-NDTV   What began as a peaceful process of negotiations between the Government and yoga icon Baba Ramdev has now broken out into a hostile exchange between both sides. Each side is now accusing the other of reneging on the agreements reached in discussions over the last two days. The government says it has written proof that Mr Ramdev and his supporters had reached an agreement and would call off their fast....

The farmers' agitation in Uttar Pradesh brings into focus the indiscriminate acquisition of land by the state for corporate-led development. ON May 19, three days before the formal observation of the second anniversary of the United Progressive Alliance government, Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi made a categorical announcement that in the monsoon session of Parliament scheduled to begin in July the ruling coalition would bring in legislation that...

-The Economic Times   Talks between the government and civil society activists on the draft Lokpal Bill almost broke down on Monday, with the civil society members threatening to walk out of the drafting committee. This was following government's insistence on keeping the post of Prime Minister, higher judiciary, Armed Forces, the Election Commission, Public Services Commissions and MPs conduct inside Parliament out of the purview of Lokpal. Members of the civil...

Simmering differences between civil society members and government representatives spilled over on Monday after an attempt was made to bring the prime minister and the higher judiciary under the purview of the Lokpal Bill. In its fifth meeting on Monday, while government representatives—including senior Union ministers Pranab Mukherjee, Kapil Sibal, M.Veerappa Moily, P. Chidambaram and Salman Khursheed—expressed their reservations, civil society members said their demand was “non-negotiable” and threatened another agitation. While...

If it took six decades for the Central government to honour the constitutional commitment to provide free and compulsory education to all children in the age group of 05-14 by putting in place the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2010, the State governments, barring a few, have failed to complete the necessary spadework even a year after the law was enacted. The spadework related to...