In an effort to stem the tide of corruption and keep the builder lobby "on a tight leash", a number of checks and guards have been introduced in the new coastal zone regulations. But the one that is likely to cause much consternation among developers is the Centre's insistence that private companies undertaking any redevelopment of koliwadas (fishing villages) within 100 m of the coastline will come under the purview...

Worried about admitting your child to school, since you do not have a birth certificate? Don’t worry on that score anymore — the state department of public instructions has provided parents a few options, and some other documents could not serve the purpose of the birth certificate. From this academic year onward, parents have five options that can be exercised, and schools are bound to accept these documents as proof of...

Safai karmacharis are set to end their two-decade-long movement for a life of dignity on a victorious note. DECEMBER 31, 2010. As revellers across the world prepare to celebrate the end of the first decade of the new millennium and the start of a new year, a million women across India will be celebrating not the end of a calendar year but the end of a centuries-old degrading and inhuman...

The economy shows consistent signs of growth. The challenge in the new year is to make development more equitable and broad-based… 2010 was a year of relief that soon grew into despondency. We were relieved that India had pulled out of the deepest post-War recession relatively unscathed. The soundness of its cautious macro-economic management was underlined once again and the US economy is also looking like getting slowly back on...

At a time when ordinary money suits and cheque bounce cases are taking years for settlement, lok adalats in Tamil Nadu have set a new record this year by quietly disposing of more than 33,000 cases involving Rs 247 crore upto October 2010. The Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority (TNSLSA), headed by its executive chairman justice Elipe Dharma Rao, conducted a total of 4,579 lok adalats and heard more than...