This “activist” was quite different from the suit-wearing PIL litigant or the Left-leaning jholawala. In the run up to Anna Hazare’s first fast over an anti-corruption law in April, a communications company provided the technical support to a service in which, if mobile users called a toll-free number, they would then receive free alerts on the protests. The service was one of an array of technologies — from Twitter updates...

One started reading the new Draft National Land Acquisition and Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill 2011 with expectations of a great improvement over the 2007 Bills. There are indeed some very good features in the new Bill but, on the whole, one must regretfully report disappointment. Let us see how the Bill deals with some of the key issues involved. (i) Acquisition of agricultural land: The Bill rules out the acquisition, not...

Has India's battle against corruption become a contest between the tyranny of virtue and the tyranny of the state, as some analysts put it? The police have arrested anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare for pledging to go ahead with a hunger strike against a proposed new anti-corruption law. After nine meetings with the government, Mr Hazare and his supporters cobbled together their version of the Lokpal (Citizen's Ombudsman) bill. He insists that this...

-The Times of India   Union minister of state for planning, science and technology and earth sciences Ashwini Kumar on Saturday expressed his dissatisfaction over the poor implementation of MGNREGA projects in Jharkhand alleging less than half of the households were provided with job cards. Kumar, on a two-day visit to the state, dwelt most part of his interaction with the media here trying to convince people about the "irrelevance" of the social...

The $12 billion Posco investment in India was supposed to be the biggest FDI project in the country. After six years that still remains on paper Horangineun jugeumyeon gajugeul namgigo, Sarameun jugeumyun ireumeul namginda (When tigers die, they leave behind leather. When people die, they leave their names behind) —Old Korean Proverb The news flash from Press Trust of India came on July 10, 2011. Posco, the $32 billion South Korean steel giant had decided to...