Bacillus Thuringiensis Brinjal, popularly known as Bt brinjal, is at the centre of a major controversy in India. Bt brinjal, a genetically modified strain created by India's number one seeds company Mahyco in collaboration with American multinational Monsanto, claims to improve yields and help the agriculture sector. However, the debate over the safety of Bt brinjal continues with mixed views from scientists working for the government, farmers and environment activists. Environment activists says...

The people of Manipur had ‘histories’ and ‘memories’ that were longer and deeper than those of most other Indians when India attained independence.  Every time one travels to Manipur, one returns humbled. This has been the case since my first visit in the late 1960s, long before becoming a journalist. Active insurgency was not even on the horizon then though some resentment against ‘India’ was evident. Between 1983 when I...

During the last 10 days two land acquisition notifications have been set aside. The Punjab and Haryana High Court (HC) has quashed a Haryana government’s 2002 notification for inappropriately releasing land to private developers. Similarly, the Allahabad High Court has repealed a UP government’s notification under which land was acquired for a private project in 2005. Both notifications have been cancelled on account of procedural lapses. However, these rulings highlight...

The Madras High Court has asked the State government to direct district educational authorities to take action against school authorities which start institutions without any affiliation or recognition. Justice K. Venkataraman, who made the observation, pulled up the Educational authorities in Nagapattinam district for not taking action against the Assembly of Jesus Christ Public School, a minority institution, which had been functioning from 2007 without recognition from the State government...

Like India’s topmost judge, lawyers’ regulatory bodies have been made accountable to the public under the Right to Information Act. The Central Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that bar councils are Public authorities under the RTI Act and cannot refuse to share information lying with them with the public. The ruling is likely to kick off a rush of RTI applications to the bar councils, professional bodies that are expected to maintain...