It could not have been a more opportune moment. With Planning Commission under attack for being "arm-chair advisers," the Plan panel on Tuesday organised a special screening of Bollywood film, " Peepli Live", to learn lessons and sensitise senior officers and experts about ground realities and public perception. Plan panel has been drawing flak from implementing ministries of ignoring ground reality while preparing its plans. Prior to the screening of...

India has long been simultaneously a country of enormous wealth and desperate poverty. In recent decades, the distance has only grown between those who enjoy living standards comparable to the finest in the world, and the millions left far behind. Even as Indians crowd the lists of the world’s richest dollar billionaires, an estimated 200 million people sleep hungry. Half our children are malnourished and nearly a fifth severely so....

The Supreme Court today held that any land acquisition depriving farmers of their “land, livelihood and way of life” without following due process was akin to “state-sponsored terrorism”. Slamming the Uttar Pradesh government’s land acquisition process, a two-judge bench headed by Justice G.S. Singhvi observed: “Throwing out villagers from their land and taking away their livelihood and way of life is state-sponsored terrorism.” The top court was hearing an appeal by some...

India's first caste-based census since 1931 will take place next year, the cabinet has announced. It said the controversial count would last from June-September 2011, after a full census had been held. Answering questions on caste will be optional. The move is intended to help target affirmative action benefits. Discrimination relating to caste in Hinduism - the complex social hierarchy based on people's occupations - is banned in India but still goes on. Critics...

The other day, I met a few carpet manufacturers from Mirzapur who were fuming about the state of affairs there. “In spite of the best weaving wages that we’re able to pay, far too many weavers have now turned to other jobs,” one complained. The recession in the West led to a massive slowdown in carpet exports, reducing the number of orders for weavers. Many found alternative jobs under the...