A government report lends credence to the notion of “two Indias”, or the distinction between “India” and “Bharat” – a theme often debated in recent years. At a time when urban India is growing and policy makers have expressed clear preference for the trend, this report, by National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), brings India’s deep urban-rural divide into focus, showing disparities in scale and levels of expenditure and consumption and, equally...

-Express News Service Lending her weight to the protesters agitating against the Koodankulam nuclear power plant, Aruna Roy, member of Sonia Gandhi-led NAC, has written to the UPA chairperson seeking her intervention on the “unanswered questions” against the plant that is slated to go operational in a few months. “The protesters have raised several unanswered questions about the Safety and viability, which far from being addressed are being silenced,” Roy has...

-The United Nations The number of displaced persons worldwide will significantly grow over the next ten years due to factors such as conflict, natural disasters and climate change, according to the flagship publication of the United Nations refugee agency, launched today, which stresses that international solidarity is needed to address the issue. “The world is creating displacement faster than it is producing solutions, and this means one thing only: More people trapped...

-The Times of India   Haryana government has formulated a policy to protect whistleblowers/RTI activists in the state, according to which, a committee comprising district magistrate, superintendent of police and district attorneys would take a decision on providing security to the activist after reviewing the threat perception. According to chief secretary, Haryana, P K Chaudhary, "It has been decided that district level committees, under the chairmanship of district magistrates, with SPs and district...

The Conflict of Interest Bill introduced in the Rajya Sabha is a welcome step to control the grey areas in which “public private partnerships” are conducted. AMONG the many things that have proliferated in the economic boom of the brash new India is conflict of interest. So widespread, comprehensive and many-tentacled has this feature become that it is often no longer even recognised to exist, much less to be a...