Youngsters in certain parts of India today cannot choose their partners. If they still do and the choice violates arbitrary, extra-legal norms set down by caste panchayats, the consequence can be death. Isn't it time we built a popular movement against the medieval practice of honour killings, asks AMMU JOSEPH. A newly-wed bride and her mother-in-law were killed and the groom seriously injured by the girl's relatives in the Tarn...

Two Indian air force Antonov transport aircraft arrive at Imphal airport. They are among several emergency missions carrying desperately needed supplies of food and medicines. For the past five weeks, two key highways linking this remote state in north-east India to the rest of the country have been blocked by supporters of an influential separatist leader from neighbouring Nagaland. Thuingaleng Muivah, who heads the NSCN (IM), a Naga group that carried...

In the least remarked upon move by the government to take on the development challenge in left-wing extremist (LWE) areas, Sudha Pillai was elevated to member-secretary of the Planning Commission on the eve of her retirement from the IAS. A topper in her batch, Sudha was initially posted to her home state of Punjab and then moved to Kerala after her marriage to her batchmate, present home secretary Gopal Pillai....

Population growth seems to have dropped off the public agenda these days. One reason for this is a twist in the old Malthusian argument that sees the rising proportion of persons of working age as a positive for growth. This shift in the age-distribution, it is argued, will stimulate savings as pressure on household and public budgets for the needs of dependent children comes down. Young workers are assumed to...

It’s probably the biggest scam in Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Scheme (MNREGS) in Rajasthan. Its exposes the ways, this flagship scheme of the UPA govt. at the centre is being plagued by embezzlement, fraud and forgery at the grassroots. The office bearers of Jharni Panchayat under Seemalvada Panchayat Samiti in Dungarpur district made payments of more than 58 lakh rupees without a single work done. And worse, many of those...