A protest by thousands of farmers against alleged forced acquisition of land has spread to parts of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Two policemen and a farmer were killed in weekend clashes, during protests in the Greater Noida region against the acquisition of land by the government for a new motorway. The government denies that the land has been forcibly acquired from farmers. The use of land for industrial purposes is...

In the good old days, there were the Asian Games under Indira Gandhi. Inaugurated by the Empress on her own birthday, November 19, 1982, they seem like a fairy tale now. No leaking roofs weeks before the show; no front-page shockers about crores paid to shady firms; everything going like clockwork under Her Majesty’s eagle eye. Definitely no portly, shifty-eyed Suresh Kalmadi. At that time, there was no Organising Committee. Under...

Farmers in Aligarh and Mathura districts of Uttar Pradesh went on a rampage, blocking roads and setting vehicles ablaze on Sunday after two persons were killed in police firing on Saturday. They were staging a demonstration to demand higher compensation for land acquired by the state government to build the Agra-Yamuna Expressway. A police official was also killed in the violence on Saturday. "Nearly half-a-dozen people were injured in clash with the...

“This is a country on the make.” The speaker was a young assistant to one of India’s rising political stars. And from his perspective, it did look that way. We were sitting in the lobby restaurant of New Delhi’s luxurious Taj Mahal Hotel. That evening, the Taj was not only the place for a government reception following Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s decisive re-election victory, but it was also the scene...