Police investigation of Sanal Edamaraku for debunking a “miracle” at a church is a crime against the Constitution. Early in March, little drops of water began to drip from the feet of the statue of Jesus nailed to the cross on the church of Our Lady of Velankanni, down on to Mumbai's unlovely Irla Road. Hundreds began to flock to the church to collect the holy water in little plastic bottles,...

New census data on asset ownership among different social groups has shown that a far higher proportion of scheduled castes and higher still of scheduled tribes do not own basic consumer durables like a phone or bicycle as compared to "others". Three states however buck this trend; across caste groupings in Punjab, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the rate of ownership of basic consumer durables is high. In fact, the asset ownership...

Faced with stark hint from Trinamool boss Mamata Banerjee that she might act independently of UPA in the presidential poll if her demand for financial relief for West Bengal was not conceded in a "few days", the Centre has scrambled to find ways to organize assistance for debt-stricken state. Officials handling the task now say they can rush relief to Bengal without having to seek a clearance from the Finance Commission....

Cutting across party lines, Rajya Sabha members on Thursday sought a constitutional amendment to provide for promotion quota in jobs for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the wake of the Supreme Court quashing the Uttar Pradesh government's decision in the matter. Replying to a short duration discussion, Minister of State for Personnel V. Narayanasamy said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was seized of the issue and the government was willing to...

Nearly a year after the government started the ambitious socio-economic and caste census (SECC), no big state has begun the enumeration exercise that was touted as a one-stop solution to accurately identify the poor for distribution of social benefits. The delay could undermine the government's attempt to plug the leakages in the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) and delay the Food Security Bill expected to be implemented in November by at...