-The New York Times Blog The strength and direction of the Indian economy may be up for debate, but one remarkable fact is not: There has been massive growth in the number and wealth of billionaires in India since the economic liberalization measures in 1991. The phenomenon has often been compared to the United States’ experience in the latter part of the 19th century. This was a period evocatively described by Mark...

-Deccan Chronicle For love, they had to give up their lands. Nine years ago, two dalit brothers – Sakthivel and Andvan from Erode, had fallen in love with caste Hindu girls and eloped with them. The two couples are now happily married, but they had to ‘sacrifice’ their 12-acre land in their native village OTTanchathiram, that has been usurped by the caste Hindus. And since they value their lives more than their land,...

-The Hindu The Madras High Court on Wednesday dismissed a public interest litigation petition seeking a direction to the Centre to allot the entire 2000 MW to be generated by the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project to Tamil Nadu. In its order, the First Bench comprising the Chief Justice M.Y.Eqbal and Justice T.S.Sivagnanam said the petitioner had not even made any representation to the authorities concerned regarding the matter. It was a policy...

News coverage of the Aarushi case, Sachin in Rajya Sabha, and the revelation of the Bofors whistleblower added little to the discussion Have you noticed that the hilarious news spoof, The Week That Wasn’t (CNN-IBN) bears an uncanny resemblance to every day’s TV news/ discussions? We’ll call it, the news that wasn’t. News. And it goes something like this: Monday, Nupur Talwar, denied bail, was jailed in Aarushi and Hemraj murder cases. All...

-BBC A former head of Swedish police says there is no evidence that late Indian leader Rajiv Gandhi received a bribe in an arms scandal that contributed to his defeat as PM in elections in 1989. Sten Lindstrom led the probe and has identified himself as the whistle-blower who recently leaked documents. Mr Lindstrom said, however, that Gandhi had "done nothing" to prevent a "massive cover-up" in Sweden and India. Swedish arms firm AB...