-The Indian Express Fifteen-year-old Altaf Hussain crouches effortlessly and heads into what looks like a black hole. Dragging a large wooden cart behind him, he disappears into the gaping darkness within seconds. After what seems like an endless wait but lasts just half an hour, he emerges from the hole with a cart laden with dark, glittering coal. The head of this group of 30 is Abu Kalam Mia. The 27-year-old ‘sardar’,...

-Reuters Shares in Reliance Industries Ltd recover after falling as much as 2.1 percent on Thursday, a day after anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal accused the energy conglomerate of hoarding natural gas and exerting pressure on the government to favour it. The company denies the allegations. Kejriwal, whose group India Against Corruption (IAC) has won publicity in India by accusing ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi's son in law Robert Vadra of taking part...

-The Indian Express After 14 years, the Central government has held the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat constant at last year’s Rs 1,285 per quintal. There is, of course, still no guarantee that the price will not be changed if major producer states like Punjab and Haryana raise objections. But for now, the UPA government’s newly discovered zeal to push through another reform is heartening. It may also be useful...

-DNA The central government is contemplating extending the Right to Education (RTE) till class 10. Presently, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act covers up to class 8: Children up to the age of 14 years are eligible to get free and compulsory education till class 8 in any school. The Centre now wants to extend free education for two more years. The pros and cons of such a move...

-Frontline After the year-long Jansamvad Yatra and Jansatyagraha, the Ekta Parishad has a written commitment from the Rural Development Ministry to advance land reforms.  Celebration and caution. These sentiments dominated the deliberations of senior activists of the Ekta Parishad as they gathered at Delhi’s Gandhi Peace Foundation office on October 18, one week after the organisation and the Union government had signed a 10-point agreement to advance land reforms. The agreement had...