Sarat Chandra Mohapatra, a former high court judge who was probing, the 2008 Kandhamal riots died Saturday, leaving the fate of the inquiry uncertain. Mohapatra was 81. In September 2008, he was tasked with probing the reasons that led to the killing of VHP leader Laxmanananda Saraswati and the subsequent Kandhamal riots. His death has cast uncertainity over the inquiry into the Kandhamal riots as the government is unsure what to do...

The Government of India has formally launched the news Guidelines of the MGNAREGA based on the Mihir Shah Committee report. The news guidelines include many new works under conservation activities and it strengthens the hands of the village panchayats and gram sabhas. However, the list of works does not include the activities under the system of rice intensification (SRI) which encourages scientific method of paddy cultivation with better yield in...

As children, we were taught to say before our meals, “Annadaata sukhi bhava.” It was a thanksgiving to God for sending the farmer to make food for us and may God bless him. Today, the farmer is helpless. He has no God to go to. Farmer suicides are the tip of the iceberg. The future of agriculture, or lack of it, is staring us in the face. Periodical doles like loan waivers...

RTE marks a welcome return to common schooling; the objections lack substance. It's the strangest of debates. Private schools are up in arms against the Supreme Court order upholding the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE), 2009. What are their objections? First, non-minority private unaided schools feel they have got a raw deal. They will have to provide free education to 25 per cent of their students, admitted from economically...

-The Deccan Chronicle In a late-night decision on Friday, the Akhilesh Yadav government has decided to remove the reservation system from promotion. The Supreme Court has already upheld the Allahabad high court’s verdict to quash provision of reservation Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) officers and employees in promotions. The state Cabinet, by circulation, approved an ordinance to repeal the existing rule related to reservation in promotions. A formal proposal will...