Expectations of changes resulting from a movement bereft of a clear political and ideological thrust would be far-fetched. FROM the vacuum left by mainstream politics to the confusions of ideology and practice emerging out of half-baked socio-political engagement – the political trajectory of Anna Hazare's “anti-corruption” satyagraha movement demanding early introduction of the Lokpal Bill in Parliament can well be summed up thus. The wide support that the movement received from...

A delegation from Kerala demands nationwide ban on pesticide Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday assured an all-party delegation from Kerala, led by its Health and Social Welfare Minister P.K. Sreemathy, that the Centre would await the report of the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) before deciding further on the request to ban Endosulfan nationwide. He reminded the delegates that the Kerala government had already banned the pesticide in 2005....

It's that time of the year when Jharkhand celebrates the Sarhul festival. As saal trees sprout new leaves and blossom in leafless forests, tribals troop to the village saran sthal (place to pray)' to worship nature. White and red-striped flags flutter along a cratered road snaking through Latehar's hilly terrain, from Rajdanda to Barahi. Construction of this road in Latehar's Mahuadanr block, around 120km from Ranchi, began last year. After villagers...

Arundhati Roy’s hilltop bungalow in a protected forest area will be demolished, a Madhya Pradesh revenue court ruled today upholding a lower court’s judgment that the land was acquired illegally. The bungalow at Bariyam village in Panchmarhi, 250km southeast of Bhopal, stands on a 4,346sqft plot that the author’s husband, filmmaker Pradeep Kishan, had bought in 1994. In an eight-page verdict, Bhopal-Hoshangabad division commissioner Manoj Srivastava rejected the petitioners’ plea of ignorance...

In a decision termed “historic” and “revolutionary” by Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, the State government has changed its policy on water allocation, giving priority to agriculture over industry. Mr. Chavan announced the decision in the Legislative Council, where the controversial Maharashtra water Resources Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2011 was passed on Wednesday. Reversing its earlier move to divert irrigation water for industrial use, Mr. Chavan said that as per the changed...