AFTER introducing the land acquisition Bill in Parliament last week, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh now plans to address the vexed and sensitive issue of land reforms, including the revision of land ceiling limits, in a big way. In a radical move, the minister has proposed that ‘ absentee landlords’ should own only half the quantum of land as compared to the ceiling fixed for normal landowners. “ Absentee landlords and non-...

While Indian psychiatrists have rejected a World Health Organisation (WHO) study portraying India as the depression capital of the world, they say it has indirectly drawn attention to an acute shortage of trained personnel and facilities to deal with mental illness. "Declaring India as having the highest rate of major depression in the world is an aberration in interpretation," Dr. Roy Abraham Kallivayalil, secretary-general of the World Association of Social Psychiatry,...

A Tata DoCoMo television commercial that shows a maid trying to steal a cellphone has enraged domestic helps who have threatened street protests if the company does not apologise with another advertisement. An organisation for domestic helps in Delhi, the Domestic Workers’ Forum, first objected to the ad, part of a series of eight commercials which was launched on August 30. The commercial shows a maid stealing a mobile phone and hiding...

Anna Hazare isn't taking his eyes off Parliament yet and his next campaign, announced on Saturday, will demand annual performance audits of MPs, right to recall elected representatives, right to reject candidates contesting elections and mandatory approval of gram sabha before acquiring any land. "Hazare will send the letter shortly and seek Prime Minister's views on these three vital issues", said Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal, who briefed the media after...

-The Indian Express   With UPA constituent Trinamool Congress today joining the Opposition in critising the Communal Violence Bill, the Union government said that the legislation as drafted by the National Advisory Council (NAC) was not final. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was among the eight CMs who stayed away from the National Integration Council (NIC) meeting held in Delhi today, with communal violence on its agenda. Narendra Modi (Gujarat), Nitish Kumar...