Farmers' protesting ban on cotton and onion exports on Monday created a few moments of panic as they set ablaze a trolley-full of cotton some 200 metres from the Nagpur airport building. The situation was soon brought under control and farmers dispersed after the symbolic protest. Over 2000 farmers led by Bacchu Kadu, the maverick independent MLA from Achalpur in Amravati district, marched through the busy Wardha road to airport...

As policymakers gear up for their biggest battle against inflation, worrying signs about India’s boom-boom growth story emerged. The first warning signal went up today with the government’s statistical office announcing that the index of industrial production (IIP) — the broadest measure of plant and factory performance —had grown by a piffling 2.7 per cent in November against a market consensus of 6.6 per cent. The index stood at 317.9 —its lowest...

So why is the UPA hell-bent on killing its unique success story: the NREGA? Here's the inside narrative of the conspiracy. It took 47 days of a protest sit-in at Jaipur to make the state budge(1). It's notable that the objective of this protracted protest was not to coerce the Rajasthan government for an extra share of the state's resources, but to hold the government accountable to the Constitution and its...

The seven papers in The Lancet: India Series mentions Dr Binayak Sen; the journal’s January 8-14 issue carries an article by the paediatrician who has been sentenced to life on charges of sedition. The Lancet calls Sen a world renowned public health physician, rights activist and civil liberties expert who has worked tirelessly over the years to protect the human rights of vulnerable people, including health as a human right. The Lancet...

One more effort to make government reconsider objections The Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council (NAC) has decided to stick to its recommendations made on the draft National Food Security Bill at its meeting on October 23 last, though these have been rejected by a government committee led by C. Rangarajan, who heads the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council. The committee was constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to examine the feasibility of...