Tackling corruption requires economic reforms and a popular re-engagement with electoral politics. We should shun the politics of hunger strikes. The idea of a ‘Jan Lok Pal’ is flawed and profoundly misunderstands the causes and solutions of corruption in India. It seeks to create another chunk of Government, more processes and rules, to solve a problem that, in part, exists because of too many chunks of Government, too many processes and...

Union home minister P Chidambaram may consider UP as a block in India's development but the state contributes 30% in the national food basket, whereas it constitutes 16% of the land and 18% of the population. The good news is that the food share this year is all set to increase further with wheat harvest expected to be over 300 lakh metric tonnes. UP is country's top wheat producer and this...

The issue regarding the seemingly poor response to the national rural employment guarantee scheme ( NREGS) of the central government dominated the proceedings of the gram sabha of the Chandor village panchayat held on Sunday. It was pointed out that several cardholders under the UPA government's flagship project had later failed to undertake the work allotted to them, thus crippling the progress of the scheme in the village. The program officer...

The sight of a wiry, sweating man, straining as he pulls a rickshaw by hand is a frequent sight in Calcutta despite India's attempts to consign the practice to history. The gentle tinkling of its traditional bell sounds delightful amidst the cacophony of Calcutta traffic - with its ever increasing numbers of cars, taxis, lorries and motorbikes, all seeming to compete to blare their horns loudest and longest. But turn around and...

Environment minister Jairam Ramesh has passed the Posco buck, nominally to the government of Orissa but, in reality, to the courts. His final clearance of the project depends on a categorical assertion by the government of Orissa that there are no 'other traditional forest dwellers' among those whose land would be diverted for the project. Three committees appointed by the Union environment and forests ministry, which do not see eye-to-eye...