It is clearly the absence of political will rather than a paucity of ideas that is responsible for the country's agrarian crisis. EXACTLY seven years ago this month, the Commission on Farmers' Welfare, appointed by the government of Andhra Pradesh, submitted its report to the then Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. His Congress government assumed office earlier that year replacing the Telegu Desam Party regime led by N. Chandrababu Naidu, which...

-PTI   The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a response from Haryana government on giving a rehabilitation package to 125 Dalits who were forced to leave their village after the killing of a 70-year-old Dalit man and his physically-challenged daughter were killed last year. A bench headed by Justice G S Singhvi asked the state government to respond on the package by Friday. The court was hearing a PIL seeking monetary assistance for the...

-The Hindustan Times   After the news of the hospital fire in Kolkata broke on December 9, social media networks went into a frenzy. While some wanted the death sentence for the owners of the AMRI Hospitals where the disaster happened, others demanded answers from the state on why and how it failed to implement fire safety laws. One of the posts succinctly captured the Indian mindset responsible for such mishaps. The...

The Bihar directorate of economics and statistics (DES), a subsidiary wing of the state's planning and development department (PDD), is mulling over using the 'kinnar' community (eunuchs) as informants for timely feedback on birth of new children in families of any locality, so that their registration could be done within the stipulated time. The efficacy of eunuchs as effective informants was discussed at a state-level workshop on "Civil registration system" held...

CNN-IBN   The owners of AMRI Hospital RS Goenka and SK Todi were on their way to surrender before the Kolkata police at Lal Bazar police station on Friday after a major fire at the hspital in South Kolkata left 73 dead. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that at least 73 people are dead in the major fire that broke out at AMRI Hospital in Dhakuria in south Kolkata on...