Panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh have thrown up many curious phenomena. Everyone involved with the panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh seems to love it. Sons, brothers, sons-in-law of MLAs contesting for seats at the village, tehsil or district levels in vast numbers are happy because the vidhayak mahoday is campaigning on their behalf, making full use of the party machinery. Wives and daughters-in-law from ‘influential families' are delighted because their family's...
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The narcissism of the neurotic by P Sainath
The Commonwealth Games were no showcase, but a mirror of India 2010. If they presented anything, it was this — Indian crony, casino capitalism at its most vigorous. The Commonwealth Games over, we can now return to those of everyday Indian life. For all the protests, though, there was nothing in the corruption that marked the Games that does not permeate every town and city, all the time. Just that, in...
More »Why Haryana ranks fifth in the Commonwealth by Mukesh Bhardwaj
If Haryana were a country, it would be fifth on the gold medal winners’ list at Delhi 2010 — after Australia, England, Canada and India-minus-Haryana. Fifteen of India’s 38 gold at the Commonwealth Games — nearly 40 per cent of the country’s best-ever haul — have been won by athletes from Haryana. For perspective, Haryana has 2 per cent of the country’s population and occupies 1.37 per cent of its land...
More »RTI applicable to Trusts, institutions indirectly funded by govt
In a recent judgement, the State Information Commissioner Vijay Kuvalekar has said that Trusts or institutions that are not directly substantially funded by the government, but still indirectly receive funds to run schools, courses, colleges, come under the Right to Information (RTI), Act. Kuvalekar, in his judgement said that indirectly, since the parent institute is getting the funds for institutes run by them, the RTI is applicable. The judgement came in the...
More »P Sainath, rural editor of The Hindu interviewed by Himal South Asia
The amount of rural reportage in the Indian media remains far too low, with even important stories such as those on farmer suicides tending to be ignored. One of the outspoken critics of this trend has been P Sainath, rural-affairs editor of The Hindu and 2007 winner of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts. He was also the journalist who originally broke the story on...
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