The special court that sentenced 31 people for burning 33 Muslims to death in Sardarpura, Gujarat, did not find enough evidence to support the prosecution’s conspiracy theory. This was one of the reasons the defence argued successfully for life sentences for its clients, held guilty of murder and rioting. Principal judge S C Srivasatava’s 1,024-page judgment explained why seven incidents from 2002 — some of which the prosecution cited in 2008...

Jharkhand has produced more rice than it needs this season, thanks to the monsoon bounty after three consecutive years of drought, enabling the state to set up procurement centres in all 24 districts for the first time. Till now dependent on Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh for its annual requirement of around 20 lakh tonne of par boiled, or usna, rice, Jharkhand is likely to log a bumper harvest of 35-37...

The special court that sentenced 31 people for burning 33 Muslims to death in Sardarpura, Gujarat, did not find enough evidence to support the prosecution’s conspiracy theory. This was one of the reasons the defence argued successfully for life sentences for its clients, held guilty of murder and rioting. Principal judge S C Srivasatava’s 1,024-page judgment explained why seven incidents from 2002 — some of which the prosecution cited in 2008...

A river of bows and arrows slid through the urbane lanes of Raipur civil lines, coming to a startling stop outside the chief minister's gated and guarded residence in the autumn air of November 1st, the founding day of Chhattisgarh. As the police whisked them away, the tribal protestors told journalists they were asking for the most basic constitutional right: proportional reservation in government jobs. Eleven years ago, the sprawling state...

Nothing straight can ever emerge from the crooked timber of a parochial mind. Those responsible for the decision to drop A.K. Ramanujan’s essay on the Ramayana from Delhi University’s undergraduate Arts course argue in substance that from childhood these students are told about the sacred character of the epic. This is why it occupies a special place in the Indian psyche. Its characters are perceived to be divine creatures. To...