The Embassy cable suggests a serious crime was committed on Indian soil to which U.S. diplomats were privy. The Prime Minister cannot cite lame arguments to justify inaction. Since politics is a distraction, consider the following retelling of the WikiLeaks tale. An activist dies in a traffic accident. CCTV footage from a bank nearby suggests he might have been murdered but the case is never investigated properly. Three years later,...

An amber light is flashing on the proposed Jaitapur nuclear power plant with the project expected to proceed only after apprehensions raised by the Japanese tsunami in the public mind have been thoroughly assuaged. The widely televised and reported struggle of Japan's nuclear establishment in containing overheating nuclear cores at the Fukushima power plant have rung alarm bells in India with environment minister Jairam Ramesh calling for more reviews and the...

“Our plants' design, method of storing spent fuel are different” Evolving situation; scientists will come back with more conclusive answers: Shivshankar Menon More safeguards needed as part of environmental clearance at Jaitapur: Jairam Ramesh Top officials of the nuclear establishment on Wednesday assured Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that a nuclear catastrophe similar to the one that is devastating Japan is most unlikely to happen here. National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon said the officials noted...

Going with its slogan: “Our money our right,” the Shillong declaration of the 3rd National Right to Information Convention today resolved that the Central Government must subject “all public expenditure under social audit.” It was by far one of the most crucial of the other 11 resolutions passed in the Shillong Declaration and was only included after the strong insistence of RTI activist, Aruna Roy. She was amply supported by some...

It is time for the National Advisory Council (NAC) to introspect whether its pious thoughts on food security square up to an economic reality check. There are three likely scenarios: (1) universal coverage at 35 kg/per month per family; (2) universal coverage with 25 kg per family per month; and (3) partial coverage (say, to 11 crore families) with 35 kg per family per month. In each case, the implications...