For the Government of India the first phase of the national solar mission has been a grand success. It not only managed to attract industry to invest in the generation of an energy considered costly, but also dramatically drove down the cost of producing this energy. In its celebration, little did the government realise that a major conglomerate had subverted rules to acquire a stake in the solar mission much...

-The Times of India   Struggling to stay relevant amid signs of growing popular indifference, Team Anna chose Republic Day to advocate radical ideas like putting gram sabhas above the Lok Sabha and establishing a referendum commission along the lines of Election Commission.  In a video message, activist Anna Hazare also praised the Lokayukta bill of Uttarakhand, in what may be seen as a surrogate campaign for the BJP in the state. He...

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), the apex body of Indian Muslims, is venting its ire against the Congress-led UPA government after it got no response to its demands for amendments in Right to Education (RTE) Act, Waqf Property and Direct Taxes Code Bills. Though the board has been holding meetings across the country to mobilise public opinion since June 2011, the campaign has been intensified in the poll-bound...

-The Telegraph Google India, one of nearly two dozen online sites accused of hosting objectionable content, today said blocking them couldn’t be an option as that would violate the right to freedom of speech and expression in a democratic country. “There are serious issues regarding freedom of speech and we are proud to have this freedom in our country unlike a totalitarian regime like China,” the website’s counsel Neeraj Kishan Kaul told...

A communications expert who advises the Prime Minister and a Harvard law graduate who helped Rahul Gandhi’s team draft the Lokpal bill differed on the need for an anti-corruption ombudsman, as the now-shelved legislation dominated an NRI meet today. Sam Pitroda and G. Mohan Gopal came up with different perspectives on the bill on the second day of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, held every year since 2003 to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s...