The Mamata Banerjee government is planning to take politics — or at least political symbols — out of panchayats, the foundation on which the Left built the edifice that remained impregnable for 34 years. “We would like to have non-political rural bodies as it would uproot petty politics that often halts development projects in rural areas. If things go as planned, the required amendments in the act would come into force...

Even as a controversy is raging over the government decision to allow FDI in retail, activity is seen on the food security front, with several parties proposing to join a “Jan Manch” (public discussion) about the proposed National Food Security Bill organised here on Tuesday. “Almost all political parties have confirmed their participation” in the event being organised by the Right to Food Campaign, human rights activist Kavita Srivastava told a...

-DNA   Four RTI activisits have been butchered and six have escaped murder attempts, as authorities continue to wink at the culprits. DNA profiles the heroes who are fighting a not so appreciated battle for upholding democratic values. Manisha Goswami Manisha Goswami, a resident of Vapi, has been waging a lone battle against the pollution spread by industries in Vapi. In the latest case, Goswami had moved an RTI application seeking information about a...

The tribal people of Chhattisgarh are in an extremely dangerous situation, caught as they are between the state forces and the Maoists. THIRTY-SIX-YEAR-OLD Soni Sori, an Adivasi schoolteacher from Chhattisgarh, was arrested in Delhi on October 4 on charges of acting as a conduit between the Essar group and the Maoists, the former accused of giving “protection money” to the latter. On October 7, she moved the Delhi High Court to...

We must not allow the pain and suffering of the Sikh victims to be transformed into a political instrument to mute calls for justice for the ‘other' victims of similarly orchestrated massacres. More than a quarter century on, not much remains of ‘1984' — shorthand for one of the largest pogroms in India's postcolonial history when thousands of Sikhs were massacred in retribution for Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination — in...