As a national debate rages over the Indian poverty line, in the heart of Bandra, one of Mumbai’s richest suburbs, in a shanty with barely enough standing space for two adults, three-year-old Priya Doiphode, clad in a red tee shirt, lies listless on a string bed. Priya is one of the 83,243 children in Mumbai who are malnourished, according to government data, a statistic that makes Mumbai the most malnourished...

Mamata Banerjee today appealed to the tribals in the Dooars and the Terai to take their case to the committee formed by the state government to look into the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha demand of bringing the Gorkha-dominated areas of the plains under the hill set-up. The tribals are opposed to the Morcha demand and have threatened protests and demonstrations if the state government accepts it. “A committee chaired by Justice (Retd) Shyamal...

The National Campaign for the People's Right to Information (NCPRI), which — along with other civil society groups — held a two-day convention here on its draft Bills on Grievance Redress and Whistleblower Protection, has urged the government immediately to put up the drafts for wide public consultation. Earlier this year, the NCPRI unveiled a “Basket of Lokpal measures” intended to address corruption and grievances relating to delivery of services. Among...

The government's new guidelines for cybercafes will deepen the digital divide while doing nothing to curb terrorism. Following last month's tragic bomb blast at the Delhi High Court, in which over 13 people were killed, police traced an email from the ‘Harkat-ul-Jihad' claiming responsibility for the attack to a cybercafe in Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir, and arrested three people, including the owner. In fact, many recent terrorist attacks have been linked to...

-NDTV Profit   Some of India’s biggest and most-respected entrepreneurs have released an open letter to the government. The group which includes Wipro’s Azim Premji, Anu Aga of Thermax and HDFC's Deepak Parekh, refers to the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill that is meant to be introduced soon in Parliament. The industrialists write, “The Lokpal Bill is only one small but critical step in the national task of weeding out the plague of corruption...