The Right to Information (RTI) Act and activists who pursued the Adarsh case as early as 2008 are emerging victorious in the battle over the cooperative housing society. The RTI Act was instrumental in not only revealing the names of the 103 approved members of the controversial society, but also in bringing to light the links between politicians and various officials, including those in the government, military and defence estates...

There is a new “plan” for the scheduled tribes, but the adivasis themselves will have no say. Alienation from the forest and its resources, alienation from cultivable land and alienation from the State underlie the anger of the adivasis in India’s heartland. This is not a new or startling observation. Adivasi mass organisations, the more sensitive administrators, political organisations with their ears to the ground and scholars who have studied India’s...

A small farmer in Maharashtra, whose high-yielding rice variety is popular in five States, is denied the benefits of his research. TWENTY-SEVEN years ago, Dadaji Khobragade of Nanded Fakir village in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra noticed yellow seeds in three spikes of a paddy stalk in his field. Intrigued by the freak harvest, he preserved the grains. He subsequently planted them in a six-foot square plot, which he covered with thorny...

Two years after the Tatas moved out of the Nano compound in Bengal, Singur is all set to return to the forefront of a political tug-of-war next week. CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will address a public meeting in the area on January 9 and Trinamool Congress will follow suit a few days later. However on the ground, the defiance has mellowed to a murmur. Landowners have given up hope of getting their...

Two years after the Tatas moved out of the Nano compound in Bengal, Singur is set to return to the forefront of a political tug-of-war next week. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will address a public meeting in the area on January 9, and Trinamool Congress will follow suit a few days later. But on the ground, the defiance has mellowed to a murmur. Landowners have given up hope of getting...