India is growing more wheat than it ever was. While other leading wheat producing countries like China and US are Witnessing a decline in output, the country has stood as an exception with an estimated record production of 84.27 million tonnes of the staple foodgrain this year. Russia, Canada and Australia, too, are Witnessing a downturn. “India is gaining internationally in the wheat production,” S S Singh, Project Director of Directorate of Wheat...

Slogans of the “Second Freedom Struggle”, references to the political class as “kale angrez”, Anna Hazare as Gandhian and even Gandhi, the wearing of the Gandhi topi, the projection of the fast-unto-death as a Gandhian method, have all evoked linkages with the struggle for Indian Independence. Many enthusiastic TV reporters, swayed by the sight of swelling crowds, added their bit by calling it the biggest movement since Independence. Was this...

The Jaitapur nuclear power project has drawn blood even before its boundary wall is ready. One person was killed in police firing on Monday, which by all accounts was unnecessary to disperse peaceful protesters. There was arson in Madban, at the site’s centre, which gutted some grass and a part of a tiny makeshift shed belonging to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India. The police went berserk and intruded into...

The first results of Census 2011 put India's population at 1,210 million, indicating a demographic transition. CENSUS 2011 is the 15th one undertaken in India since 1872 and the seventh after the country attained Independence. While there have been stray historical references to population counts of one kind or another in earlier periods over much smaller territories within the territory that constitutes present-day India, the consensus view is that the...

As young middle-class Indians gathered to express their anger at corrupt governance, it was a significant moment for Indian democracy. The country has Witnessed many protests for wages and land, self-determination and human rights. But this campaign was different. It's decades since educated and privileged young people felt stirred enough to take to the streets, seeking hope of a better India. But this is not a one-time eruption and the...