If you want to kill any idea in the world, get a committee working on it,' quipped Charles F Kettering , the famous American engineer and inventor of the electric starter. Well, the government has done just that! It has appointed an eight-member committee to examine ways to tackle black money. Perhaps that is too cynical! After all, the flurry of activity (the committee is only one of a series...

-PTI   A desperate government's efforts failed today to achieve any breakthrough with Baba Ramdev deciding to go ahead with his indefinite fast here from tomorrow amidst indications that a compromise was likely in a day or two. For nearly five hours, two senior union ministers Kapil Sibal and Subodh Kant Sahay negotiated with the yoga guru over his demands on eradication of corruption at a posh hotel, a venue totally different...

Every year, industrial development projects displace about 10 million people globally. In India alone, involuntary resettlement has affected about 50 million people over the last five decades. Three-fourths of them still face an uncertain future. People displaced by such projects are prone to being rendered landless, jobless, homeless and marginalised. Yet, the policies and programmes related to their relocation and rehabilitation are yet to find satisfactory answers to questions like: Is...

The farmers' struggle against land acquisition only shows that from passive forms of protest they have turned to active forms of resistance. THE recent agitation by farmers in Uttar Pradesh against cropland acquisition for non-agricultural purposes is only the latest in a long series of protests by farmers and rural communities, which started a decade ago in different parts of the country and which gathered momentum over the past five...

As NGOs gain traction in public and policy spaces, they face increasing pressure from the political class and citizens to reveal their sources of funding, show impact of their work, and demonstrate who they represent DHAN Foundation in Madurai has had a remarkable run in the southern heartland for over a decade, focusing on livelihoods, water and food security . Its work, particularly in tank-based watershed development, is an exemplar....