By not resolving the definition of ‘public purpose,' the Land Acquisition Bill keeps the door open for misuse It has taken more than 110 years for the government to draft a new Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill. But despite mounting evidence of widespread misuse of government authority in taking over farm land and the increasing protests against the legal ambiguity that abets such exploitative practices, the revised legislation remains dubiously...

When the opinion of the unattractive sweaty Indian is less important than that of his better looking, English speaking, compatriot. Diesel prices had gone up, and the input desk at NDTV in New Delhi had dispatched me to get reactions from customers at a gas station. Vox pop, they call it in the business, the voice of the people. I was interning in reporting that very hot month of June, so...

Punitive measures against girls forced into child marriages should not find a place in government policies, programmes and practices Child brides are not criminals. They cannot be compared to children accused of committing crimes. Anyone who hears a story of a girl forced into marriage before she turned 18 will tell you that she had little choice in the matter. In fact, under Indian law, children convicted as juveniles cannot be...

The district administration's plan of giving priorities to digging of wells under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has started bearing fruits. The scheme has brought smiles to hundreds of farmers across the district. Official records show that the farmers have doubled their income by growing crops in about 7,200 acres in all seasons. Many farmers like Mahli Oraon at Rampur village of Sadar block shared their success...

Looking closer at the Ambedkar cartoon and the power play in it We have examined a lot of politics and history around the Ambedkar cartoon but left the most important part unexamined — the very cartoon that created such a furore in Parliament. By assuming that the meaning of the cartoon is wholly dependent on one context, we have denied the work of art whatever autonomy of meaning it could have....