The promise of the FRA remains largely unfulfilled, says a committee set up by the Ministries of Environment and Forests and Tribal Affairs. IT seems hard for a government used to controlling most of India's common lands to let go of them. Even though it has passed a law mandating more decentralised governance of forests, the government itself is proving to be the biggest obstacle in its implementation. Other than in...

Buoyed by the imminent scrapping of Reliance Industries-promoted Mumbai special economic zone, aggrieved farmers and activists are now gunning for seven other proposed SEZs in Maharashtra. Anti-SEZ groups will soon agitate to demand denotification of the fertile land earmarked for projects in the Konkan, western Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha. The activists got a shot in the arm on Friday when their four-year struggle forced the government to denotify 16,900 acres of land...

Given the doubts raised by a section of chief ministers, the Centre is planning to amend the Right to Information (RTI) Act to curb its misuse. "Our information is that a group of chief ministers has approached the Centre for amending the RTI Act. In several cases, it was used to settle personal scores by rival businessmen, builders and politicians," a senior information commissioner told TOI on Wednesday. The information...

There’s both good news and bad news on the food front.   The good news is that wheat, maize and pulses production during the current year will be the highest that India has seen. Wheat production was expected to be high, thanks to the twin advantages of a high procurement price —- higher than international prices —- and favourable weather conditions. But pulses production too has zoomed, because of the soaring prices in the...

Besieged as it is by a spate of scams, the Centre has revived the 40-year-old proposal of setting up a national ombudsman called the Lokpal to probe political corruption. But, far from overcoming the existing deficiencies, the latest draft Bill – which could be Promulgated any time soon as an ordinance - provides a legal veneer to them so that crooked politicians will continue to enjoy almost as much impunity...