News stories by Nasseem Ackbarally, page 2

PORT LOUIS, Feb 26 (IPS) - By Kritanand Beeharry's side are thousands of watermelon seedlings that he has grown in small pots without the use of chemical fertilisers.

As the farmer prepares his half-hectare piece of land in Soreze, near Mauritius' capital Port-Louis, to plant the two-week-old seedlings, he takes a minute to admire his achievement. "Look at these, they look solid and better grown -- it's the compost," he says.

PORT LOUIS, Aug 09 (IPS) - “Look out there, the blue one…. that is a European Union fishing vessel that is threatening our livelihood,” says Lallmamode Mohamedally, a Mauritian fisherman, as he points to a boat offloading its catch at the Les Salines port, close to the country’s capital Port Louis.

In finding a way to survive a 36 percent cut in sugar prices, Mauritian farmers are not only exporting a variety of fruit and vegetables to the European Union, but they have also begun farming in a more environmentally sustainable way.

Rani Murthy, a public officer who lives in Plaines Wilhems, central Mauritius, wakes at three every morning to wait for the water tanker from the Central Water Authority so that she can collect water for cooking and household chores.

Amateurism, high prices, mismanagement, and a limited product range have discouraged Inderjeet Rajcoomarsingh, the former chairman of the Mauritius Agricultural Cooperative Federation, from shopping at cooperative stores.

Under a new gender quota law introduced in Mauritius, at least one-third of the candidates in local elections must be women. But the adoption of a national quota is not yet on the horizon, even though just 18 percent of legislators are women and there are only two female cabinet ministers.

Mauritius plans to privatise its water sector, as rains become rare, and century-old pipes continue to leak almost 50 percent of the water available, added to waste by the population, mismanagement and over-consumption.

'I do politics every day, but partisan politics? No, thank you,' says Jane Ragoo, long-time trade unionist and social worker. She believes in working to bring about change in society and improve people’s lives but has no interest in clambering onto a truck to campaign for office.

Workers from Bangladesh have helped Mauritius to achieve the economic success and world market share that the Indian Ocean island state boasts about. But many live and work in conditions described as akin to 'modern slavery', apart from facing discrimination, the denial of labour rights and even violence.

As Mauritians went to the polls to elect a new government for the next five years in a closely contested election, across the island women were voting for a better life.