Farmers are planning to chart their requirements and compile a model election manifesto for political parties to consider. The model manifesto will be released ahead of the parties making their poll promises public, according to the Federation of Tamil Nadu Agriculturalists Association secretary C. Nallasami. Addressing the media here on Saturday Mr. Nallasami pointed out that farmers, whether they were raising food crops or cash crops, were facing hardship all through the...

At least 10 RTI applicants have been killed over the past two years, with many others facing threats in their bid to expose corruption On a Republic Day when India celebrated 61 years of justice, equality and liberty, Amar Nath Pandey says he encountered the darkest moment of his life. In late evening on 26 January, a lone assailant leaped from the folds of darkness in the street outside his house in...

As food prices rose for the seventh month in a row in January, contributing to recent popular unrest in the Middle East and a spike in commodities purchases by developing countries last week, some analysts are quick to make comparisons to the dry years of 2007-2008. But others warn against panic and oversimplified predictions of an impending food crisis, which contribute to price volatility. "It is important to underline – and we've...

Regulation in India's microfinance sector aims to address feckless borrowing and reckless lending – but will the new restrictions entrench poverty, rather than end it? One of the many crushing burdens for India's poor bear is debt; unable to make ends meet, they turn to traditional moneylenders. They are willing to extend credit, but at unconscionably high rates – sometimes exceeding 80%, and keeping borrowers in lifelong penury. Popular cinema and...

The government can’t be expected to provide food, education and healthcare to all but relief would be offered to the deprived sections, Chief Justice of India SH Kapadia has said while advocating the adoption of minimum core approach. Saying that the financial meltdown has ushered in a paradigm shift from equality in terms of equal access to minimum core approach, the CJI said, “Equal access to food cannot be given. You...