-The Tribune   Industry is the first to be blamed for pollution. However, in Punjab, which has only a modest industrial base, a major part of the total pollution comes from agriculture. The Green Revolution, with its concept of heavy use of fertilisers, pesticides, and other chemicals, has caused a serious imbalance in the environment. To raise levels of production, farmers often indulge in injudicious use of such inputs, the use of which...

If we get it right, the Food Security Bill carries the potential to alter the destinies of millions of India's poor and disadvantaged people, by assuring them as a legal right sufficient food to live with dignity. It was approved by the Cabinet after over two years of intense, sometimes fractious debate. Opinion in the Cabinet itself was reportedly divided around the proposed law. Gaping divisions persist, even as the...

-The Indian Express The Bombay high court delivered a telling summary of all that’s wrong with Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption, as it refused their request for a discount on the rent of the MMRDA grounds in Mumbai, where they have planned a public fast over their dissatisfaction with the Lokpal bill. The court spoke up for the primacy of Parliament in clear, clinching terms. “We cannot allow parallel canvassing” when the...

-The Indian Express   The Election Commission ponders the “novel challenge” posed by Anna Hazare and his team, which has vowed to campaign against the Congress in the five states that will hold elections in the near future. According to Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi, this raises questions of “propriety and ethics”. The EC, he said, would watch carefully for any breach of the model code of conduct, for any hate speech...

-The Hindu Amendment to provide for transfer of proceeds of foreign predicate offence The government tabled the Prevention of Money-Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2011, in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. It seeks to introduce the concept of a ‘corresponding law' to link the provisions of Indian law to those of other countries and to provide for transfer of the proceeds of foreign predicate offence committed in any manner in India. The Bill enlarges the...