There's not much you can buy in terms of assets for Rs 1 lakh. But two Delhi businessmen gained access to a multi-crore iron ore mine in Chhattisgarh for just this much. On June 2, 2004, two brothers, Atul Jain and Sanjay Jain, pooled together Rs 1 lakh in Delhi to set up a company, Pushp Steel and Mines Ltd. The same day, the company applied for a prospecting licence...

In a verdict that blows away the immunity clause availed by Jammu and Kashmir-based central government organisations like the Indian Army while refusing to disclose information under the RTI Act, the Delhi High Court on Friday ruled that such establishments were not precluded from the transparency law and were obligated to disclose information to the family of those posted in the state. Directing the Indian Army to hand over court...

Dropping her hardline stance on appointment of dalits as cooks in prIMAry schools may soften her IMAge for the ‘janta' ahead of the panchayat polls this year, but Mayawati's sudden move could invite the ire of the state high court. Action, however, will depend on whether a government functionary or a dalit will now come forward to challenge the chief minister's latest diktat. Notably, earlier this year, the UP government approached...

Buddhi Devi was 14 when she was betrothed. In India, that is not unusual: many marry young. Her intended was a boy from her village who was two years younger — that, too, was not strange. But she was also supposed to marry her future husband’s younger brother, once he was old enough. Now 70 and a widow who is still married— one of her husbands is dead — Ms. Devi...

India is incredible (after shining), with the fastest growth rate, an emerging demographic dividend and innovative brains for the globe. But the vast majority in rural India — employed in agriculture, small-scale and tiny industries, self-employed, and with no assets — does not find it so. This government, claiming inclusive growth for the grossly deprived and poor, has not taken actions to bring down prices of essential food items, unprecedented...