Organized retail of packed food and raw food reduces prices of food for urban citizens and pays farmers a better price for the agricultural produce. It eliminates middle men and decision making at every other level. This is not rocket science. However, Politicians refuse to do away with the WWII public distribution system in order to retain power at the district level. Well, for one thing, the format of the...

For the Indian media, 2010 has been almost Dickensian: it’s been the best of  times, but also possibly the worst. A chief  minister resigning, a Union minister stepping down, senior Politicians raided: when was the last time the Indian media could claim so many ‘victories’ in a single year? Yet, just as we were rejoicing at the return of  hard, uncompromising news journalism, along come the Niira Radia tapes to...

The historian Ramachandra Guha has famously described India as a fifty-fifty democracy. But even admirers of India as a functioning democracy will perhaps be forced to admit that certain events in 2010 forced the needle to move beyond fifty against democracy. Threats to democracy and democratic rights have never been as evident, and as powerful, since the dark days of the Emergency in 1975-76 as they were in the course...

Twelve transfers in five years, an illegal suspension order, a fabricated chargesheet, denial of promotion and a spoiled annual confidential report (ACR). That's what forest service officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi was awarded by the Haryana government. His 'crime'? He unearthed a multi-crore scam involving senior officials, implemented the Supreme Court's orders preventing a wildlife sanctuary from being destroyed and stopped government money from being spent on private lands of politically influential...

Food prices globally are rising to dangerous levels. There is talk of a coming crisis, like the ones that produced riots around the world in 2008 and 1974. Many of the ingredients of a disaster are present, but governments can stop the problem before it causes too much damage. A warning sign is the price of traded staples like wheat, corn and rice. Prices shot up in 2010, soaring 26...