The Supreme Court's directive to the Union government to distribute rotting grain to the poor free of cost was an “order” and the Bihar government must demand free grain from the Centre to alleviate the plight of the drought-hit people in the State, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat said here on Thursday. Despite the Prime Minister's reservations, the Centre must comply with the court order of August...

The other day, I met a few carpet manufacturers from Mirzapur who were fuming about the state of affairs there. “In spite of the best weaving wages that we’re able to pay, far too many weavers have now turned to other jobs,” one complained. The recession in the West led to a massive slowdown in carpet exports, reducing the number of orders for weavers. Many found alternative jobs under the...

The Left Parties may talk against privatization of the social sector but in their bastion, West Bengal, 97.5% of the anganwadis are served by contractors, 97% of the fair prices shops are privately owned, and the nutrition and food schemes are in disarray. These are the findings of the SC commissioners on food after their advisers conducted a survey of the state. The West Bengal report card looks dismal. About...

There’s suddenly a flurry of activity in Karotia, a nondescript village in West Bengal’s Burdwan district. Lately, a lot of politicians and state government officials have been visiting the village, and they say work on a nearly forgotten 14km irrigation canal is going to start soon. It’s been nearly 36 years since the state government first proposed to dig the canal, recalls Azizur Haque, the local panchayat chief. It was to...

In Maharashtra, attacks on citizen-activists have increased with the greater use of RTI; four activists have been killed in the last seven months IN the late 1970s, a woman named Shobha Shirodkar was the victim of a hit-and-run in Mumbai. It was no accident. It was a case of murder because Shobha, who was the principal of a prestigious school in the city, had opposed the land mafia and was believed...