India will resist any attempt by developed countries to take away the right of World Trade Organisation (WTO)-member nations to restrict export of food items and raise import tariffs beyond existing levels.  Trade ministers of WTO-member countries are meeting in Geneva on Thursday to try and identify issues that can be discussed till the US presidential elections are over next year.  The meeting is also likely to take up proposals to "cherry-pick"...

THE FIRST CHIEF INFORMATION COMMISSIONER (CIC) OF STATE INFORMATION COMMISSION (SIC) G R SOFI, TALKS ABOUT THE RTI ACT AND HOW THE COMMISSION IS WORKING TO ACHIEVE ITS GOALS IN A CONVERSATION WITH GREATER KASHMIR TEAM. HERE ARE THE EXCERPTS. Rajeev Sharma: Do you think the present legislation is enough to achieve the objectives that it is supposed to? G R Sofi: Last month I was in Delhi to attend an annual...

Singapore spot market, not production costs, driving Indian petrol price Have you ever wondered why when petrol prices go up or down they do so uniformly across the retail outlets of the three oil marketing companies — Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum? If they are three different companies with their own refineries and distribution systems, then surely their costs and selling prices must be different? Welcome to the strange world...

Indian courts have consistently upheld and championed the fundamental right to free speech and expression enshrined in the Constitution. This includes the right to put forward different and contrary views, right or wrong. A recent instance saw the Supreme Court of India striking down Uttar Pradesh's ban on the film Aarakshan. This article by A.P. Shah, retired Chief Justice of the Madras and Delhi High Courts, sets out key issues...

We have five million children in the labour market, say official figures. Their actual numbers may be four times as many. As a nation, we have failed each one of them…   Millions of our children still labour today, in factories, farms, kilns, mines, homes and city waste dumps, when they should be in school or in a playground. We profoundly fail these children, collectively depriving them of education, play, rest, healthy...