The anti-corruption movement has enabled the Indian middle class to feel smug about itself. Its members have gone through a vast range of emotions during the last two decades, from self-hatred to self-righteousness. Liberalisation of the economy has created for this class an excitement of many kinds. It has meant the freedom to pursue the quest for wealth without guilt and, at the same time, it has meant feeling set...

-The Hindustan Times   The stalemate over the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) in Tamil Nadu continued after protesters on Friday rejected the Safety certificate issued by the central panel of experts after a three-day plant inspection. There were widespread protests against the two 1,000 MW nuclear power reactors that the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd is building with Russian technology and equipment in Kudankulam, around 650 km from Chennai. Villagers...

-The Telegraph A Centre-appointed committee of experts has declared the Kudankulam nuclear plant safe, prompting the group opposing the facility to say it is unlikely to participate in further talks to resolve the standoff. “We have found the plant to be safe and any fear about the after-effects of its commissioning is not based on scientific facts,” A.E. Muthunaygam, convener of the expert committee, told reporters at nearby Tirunelveli today. The comments followed...

Information obtained under Right To Information Act is increasingly becoming the basis of public interest petitions seeking judicial redress of grievances. The Supreme Court on Monday disapproved of this modus operandi and said from now, it would not entertain PILs solely based on RTI information. "Petitioners banking on information obtained through RTI Act must approach the concerned ministry, bring the facts to its notice and demand justice. If the ministry does...

The finance ministry is putting shape to a new social security scheme for unorganized sector workers, creating for the first time a Safety net for millions of underpaid and overworked people, many of whom living in abject poverty.  The ministry has discussed with the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and the four state run non-life insurance companies the contours of this scheme that will provide life insurance, health cover and retirement pension...