-The Times of India In a first of its kind, the oil ministry has slapped a notice of $1.2 billion, or Rs 7,000 crore, on Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd for a sharp fall in gas output from its showcase Andhra offshore field. The notice, served on Wednesday, says the company would not be allowed to recover from sale of gas the cost of its investments worth $457 million made in the...

Nearly a year after the government started the ambitious socio-economic and caste census (SECC), no big state has begun the enumeration exercise that was touted as a one-stop solution to accurately identify the poor for distribution of social benefits. The delay could undermine the government's attempt to plug the leakages in the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) and delay the Food Security Bill expected to be implemented in November by at...

Remote controls are identified as technical devices which are used for various purposes ranging from the launching of space-ships to the monitoring of toy cars. But of late, these devices are being used to direct policies for nation states which are formally sovereign. We speak here of the powerful lobby of international credit rating agencies like Standard and Poor's (S&P), which has just delivered its sermon that India is no longer...

-The Times of India A tribal woman MP from Gujarat broke down in Lok Sabha on Wednesday alleging rough treatment by state police, triggering an outpouring of solidarity and demand for action from members across party lines. Dahod MP Prabha Kishore Taviad sat quietly as Congress leader Girija Vyas stood up to recount her tale, saying the hurt MP was not in a position to talk. Prabha was stopped by Gujarat police from...

This month a group of Dalit (or Untouchables, as they were formerly labelled) students organised a Beef Festival in Osmania University of Hyderabad. It was the festival to assert their culinary rights in public and make a political statement of dietary habits of Dalits and Muslims – by cooking and eating beef Biryani on campus. About 2000 students participated and although it started out well, the festival was disrupted and students...