GREY SHADES OF A GRAY WORLD

One early morning I met these two beautiful women who were sitting outside the Indian National Congress's headquarters in New Delhi. As one of them posed for the camera, the other one took a shower under the tap that provides drinking water to thirsty party workers and visitors. Nirmala Devi (the one in the foreground) told me that she and her elder sister are from Jammu and their kids have abandoned them. Now both the sisters are on their way to Varanasi (on foot as they have no money) to spend the remaining days of their lives by the holy river, Ganga. Jammu to Varanasi is a 1,311 kms. journey.                                 © Danish Siddiqui Foundation. All Rights Reserved.   

   As the nation and the media mourned the death of YSR Reddy, efforts to revive the Doha round of the stalled WTO talks began in New Delhi. Against the backdrop of the latter event (and inevitably the former too) around 45,000 Indian farmers raised slogans to stall efforts to liberalise agricultural trade.    The farmers, already hit by a major drought this year, fear further liberalisation in trade would mean a rush of foreign mechanized operations into agriculture that would in turn hurt their already meagre livelihoods. The Doha round of the WTO talks collapsed in July 2008; the current politicking in New Delhi among trade ministers from around 36 countries is designed to restart that round.     "I wonder why we live in the illusion of farmers being the silly ignorant country folks who land up in our cities by mistake! If our media gave you a chance you may really be struck by how much they know of what they do! And they may not know the hi fundas of the power politics at WTO