Ayesha Saldanha

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Latest posts by Ayesha Saldanha

Exploring India's History Through Family Photos

  14 July 2013

The Indian Memory Project describes itself as "a visual and oral history of the Indian subcontinent via family archives". Global Voices has spoken to founder Anusha Yadav about what inspired her to set up the website, and how it works.

Indian Ruling on Vedanta Mining Plans Favours Tribal Rights

  25 May 2013

India's Supreme Court recently ruled that village councils should make the final decision as to whether controversial British company Vedanta Resources can mine for bauxite in the eastern state of Odisha. Vedanta wants to mine on land that the local Dongria Kondh people hold sacred.

Are Indian Companies “Land Grabbing” in Africa?

  20 May 2013

As foreign companies and governments buy or lease land in countries across Africa, the debate continues as to whether this will encourage development or is simply land grabbing. The Hindu's Addis Ababa correspondent Aman Sethi has taken part in a Q&A session on Facebook on the issue of Indian "land grabs" in African countries.

Mauritania Through a Portuguese Artist's Eyes

  20 May 2013

Portuguese artist Isabel Fiadeiro lives in Nouakchott, Mauritania, where she paints and runs an art gallery. Fiadeiro also sketches from observation, filling her blog Sketching in Mauritania with images of daily life in the West African nation. Global Voices spoke to her about how her art has helped her get to know the country.

Fixing Taps to Save Water In India

  23 March 2013

Author and painter Aabid Surti may have won awards for his writing and art, but he has also made a mark in another field: water conservation. For the last seven years, the 77-year-old has spent his Sundays going to apartments in Mumbai, and volunteering to fix leaking taps.

India: Online Video Archive for Performing Arts

  15 October 2012

Shabda is an unique online archive of videos presenting lecture demonstrations on various Indian art forms. Inspired by the TED talk format, Shabda's creators invite experts in music, dance or theatre to give a lecture on the topic of their choice for twenty minutes.

Egypt: First Free Presidential Election Underway

Egyptians are voting in the country's first free presidential election. While large queues have formed at some polling stations, the turnout seems to be lower than for the parliamentary elections in November 2011. This may reflect a disillusionment with the candidates felt by many.

May Day Marked Around the Arab World

May Day, or Labour Day, is commemorated in many Arab countries. In this post we look at some of the day's events this year: in Libya it became a national public holiday, in Bahrain demonstrations were attacked by riot police, and in Lebanon the website of the Ministry of Labour was hacked.