-Live Mint Lack of decentralization means municipalities lack power, resources to meet rising aspirations of ‘middle' India Othakadai, Madurai (Tamil Nadu)/Hubli (Karnataka): S. Paramasivam , president of the Othakadai panchayat, has big plans for his area. "Rainwater harvesting, removal of encroachments on roads, waste recycling, covered drainage, bigger primary health care centres and community parks," lists the 58-year-old, who has spent 30 years in the stainless steel business that dominates industry...

-The Indian Express A Delhi court on Tuesday acquitted Congress leader Sajjan Kumar of all charges in a case related to the killing of five men in a Delhi Cantonment colony during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that followed the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Five others named as accused with Sajjan Kumar were convicted - three of murder and rioting, and two of rioting. The acquittal of Kumar led to protests from...

-Live Mint Dominant caste groups in the state have found their own ways to capture and preserve power Dravidian political parties, which came into existence with the objective of achieving social equality, have been in power for more than four decades in Tamil Nadu, yet caste-based discrimination against the Dalits has remained a fact of life in the southern state. That's in contrast with neighbouring Kerala, which has emerged as a...

-The Hindu Business Line   The general tendency among Indian policy makers currently is to blame international price movements for the rise in prices of essential food items in India. The extent to which this claim is valid is assessed by examining the specific case of wheat. It is no secret that Indian food prices are increasingly affected by international prices. Ever since 2002, when all quantitative restrictions on Indian imports of agricultural...

-The Hindu The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the CBI Director to file an affidavit explaining why in the agency's status report dated March 8 no disclosure was made that the draft was shared with the executive and officials. A Bench of Justices R.M. Lodha, Madan B. Lokur and Kurian Joseph also wanted the CBI to indicate on what basis an assertive statement was made at the March 12 hearing, through its...