After the brutal murder of Azad, is there any hope for well-meaning routine calls for “dialogue” and “peace talks”? What can the "civil society" do as a serious, real intervention? It is reported that the decades-old talks with Naga insurgent groups has made some progress recently (See “Differences ‘narrowed’,” Times of India, July 19, 2011). One reason why talks have a chance in these cases is that separatism comes in...

The past couple of months have seen a renewed attack on the National Advisory Council (NAC). The NAC has been decried as an unconstitutional, undemocratic, “super-cabinet” where unaccountable “jholawalas” hatch harebrained schemes guaranteed to run the government aground. Another line of criticism has focused on the process of the formation of the NAC, its space within the Indian Constitution, and its capacity to influence policy. The two criticisms merge with...

The Lokpal Bill is in danger of skidding off the rails. As it is introduced in Parliament, eminent activist Aruna Roy tells Shoma Chaudhury why we should not rush into it. THE LOKPAL BILL is now being debated in Parliament, almost 40 years after the idea was first mooted. Unfortunately, parented on one side by decades of wilful government inertia and, on the other, by the panicked hustle of ‘Team...

-The Telegraph   The upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections and its importance for Rahul Gandhi have prompted the Centre to try and speed up the land acquisition bill’s introduction and passage. The government is keen to introduce the bill in the current session of Parliament, which ends on September 8, though rural development minister Jairam Ramesh had earlier indicated that the consultation process would take some time. The bill will go to the standing...

-The Indian Express   For the past year, land issues have been a spark for anger and political confrontation all over the country, and the Supreme Court’s recent intervention in Greater Noida land acquisition has underlined the urgency of discovering a political solution. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India said at the beginning of this year that investment would slide unless land issues were sorted out. And, sure enough, FDI numbers have...