-The Tribune Chandigarh: While Punjab is increasingly increasing using canal water for drinking on account of high toxicity in the ground water, it will now pump out this water for irrigation purposes. The new tubewell connections – 1.25 lakh - will not just deplete the state’s already depleted water table, but water pumped up from these tubewells pose a risk of contaminating the food grains and vegetables grown in the fields. Sources in...

-The Hindu Land should be given back if the project does not take off: SC New Delhi: Even as several prominent private builders have come under suspicion for delayed completion of housing projects, the Supreme Court has declared land a “scarce natural resource” and forbidden the government from using its Powers of compulsory land acquisition to strip poor farmers of their livelihood only to transfer such land to private builders to feed...

-The Hindu People’s objections, from Chhattisgarh to Odisha, against large development projects have brought out the real Power of the Forest Rights Act of 2006. Democracy is alive and kicking in India. No, I am not referring to the Assembly elections. It is unfortunate that the term democracy has been reduced to the drama of periodic elections and the subsequent reliance of the electorate on politicians and bureaucrats. When these Powerful few...

-The Hindu Intellectual property accelerates innovation in certain technology sectors, but it impedes innovation in others. The biggest flaw of the new policy is that it does not acknowledge this. Intellectual property (IP) regimes suffer a classic paradox. While they attempt to encourage innovation and creativity, they have themselves been shielded from innovation experimentation. For some years now, India has been attempting to break this mould and craft a regime to suit...

-The Indian Express MPs must not run down a law that promises a more informed citizenry The Right to Information (RTI) Act has undoubtedly been a most emPowering legislation for citizens. The law has initiated the vital task of redistributing Power in a democratic framework. It is perhaps this paradigm shift in the locus of Power that has resulted in consistent efforts by the Powerful to denigrate it. The latest attack on...