Has the time come for an effective Citizens Right to Grievance Redress Bill? Will the government enact a legislation that will truly empower ordinary people? Civil society needs to debate the provisions of the draft bill that is released for public discussion and feedback The Citizens Right to Grievance Redress Bill, 2011 seeks to “lay down an obligation upon every public authority to publish citizens charter stating therein the time within...

The audience, organisers, and fightersknow that sham wrestling is not to betaken seriously. But the World Economic Forum takes itself seriously. The comforting thing about the sham wrestling ‘championships' on television is that everybody knows they are a farce. Steroid-stuffed Cro-Magnons stomp the living daylights out of painkiller-primed Neanderthals. Good, unclean fun. The results are safely predictable. You should expect the 600-pound gorilla to overwhelm the 900-pound one in a staggering...

-The Economic Times   Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday night held consultations with water resources minister PK Bansal on the Mullaperiyar dam - an old dispute between Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which has been reignited by a movie, Dam 999, and fresh cracks on the dam following two minor quakes in the region.  "It is amongst themselves that the matter can be sorted out. We can only play a role of facilitator....

This is a saga of how the Hindu outfit saw the promise in Anna and pursued him for its gains. How often do we meet strangers on a flight and realise that it could possibly be the beginning of a lasting friendship? This is how yoga teacher Ramdev and super cop Kiran Bedi met in mid 2010 when both of them were on the same flight and Ramdev spotted her. Although fate...

The killing of Sister Valsa John over tribal rights is another episode of land dispute in the coal belt Why would 40 people kill a solitary nun in a remote village in coal-rich Dhumka in Jharkhand? Sister Valsa John is better known as an activist than a nun of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus & Mary. She left her home in Kerala and moved to Jharkhand two decades ago as...