As the commons come under increasing assault, academics, practitioners and policymakers come together to devise ways to protect shared resources On a cold January night in Hyderabad, a fortnight ago, Jairam Ramesh, Minister for Environment and Forests, was led to an open-air dinner by folk drummers and body-painted tiger dancers as an appreciative audience of international academics and grassroots workers cheered and milled around him. Ramesh had become the toast of...

The government can’t be expected to provide food, education and healthcare to all but relief would be offered to the deprived sections, Chief Justice of India SH Kapadia has said while advocating the adoption of minimum core approach. Saying that the financial meltdown has ushered in a paradigm shift from equality in terms of equal access to minimum core approach, the CJI said, “Equal access to food cannot be given. You...

Former DoT Secretary Behura and Raja's aide Chandolia also taken into custody, to be produced in court today The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday arrested the former Union Communications and Information Technology Minister, A. Raja, and two officers who had worked under him, for their role in the grant of licences and allocation of 2G spectrum during 2008 in violation of established guidelines and procedures. Mr. Raja (47), as well...

Taking a "serious view" of Shunglu Committee's findings on alleged irregularities in awarding broadcast rights of Commonwealth Games, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday warned of "stern action" against the guilty. "The Prime Minister has taken a serious view of the findings in the first report of the Shunglu Committee on Host Broadcasting," media advisor to the Prime Minister, Harish Khare, said in a statement. The report has been sent to Cabinet...

India's first Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah is the next chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM). Mr. Habibullah, who received his orders on Tuesday, will formally take charge on Thursday. Mr. Habibullah, a 1968-batch IAS officer, will be filling a post that has been lying vacant for the past five months. His predecessor, Mohammad Shafi Quereshi, retired on September 2, 2010. A member of the NCM, who described the chairperson as...