legal and livelihood consequences of the term ‘commons’ – a search for a vocabulary that reflects a commons approach to a life with dignity in harmony with Gaia and communitarian aspirations. It is to strengthen community articulation and make their voices heard in the ongoing efforts of dialogue between communities, academics, practitioners and decision makers. The book is co-authored by over 30 practitioners, intellectuals and researchers.

**If you are looking for a compilation of different articles on UIDAI go to
http://aadhaar-articles.blogspot.com.au/
http://aadhararticles.blogspot.com (AND)
http://www.delicious.com/golisoda/uid**
Periodic updates at http://openspace.org.in/UIDaadhaarsecurity2012

for a humourous take
http://thefishpond.in/edwin/2010/uid-scrapped-nascum-calls-for-bharath-bandh/#more-1041 (AND)
http://openspace.org.in/UIDAadhaartoptenreasons

** A good short guide http://www.scribd.com/doc/64484088/UID-for-Dummies
**their response http://epw.in/epw/uploads/articles/15120.pdf **

Aadhaar, meaning ‘foundation’ or ‘base’ (ironically al-Qa'ida!) is India’s attempt to provide an Unique Identity (UID) number to every person residing in india (and presumably every Indian citizen whether living in India or not).

On 26th January 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics, we will have equality and in social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value.

Additional donors, apart from the ones at http://openspace.org.in/donors