Retail prices of onions continued to remain high on Tuesday even as a ban on exports led to a 30% fall in wholesale rates. The government, however, cautioned that retail prices would fall from current exorbitant levels (of Rs 75-80 per kg) only after three weeks. But prices are expected to return to the last month's reasonable levels (Rs 20-25 per kg) across the country only in March, when the...

No matter how tired we are in the course of a difficult day’s work, there is always the reassuring feeling that at the end of the hard work we’ll go back to sleep in the comfort of our home. But there are millions of people in our cities who simply do not have a home. The homeless of our cities suffer the most; yet they are the most neglected. No...

Retail giants pushing the European Union-India free trade deal promise consumers a "new and dynamic retail experience" but ignore the fate of India’s "mom-and-pop" stores and some 40 million people they employ. Four years in the making, the EU-India Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement made serious headway during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Brussels Dec. 10 and is due to be signed and sealed early 2011. But the negotiations have...

In a 12 December interview, Director-General of the J&K Police (JKP) Kuldeep Khoda was questioned by Tribune journalist Jupinderjit Singh about complaints that the JKP was ignoring RTI applications.  At one point, Mr. Khoda stated that the Police  “will not entertain [RTI applications] on investigations of any case,” explaining this information “could help the accused due to which the department generally discouraged such applications.” The DGP’s stance is problematic.  On one...

Announces need for introspection conclave; pulls up Ministers for being insensitive to party workers Giving a clarion call to “confront corruption head-on,” Congress president Sonia Gandhi, on the second day of the party's 83rd plenary session, outlined an action plan in a powerful no holds-barred speech. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, Ms. Gandhi said, should seriously consider state funding of elections; fast-tracking of all cases that concern corruption by public...