In contrast to the 1990s, when age-old matters of identity drove electoral politics, it appears that development-related issues such as land acquisition and law and order will play a critical role in the contentious campaign for the UP elections due next year. While this can be attributed to the BSP’s “sarvajan” agenda, it also signals the impact of the market economy and the need to attract private investment, which has...

The Supreme Court order against the Salwa Judum’s vigilantism in Chhattisgarh must be read by all, especially government officials. The details of the civil war in the tribal districts of Chhattisgarh are largely unknown to most readers of this newspaper. For the region is remote and inaccessible, and easily ignored by the national media.   This civil war pits, on the one side, Maoist extremists, and, on the other, a band of...

-PTI   Union minister and a key member of the Lokpal bill drafting committee Kapil Sibal said that Team Hazare's version of the legislation was unacceptable, as some of its provisions were against the basic tenets of the Constitution. Addressing Congress workers, Sibal described "Team Anna" as "an unelected group with accountability to no one." He also said, jokingly, that Centre should have taken "inputs" from Vilasrao Deshmukh, who had the experience of dealing...

-The Times of India   Wednesday's Supreme Court decision which upheld Allahabad High Court's order quashing acquisition of land by UP government at Shahberi village in Noida has come as a shot in the arm of the farmers agitating across the state against forcible land acquisition. While Opposition parties used it to sharpen their attack on the Maya government, farmer organisations said it's a warning to the Centre and state governments...

-The Telegraph   The Centre may just have achieved its objective in calling today’s all-party meeting on the Lokpal bill: a consensus among political parties over Parliament’s primacy in lawmaking. All the parties stressed that the government must follow parliamentary procedures, with some criticising it for engaging with Anna Hazare’s group. But though everyone agreed on the need for a strong Lokpal, the parties differed on its provisions, especially on whether the Prime...