Even as the state government was dealing with the spurt in farmer suicides in Wayanad in 2011, officials informed the central government that no farmer suicides were taking place in Kerala, according to an affidavit filed by the central government in the Kerala High Court on Monday. In a counter-affidavit filed before the high court on a petition seeking relief measures to farmers in Wayanad, the central government quoted the report...

-EPW   Bereft of any meaningful vision, political parties have reduced politics to gladiatorial contests. Much was promised of the Lokpal Bill in the winter session of Parliament. While a toothless bill was indeed passed by the Lok Sabha, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was unable to have even this endorsed in the Rajya Sabha on the last day of the session. Did this have to do with the inability of the UPA...

-PTI Ruling out any outside regulation of the Media, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said the Media in the country can itself take care of the 'ills' like paid news and urged it to reduce sensationalism in coverage. "I am very happy that the Media of our country is by and large independent and alive... Ever since we have got independence, discussions have been going on in the country about the role...

-The Times of India   Despite stringent directives from the central and state government to make it easy for applicants to obtain information under Right to Information Act (RTI) Act, officials in many Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) office continue to take applications lightly. Dilly-dally tactics and indifferent treatment to applicants is described as natural in NMC. The two most common problems being created by officials are refusal to accept applications by directing...

Though Anna Hazare gets much of the credit for focusing the national spotlight on corruption, India was only too aware of the problem even before his agitation. According to a Pew Research poll in October 2010 (six months before Hazare emerged on the national scene), 98 per cent of Indians indicate corrupt political leaders as a “very big” or a “moderately big” problem. Hazare’s campaign did not attune Indians to...