In Maharashtra, attacks on citizen-activists have increased with the greater use of RTI; four activists have been killed in the last seven months IN the late 1970s, a woman named Shobha Shirodkar was the victim of a hit-and-run in Mumbai. It was no accident. It was a case of murder because Shobha, who was the principal of a prestigious school in the city, had opposed the land mafia and was believed...

Concern over the domestic economy should not result in barriers on free trade, according to Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia. While the country would benefit from opening itself up further to international competition, he promised that the interests of farmers and labour-intensive industries would be protected. In a discussion with journalists from The Hindu group on Wednesday, Mr. Scindia defended the Free Trade Agreement (FTA)...

**page** [inside]KEY TRENDS of the Union Budget 2023-24[/inside] Budget 2023-24 is the last full budget before the general election scheduled for 2024. An analysis of the budget allocations suggests that the union government has squeezed expenditure, particularly on food subsidy and the NREGA budget, while boosting Capital expenditure and giving the middle class tax benefits. Social sector activists working on Right to Food, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) came out with...