At the second-floor office of 5th Pillar, a three-year-old Chennai-based non-governmental organization (NGO), 40-year-old Vijay Anand vociferously evangelizes to a crowd of 25 people on a Saturday evening. He urges the group—a mix of students and working professionals who are there to learn about how to get information on public officials—to fight corruption and shame corrupt government workers by offering the zero- rupee note that contains the promise to neither...

At a time when other countries are cutting down ethanol admixing with vehicular fuel due to tightening supplies of alcohol, India, oddly enough, is doing the reverse. The Union government has forced the states to raise ethanol doping of petrol from 5 per cent to 10 per cent immediately and has set the target of hiking it further to 20 per cent by 2017, least realising that the sugar industry,...

With a large number of people living on subsistence level of income, the government has to safeguard their interest by ensuring availability of food grains at an affordable price. Success of any policy or programme to this effect depends on growth in agriculture production and procurement of wheat and rice, the main staple foodgrains. Though the performance of agriculture has not been uniform throughout and its growth rate has varied...

In an attempt to control the rising prices of rice and wheat, the State Government has decided to sell them at Rs. 17 and Rs. 14.70 a kg, respectively, through its cooperative societies. Minister for Food and Civil Supplies H. Halappa told presspersons here on Wednesday that each family coming under above or below poverty line categories was eligible to purchase 25 kg of these commodities at a time. Identity cards...

With 15 of Orissa's 30 districts hit by drought amid allegations of more than 400 starvation deaths in nine years, a Supreme Court panel has asked the administration to rescue hungry people immediately to prevent possible deaths. The SC appointed Commissioner and Special Commissioner have recommended a "protocol" for preventing hunger deaths in the state. "Protocol for preventing starvation would ensure that the state response is appropriate to mitigate some...