-The Times of India The urban development ministry has asked Speaker Meira Kumar to pay Rs 1.98 crore for occupation of 6, Krishna Menon Marg. In response to an RTI query, the estates department said Kumar had occupied the bungalow since 1986 after the demise of her father Jagjivan Ram. The department gave a list of 10 people, including "family members of late Indrani Devi, that is, Smt Mira Kumar (sic)", and...

On August 26, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan resigned, taking responsibility for the disastrous meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was caused by the March 2011 undersea earthquake and ensuing tsunami.  In India, on the other hand, the deliberate contamination of a drinking water tank with radioactive waste in the Kaiga nuclear power plant in Western Ghats in the state of Karnataka has gone unpunished for two whole...

CHANDRAWAL, India—Satbir Sharma's wife is dead. His family lives in fear. His father's left leg is shattered, leaving him on crutches for life.   Sharma's only hope lies in a new law that gives him the right to know what is happening in the investigation of his wife's death. Most of all, he wants to know what will happen to the village mayor, now in jail on murder charges. He talks quietly, under...

When I met organic farmer John Fennessy, who has been cultivating his farm at Sulekunte, Bangalore, for the past three years, I felt I was learning a valuable lesson in life. Having sold some of the first produce from his four-acre farm ‘Hamsa' at the Flea Market recently held at Jaaga, a proud John shared some very insightful thoughts about life as an organic farmer .“I believe we must, as responsible...

Village studies are a treasure trove of information on economic and social changes A noteworthy feature of research on Indian agriculture is the resurgence of interest in village studies. Such studies – that include resurveys of villages studied earlier – provide insights into the livelihood prospects of the majority of people who continue to work in the countryside. They are an important mode of research to understand agrarian relations that often...