The Aadhaar or UID project has grave implications for every Indian. It will enable the government to profile every citizen and track their movements and transactions. There is no guarantee that intimate personal information -- pre-existing illnesses, romantic relationships etc -- won't be shared with other agencies, warns Praful Bidwai. An elaborate charade has begun with the rolling out of the first Aadhaar unique identity numbers in a tribal district of Maharashtra by...

Following the death of two civilians during an encounter — when the security forces gunned down six uniformed Naxalites in Mahasamund district — the Chhattisgarh government on Monday ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident and announced a solatium of Rs 5 lakh each, besides assuring other help to the families of the victims. State Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar and Agriculture and Labour Minister Chandra Shekhar Sahu rushed to Ledgidip...

The youth will not take no for an answer. Five years on, the RTI comes of age. At four feet something, Santosh’s energy belies her petite frame. The school dropout was introduced to RTI through activist Arvind Kejriwal, and now, at Parivartan’s Sundar Nagri office, she holds fort, helping others acquire everything from BPL and ration cards to school admissions through RTI. Threats and attacks by local authorities who dubbed her...

Global steel giants ArcelorMittal (MT) and Posco are leading $80 billion in planned spending in India, an investment that would vault the country ahead of Japan as the second-biggest steelmaker. There's one hurdle: India's farmers and their water supply. The farmers refuse to move from irrigated land in three states that hold more than half of India's reserves of iron ore, a key material used in the making of steel....

Aadhar, the project to give unique identification number to every resident, will be launched in the State by Chief Minister K. Rosaiah in a week. In the first phase, 3.11 crore individuals are targeted to be enrolled by March next in seven districts. Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Minister for Civil Supplies J. Krishna Rao admitted that there was certain percentage of pilferage in every government scheme. Aadhar (UID...