A potential for conflict of interest, says study by National Social Watch As many as 128 members of the Lok Sabha, forming nearly a fourth of the strength of the lower House, fall in the categories of “industrialist/trader/businessperson/ builder.” In the Rajya Sabha, MPs from these groups (25 out of 245) account for a more modest 10 per cent. However, in a potential conflict of interest, many of the MPs are...

With three small children to raise in a dirt-poor village in eastern India’s Bihar state, farm labourer Renu Devi is an unsung rural supermom who shuttles between home and field every day. But the demure 30-year-old mother does not forget to bring her children to the biannual Vitamin A rounds in Bagwanpur Rati, one of the villages in Vaishali district of Bihar. This is because Vitamin A deficiency is a major...

Dalit entrepreneurs will make a historic journey to Delhi next week for a pre-budget meeting with Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. This is the first time that business leaders from the country's most marginalized communities will be included in the government's budget consultation process. The meeting is scheduled for Monday afternoon with 40 entrepreneurs from different parts of the country expected to attend. It marks the emergence of a...

A day after the Raipur Additional District and Sessions Court pronounced Dr. Binayak Sen guilty of sedition and conspiracy, human rights activists and his supporters staged a protest in the Capital. A small but determined group of people gathered at the Jantar Mantar on Saturday to condemn the sentencing of Dr. Sen and the “threat” to activism in the country. Various human rights organisations, including the Human Rights Law Network, the...

The economic resolution adopted by the All India Congress Committee at the Burari session is a reiteration of the party’s last two election manifestos. It combines a commitment to rapid economic growth with that to redistributive policies that would help make the growth process socially inclusive. There is a helpful explanation of the three sources of inflation — excess demand, improved prices to farmers and global commodity price inflation —...