-The Times of India The subsidy for the poor is dwindling, but this has not deterred the government from lining up corporate houses' pockets. Last year, the Centre gave away potential revenue of Rs 4.6 lakh crore on account of various tax exemptions and incentives to industrialists, compared to the Rs 1.54 lakh crore on subsidy to poor and farmers. There are direct tax incentives and exemptions to businesses in the corporate...

Social anthropologists have long used the technique of learning tribal languages and adopting tribal Customs to understand tribal peoples. There’s a new class of sociology students in Chhattisgarh now — the police. Bastar police are studying tribal behaviour to recoup what they think is lost in the linguistic and cultural gap with the local population. The problems of communication, the police believe, lead to suspicion and miscommunication, and push local people...

-The Times of India   Leaders of various dalit organizations demanded a ban on Made Made Snana practiced at Kukke Sri Subrahmanya Temple during the 'shasti' festivities at the monthly meeting organised by DK district police with members of and representatives of SC/ST organizations here on Sunday. Terming the practice "inhuman", they demanded that the feelings of dalits be conveyed to the state government for necessary action.L Shekar of Dalit Hakkugalla Horata...

Global retail chains looking to set up shop in India may face several challenges such as delay in the implementation of goods and services tax and restrictions imposed by the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act, besides political opposition. These hurdles can be roadblocks in providing real benefits to farmers and consumers as intended by the government in opening the multi-brand retail sector to foreign direct investment. “GST (goods and services tax)...

What is our national aim? To my mind, our national aim must be to make India a highly prosperous country for its citizens, and for that it is necessary to have a high degree of industrialization.  Even setting up and running a single primary school requires a lot of money, e.g. for buying land, erecting the school building and providing for the recurrent expenditure for salaries of teachers, staff, etc. We...