Twenty-five years ago this week, a gas leak at a Union Carbide chemicals plant in Bhopal released 40 tonnes of poisonous gases over the Indian city, killing thousands and injuring tens of thousands. To this day, many of the survivors live in crowded shacks in the slums that line the old factory walls. The people here are not the only ones who have been affected, however. The leak, which is often...

TWENTY-ONE judges of the Supreme Court, including the Chief Justice of India (CJI), posted the details of their assets on the court’s website. The details of assets of one judge, Justice H.S. Bedi, have not yet been provided. Justice B.N. Agrawal, who retired recently, also provided the details of his assets on the website on special request. (The details are available at http:// www.supremecourtofindia.nic.in/assets.htm.) The court has claimed that the...

The government is reportedly toying with the idea of restricting the mandate of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to sectors where it would not come in conflict with an existing sectoral regulator. That is a ridiculous idea, and the government should not waste time on it. The proposal has been floated by some powerful people, including those in sectoral regulators, and are keen to protect their fief and perhaps...

This newspaper recently hosted its annual debate on whether a resurgent Bengal was an impossible dream. Not surprisingly, the verdict of the 600-odd listeners went against the motion. This has as much to do with tangible societal gains as with an enveloping sense of crisis which embeds enormous opportunities. The glorious past of Bengal needs no persuasion. It was integrated with the rest of the world through trade and interchange...

No matter how much we try to make up for our historic underinvestment in roads by frantically constructing flyovers and highways, India will never be truly on the move unless it addresses the dark question of injury and mortality. Road safety is a public health crisis, as the WHO has been pointing out for years. There are 13 deaths every hour on our roads, and India now has the highest...