-Live Mint Lack of decentralization means municipalities lack power, resources to meet rising aspirations of ‘middle' India Othakadai, Madurai (Tamil Nadu)/Hubli (Karnataka): S. Paramasivam , president of the Othakadai panchayat, has big plans for his area. "Rainwater harvesting, removal of encroachments on roads, waste recycling, covered drainage, bigger primary health care centres and community parks," lists the 58-year-old, who has spent 30 years in the stainless steel business that dominates industry...

-The Hindu Godda (Jharkhand): More than 50 tribal farmers, including women, were detained for over six hours on Tuesday at the Sundarpahari police station in Godda, a kilometre from the venue where President Pranab Mukherjee laid the foundation for a thermal power plant to be set up by Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL). Farmers from 11 villages in Nimpaniya and Goiarijor blocks said they had gathered in Sundarpahari to oppose land...

-The Hindu Madurai: Tempers ran high at the Collectorate on Tuesday when a majority of the farmers, who participated at a public hearing, opposed acquisition of land for the proposed SIPCOT industrial estate at Sivarakottai near Tirumangalam in the district. Farmers from Sami Mallampatti, Sivarakottai and Karisalkalanpatti participated in the public hearing organised by the district administration. Collector Anshul Mishra said industries had to be established to provide jobs to the unemployed youth...

-Economic and Political Weekly The Saradha group's collapse has possibly bankrupted lakhs of small investors robbing them of their life svaings, and has rendered thousands of its agents jobless. The scam highlights the failure of the government and its regulatory agencies to reign in the mushrooming chit fund companies in West Bengal. It also brings under the scanner the Trinamool Congress' proximity with the tainted group. In the wake of the...

Guess what is the total percentage of dalit or tribal members in the boards of big Indian private and public sector companies listed on the stock exchange? Well, shocking as it might be, the real count is nearly zero. A fresh study conducted by D Ajit, Han Donker and Ravi Saxena reveals that at a time when the issues of ethnic and racial inequalities is being discussed all over the world,...