SHEHLA MASOOD’S eventful life was brutally cut short on 16 August, when her body was found in the front seat of her car. A fierce wildlife conservationist and RTI activist, 38-year-old Shehla was also a flamboyant socialite of Bhopal. The murder in broad daylight outside her bungalow in the posh Koh-e-Fiza area sent ripples across the otherwise peaceful city. With the state media jumping from one conclusion to another and...

-IANS   Bihar, for years a metaphor for backwardness, will now harness modern communiction tools to nail corruption. It will expose officials seeking bribes in welfare schemes by uploading clips of complaints against them on the video-sharing website YouTube. "The state government has decided to use YouTube as a new tool to expose corrupt and bribe-seekers," Bihar Rural Development Minister Nitish Mishra told media as graft becomes a nationwide concern, particularly with...

The movement around Anna Hazare's fast highlights a worrying trend. No, it's not corruption. That we know. The worry is: Is Indian democracy in a state of decay? Democracy in this largest of all democratic nations seems to be working fine at first glance. We vote regularly and throw out parties in power when a majority wants change. We have a free press. We have an independent judiciary. But there's...

-DNA   Water scarcity is the main reason behind the Suicide of farmers according to an approach paper on the 12th Five Year Plan (2012 to 2017) prepared by two Tamil Nadu-based experts. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, one farmer commits Suicide every 30 minutes. The main cause of these Suicides is non-availability of water at the initial stage of the crops leading to the ruining of crops and the subsequent...

Babasaheb Ambedkar was the chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution, and so Dalits have an emotional attachment to the Constitution. If a movement sets itself above the Constitution and challenges democracy, a key pillar of the Constitution, Dalits will refuse to support it, says Bhanwar Megwanshi Anna Hazare's 'anti-corruption' movement has received considerable support across the country. The 'mainstream' media is awash with stories about Anna and his...