An insightful article on “The wheat mountains of the Punjab” by Professor M.S. Swaminathan – one of the world's leading agricultural scientists and food policy experts – and a couple of reports on the Supreme Court of India's observations and directions on the same subject, published in this newspaper have drawn the attention of readers in substantial numbers. The article, published on May 11, 2011, throws new light on the present...

For most people in cities, Labour Day (or May Day, which was on May 1) was just another public holiday that nobody thought too much about. On a day marked to give voice to the rights of the Indian work force, perhaps one ought to consider those who have been forced to join their ranks too soon - child labourers. According to government estimates, an astounding 42.02% of the Indian workforce...

Conditional cash transfers” (CCTs) are a new buzzword in policy circles. The idea is simple: give poor people cash conditional on good behaviour such as sending children to school. This helps to score two goals in one shot: poor people get some income support, and at the same time, they take steps to lift themselves out of poverty. CCT enthusiasm, however, is often based on a superficial reading of the Latin...

The food ministry is set to oppose the mandatory 5% ethanol blending programme, fearing diversion of foodgrain for manufacture of ethanol. The ministry has called for the report of the expert panel headed by Planning Commission member Saumitra Chaudhuri in order to "review" the programme. The petroleum ministry was expected to soon send the report to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for a final decision after factoring in the dissent notes...

Compared to many parts of the world, access to the Internet content has been relatively free in India. Unlike people in countries like China, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, etc, Indians do not face any government-controlled restrictions on accessing sites dealing with politics, religion or even mature content. But that might all change. In April 2011, the Indian government's Department of Information Technology issued new regulations, Information Technology Rules, 2011, under which any content deemed...