A businessman I know was approached by representatives of a leading Indian national newspaper and offered a deal: Give us a stake in your company, and we’ll give you advertising space and favorable editorial coverage. A publisher told me that she received a similar proposition: Pay us, and we’ll interview your authors and write features about them. Sushma Swaraj, the parliamentary leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, has said that...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Shantha Sinha gets second term as NCPCR chairperson
The Centre on Tuesday decided to appoint Shantha Sinha as chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) for the second term. Ms. Sinha, a renowned child rights activist, was appointed as the chairperson of the child rights panel in 2007. An academic with the Central University Hyderabad, Ms. Sinha is the winner of prestigious Magsaysay Award for 2003. She was presented the Padma Shree Award in 1999...
More »The Kernel Of Bad Ethics by Suman Sahai
IF DISRUPTIONS over phone tapping and the India Premier League controversy had not taken parliament sessions hostage, the Rajya Sabha may have passed the controversial Seeds Bill in the week of April 26, when it was slated to come up for discussion. The government was keen to give this Bill the force of law as soon as possible because the seed industry wants it. The Seeds Bill originally proposed in 2004...
More »Rural households’ earnings up by 45% by Ruhi Tewari
The earnings of India’s rural households increased by 45% in two years, thanks to the Union government’s flagship job guarantee scheme, says the rural development ministry, which oversees the scheme. The ministry says the figures are based on an independent study it had commissioned, but experts claim the scheme hasn’t been as successful on the ground as the study suggests. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, or MGNREGA, promises at...
More »Reign of terror by TK Rajalakshmi
IN 2005, Gohana in Sonepat district of Haryana witnessed the torching of several Dalit homes by members of upper castes. Now Mirchpur, a village 58 kilometres away and located deep inside Hisar district, has met a similar fate. On April 21, as many as 18 homes belonging to Dalits from the Valmiki community here were set on fire by upper-caste youth over an alleged slight on the part of the...
More »