What has changed since the economic reforms began? Many things. No waiting for years for a telephone connection, now cell phones with everyone. From three makes of cars with wind-down windows to dozens of makes, all air-conditioned. From one domestic airline, government owned and for the rich, to many private carriers for the middle class too. What has also changed is the knocking on the window. There are many more rich people...

The underlying assumption of the proposed Land AcquiSITion Bill seems that the price paid to farmers is unreasonably low due to dominant power of industrial buyers, requiring government intervention. The draft, however, may neither accelerate the pace of land acquiSITion for industry nor overcome the psychological barriers of landowners that impede land transfers. First, the psychological barriers that limit supply. One of the main reasons for the farmers’ (and land dependents’)...

-The Economic Times   The government on Tuesday said it would confer constitutional status on the proposed Lokpal , embracing the idea mooted by Rahul Gandhi.  "We are working on a very strong Lokpal bill. A Lokpal bill that will come with a constitutional amendment . That amendment will give the Lokpal the status of a constitutional authority," law minister Salman Khurshid told PTI on Tuesday.  Khurshid, who gave Rahul the credit for the...

In a landmark order, the state chief information commissioner told an applicant to pay for information that should have been given to him free of cost. Provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act mention that an applicant cannot be charged for information if it is not provided within 30 days if there is no valid explanation given for the delay. An applicant also cannot be charged if he is not...

After claiming at least 376 lives in eastern Uttar Pradesh, the deadly Japanese Encephalitis is slowly spreading its tentacles outside the state with Delhi and Chandigarh being the latest to report cases of the viral infection. Transmitted by mosquito bites, the infection had, so far, been localised with Gorakhpur in UP being the worst affected. Apart from the over 300 cases of deaths of children, 4480 people were also infected this...