The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) on Friday signalled its intent to deregulate the sugar industry, a move that could potentially stoke a political backlash, especially at a time when states like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand—all sugarcane-growing regions—are in the middle of an election campaign. The opposition claimed that not only was it anti-farmer, it also violated the electoral code of conduct prevalent in five states, while sugar stocks of...

-The Indian Express His vision for fighting corruption was a law that threatened to subvert every institution. Now Anna Hazare has couched his Republic Day appeal for yet another law in a woolly-headed — in fact, bizarre — rendition of Gandhianism. The urge for direct democracy that ran through his appeal for supreme power for gram sabhas is one that’s being increasingly iterated in various mobilisations for democratic reform. To this...

We have Elections coming up in five states, notably giant -- thus politically crucial -- Uttar Pradesh. We have an Indian cricket team seemingly determined to eat crow. We have yet another brouhaha over Salman Rushdie. But my electricity bill is in front of me, so I want to talk about food -- and those who prepare food. What, you may well wonder, is the connection between the two? The bill is made...

-The Indian Express   Salman Rushdie on Thursday got support from Vikram Seth, who said the controversy at the Jaipur Literature Festival was “because of power, politics and misuse of religion”. Speaking at the first Kolkata Literary Meet, organised as a part of the 36th Kolkata Book Fair, Seth said it was ironic that an event just a few days before the Republic Day went on to prove that everything it celebrates about...

-IBN Manipur will on Saturday elect a new 60-member assembly to mark the start of make-or-break Elections in five states. The staggered exercise, which ends with the vote in Goa and Uttar Pradesh on March 3, will be this year's first major test for political parties. Along with Uttarakhand and Punjab, a grand total of 137 million voters will be eligible to exercise their franchise in the five states. Earlier, campaigning for...