At Old Seelampur, an impoverished neighbourhood in Northeast Delhi, rows of hollowed-out computer monitors line a dingy lane. On another street here, room after room on either side is piled high with dusty keyboards and metallic innards of computers and other electronic goods. Welcome to the Wasteland of India’s urban refuse. Here, heaps of electronic Waste — or e-Waste as it is more commonly referred to — wait to be dismantled...

The Supreme Court in its verdict on the constitutionality of the Right to Education Act in relation to the reservation of seats for Economically Weaker Section [EWS] and socially disadvantaged [SD] children has rightly upheld the principle of integration. It is hard to see how it could have been any other way. In fact, the arguments against segregation and in favour of diversity in schools have long been settled in...

Here’s a “growth story” that Standard and Poor’s missed: a piece of official statistics shows good old India has grown — literally. Over 5,000sqkm of Wasteland has been converted into “net” usable terrain between 2005 and 2008, according to the Wasteland Atlas of India that was released today. Even Bengal, pilloried for profligacy and other Wasteful pastimes, has done its modest bit to transform Wasteland. But the big battles against barren land...

-The Telegraph Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh today criticised the media for reporting that he had offered to quit the government and work for the party, calling it “juvenile” and refusing to answer any political questions. “No political questions... the most juvenile media I have ever come across,” Ramesh told reporters at the beginning of a news conference convened to release the Wasteland Atlas of India. Sections of the media were abuzz yesterday...

As news of record food grain production trickled from the corridors of the agriculture ministry, officials of the storage wing in the adjoining food ministry began working overtime to save the department the embarrassment of plenty. Food minister KV Thomas is under pressure to ensure that the toil of farmers is not Wasted. "It's my duty to make sure that food grains don't rot. We are on our way to create...