The class bias in government policy is clear in the decision to release a small amount of foodgrain in the open market to tackle inflation. MOST people would agree that there is a strong element of speculation underlying the current inflation and that forward trading contributes to it. Yet the government, though it has banned forward trading in certain commodities under public pressure, is curiously reluctant to see this point....

A courier company in Mumbai shows the way in providing employment for the hearing impaired. IN the milling crowds of Mumbai, they stand apart with their orange T-shirts printed with the name Mirakle Couriers. Every day, during the busy hours of the working week, one sees them on the sidewalks, in public transport and elsewhere with large black bags slung on their shoulders. It would not be enough to say...

Twice every year, between 1981 and 2000, a helicopter would whirr around the hills of the Western Ghats in Kasargod, a district in north Kerala bordering Karnataka, spraying endosulfan over the cashew plantations on the upper reaches. Children would rush out to take a look at the helicopter and the white spray would settle like mist on their heads and on leaves and shimmer in the sunlight. But that’s also...

While protests from civil society demanding the release of renowned paediatrician and social rights activist Binayak Sen is gathering steam by the day across the country, the international community has also launched an online signature campaign for a petition to be submitted to the President. According to the petition ‘Indian Justice Has Failed Dr. Binayak Sen' posted on www.petitiononline.com, more than 10,300 persons from cities across the world have already signed...

With a significant improvement in levels of major irrigation reservoirs in the state, thanks to a robust north-east monsoon, Tamil Nadu can look forward to a decent production of summer crops that can potentially arrest the rising prices of vegetables, pulses and food grains. And despite the power woes of farmers and shrinking area of farm lands in the wake of real estate growth, the state's agricultural yield seems to...