The Supeme Court on Monday adjourned civil liberties activist Binayak Sen's bail plea till Friday on the Chhattisgarh government's request. The Chattisgarh government standing councel said he would need two days time to brief a senior advocate on opposing the bail plea of Binayak Sen. Binayak Sen has been sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of sedition and links with Naxalites. Sen, 61, has challenged the order of the Chhattisgarh high court, which...

The Supreme Court will hear tomorrow the bail plea of civil rights activist Binayak Sen, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of sedition and links with Naxalites. Sen, 61, has challenged the order of the Chhattisgarh High Court, which had rejected his bail plea on February 10. A professional doctor and a pass-out of the prestigious Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, Sen has sought bail contending that the trial...

The Supreme Court today wondered whether faulty development practices were the “root cause” of the Maoist insurgency in Chhattisgarh, and asked the state how many agreements it had signed with multi-nationals and how it was using the state’s financial resources. It also asked the state government to explain how and under what rules it recruited and armed the Koya commandos — special police officers (SPOs) fighting the Maoists. “How many MoUs (memoranda...

Distribution of basic food grains and fuel at controlled prices every month through the Public Distribution System (PDS) could be the largest service provided by the Indian State, touching as it does over 65 million families through a network of nearly half a million retail shops. Given that the urban middle class has little stake in the health of the PDS, there have to be some compelling reasons for the...

The World Bank has approved $150 million in loan for India to accelerate implementation of its National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), which is aimed at transforming the service delivery system across the country. While this World Bank loan will not target specific services per se, it will initiate policy and institutional actions that will impact all the services. The loan will support NeGP - approved in May 2006 as a national programme -...