-The Telegraph   The Centre is planning to carry out a land survey in 60 Maoist-affected districts and provide legal aid to tribals fighting disputes over plots amid concerns that tribal dispossession was the main reason behind the growth of Naxalism. Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh today said a large number of tribals had lost land to non-tribals. “We have to document these cases and provide legal assistance to tribals who are fighting land...

There are structural aspects to a problem as complex as corruption. These cannot be tackled through punishment alone. Just as our society tends to latch on to holy men for miracle cures, in recent weeks, the urban middle classes have placed great hopes on an anti-corruption movement led by a pious man in a Gandhi cap. (The other claim on leadership by a holy man in red robes did not...

Dr. Tishyarakshit Chatterjee, Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF), recently underlined the need to design carbon markets to address the short-term needs of investors in manufacturing, save fossil fuels for the future and meet the compulsions of environmental probity, sustainability, entrepreneurship and innovation over a long period. Addressing the India Carbon Market Conclave 2011, organized jointly by FICCI and the MoEF, in partnership with The World Bank and the International...

-The Telegraph   The “abduction” of children from a school to feed the supply chain of a rally has shed light on how an “enlightened” Bengal has learnt to live comfortably with the abuse of the moral and legal rights of its children. A day after 45 children were plucked out of their school and made to march through the heart of the city, police split legal hairs, some parties found leaving children...

A high-level meeting on racism, scheduled to take place later this month under the auspices of the General Assembly, is threatening to split the world body and trigger a North-South confrontation. Expressing unfounded fears the meeting might turn out to be anti- Israel, several Western states, including Canada, Germany, the United States, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Austria, have indicated they will not participate in the meeting. The boycott...