-The Times of India A TOI report on Union government's letter to the state government for a CBI probe into forest and herbal park scams allegedly involving two Haryana ministers and senior government officials created a furore in the assembly on Monday.  Angry words were exchanged as Haryana finance minister H S Chatha prepared to present the budget. Noisy scenes were witnessed soon after the question hour when Anil Vijh, leader of...

India’s decision-makers seem to find it difficult to see that there are children in the country. Being unable to see them, they are unable to perceive that they are hungry. In an age when we are able to use euphemisms like ‘under-nutrition’, this is perhaps not surprising. But it is disgraceful none the less.   This country has a large population of children. Fortyone per cent of its total numbers. The national...

-The Times of India The 38-year-old RTI activist who had gone missing from Ghazipur on Thursday resurfaced on Saturday quite mysteriously. Shiv Kumar Tiwary, who had helped expose the MCD ghost employee scam, was traced in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, police said. "He was traced in Muzaffarnagar and brought to Delhi. He claimed that he wasn't hurt and didn't suspect anyone who could be behind the incident. He told us that...

Several undeserving candidates have allegedly been allotted money in a Murshidabad pocket under a central housing scheme for below-poverty-line people. Many residents of Gangadhari village in Naoda have been enlisted as beneficiaries of the Indira Awaas Yojana even though they already have a house and farmland, depriving homeless people. Villagers owing allegiance to the Congress lodged a complaint with the block development officer of Naoda last month accusing the RSP-run local Madhupur...

-Live Mint High on hype, the budget speech of the Union finance minister today is merely a statement of account. As India’s economy diversifies—with the private sector playing an increasingly important role—this annual feature has assumed much lower salience. Not only have fiscal policies lost the space they enjoyed in earlier years, even major policy announcements are restricted to being mere statements of account. Examples from other arenas include “activism” on...