-The Economic Times   A giant statue in a Lucknow square made 12-year-old Rashi curious. Whose statue is this, she asked her father. Although a BSP worker, Jhanki Ram couldn't go beyond the name, Jyotiba Phule. But not wanting to show his ignorance, he added, "He was a Mahatma who did a lot for the dalit community". Both had come from Etawah to take part in Kanshiram Parinirvan functions this month. For...

The Noida-Greater Noida imbroglio will be instructive for the draft land acquisition bill In The Works...     * Government to acquire land, “public purpose” to be redefined     * Land acquisition only after getting written consent of 80 per cent of landowners     * Monitoring authority to be set up at the Centre and states to ensure compliance     * Payment component split into part-cash-down and remaining in annuity for 33 years     * Post...

Inspired by the RTI Act, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati is all set to bring in a new legislation aimed at making government officials "accountable to the common man". The Janhit Guarantee Bill, to be unveiled by the BSP supremo on her 55th birthday tomorrow, promises timely delivery of information and documents like birth and death certificates and revenue records to the people, an official said. It also empowers the people to...

Mahitosh Sarkar came here from his distant village in West Bengal 12 years ago looking for a better life, and he found it. He abandoned the penniless existence of a subsistence fisherman to become a big-city vegetable seller. His wife found work as a maid. Their four children went to school. Their tiny household, a grim but weather-tight room in a dilapidated tenement, had a color TV and a satellite...

The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Secretary, Municipal Administration and Water Supply (MAWS) department, and the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB), to appear in person before the court on December 6 in a matter relating to manual scavenging. The First Bench comprising Chief Justice M.Y.Eqbal and Justice T.S.Sivagnanam passed the order on an additional affidavit in a contempt petition filed by A.Narayanan...