Mamata Banerjee today asked the government to withdraw its decision to decontrol oil prices, the demand coming on a day arch-rival Left announced a weeklong protest from early next month over the petrol price hike. Both spoke of the burden on the masses as the bitter enemies rehearsed for poll battles ahead: in Bengal, where Mamata is looking to topple the Marxists, and in Kerala, where the ruling Left is on...

The past several months have seen much tumult. From the Commonwealth Games (CWG) to 2G, with garnishing from the Adarsh housing cooperative and the loan fraud, all have provided high octane fodder to Indian politics and the media. However, since the last week of December 2010, another element has intruded into the political/media space, and that is the rising prices of vegetables. Vegetable prices show a seasonal variation, with prices dropping...

An innovative mechanism to save farmers from exploiting traders, which India implemented as a national model in the 70s, is now being blamed for rising vegetable prices.     Agricultural produce marketing committees (APMCs) have become archaic and vegetables and fruits need to be taken out of these local market hubs, analysts say. “They have turned into platform for hoarders, rather than a buyer-seller platform,” farm expert Sompal, who was formerly union agriculture...

Refraining granting a stay, the Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine the validity of the provision of Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act which mandated 25 per cent of reserved seats for economically backward sections in private unaided schools. A bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia, justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar did not favour at the moment the idea of referring the matter to a Constitution Bench. “At...

The Manmohan Singh government is digging an even bigger hole for itself by claiming there was no loss of revenue from the sweetheart sale of 2G spectrum to favoured corporate houses. “Milord,” cunning lawyers have argued in countless Hindi movies, “how can there have been a murder when there is no dead body?” I was reminded of this line when I heard Kapil Sibal — who has been performing as an...