The Centre will come up with a new National Water Policy next year that will address the issues of water scarcity, management and conservation, Union Water Resources Minister Salman Khurshid said here on Monday. The Ministry has already undertaken an exercise to review the National Water Policy of 2002, and is holding consultations with various stakeholders on the new policy, which would take on board issues relating to climate change. Addressing the...

Filmmakers, activists, journalists, aid workers, policy-makers and United Nations staff are gathering in New York this weekend for a two-day documentary forum aimed at raising public awareness about the fight against hunger worldwide. The third annual “Envision: Addressing Global Issues Through Documentaries” forum, which kicks off tonight, comprises film screenings and panel discussions centred on the themes of combating hunger and poverty, one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that...

Tackling corruption requires economic reforms and a popular re-engagement with electoral politics. We should shun the politics of hunger strikes. The idea of a ‘Jan Lok Pal’ is flawed and profoundly misunderstands the causes and solutions of corruption in India. It seeks to create another chunk of Government, more processes and rules, to solve a problem that, in part, exists because of too many chunks of Government, too many processes and...

So we had a Gandhian morphed into an advocate of Sindoor and Shivaji, who led a crowd that raised a slogan created in Bengal, with some desh bhakti songs thrown in. This was India’s modern revolution? Anna Hazare is a good man. After taking part in the spectacle at Jantar Mantar for three days I have concluded that he is a good man who obviously believes in the glory of...

The Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity Assam’s (KMSSA) General Secretary Akhil Gogoi on Sunday was taken into custody by Pan Bazaar Police from outside the Guwahati Press Club premises for first instance violation of PR Act 126. Anti-corruption campaigner Akhil Gogoi along with some 40 members and supporters was at that time about to proceed to Dighali Pukhuri to lead a democratic sit in protest in support of Gandhian Anna Hazare’s demand...