-PTI   Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who will complete the last stretch of his padyatra today, has said that he has learnt more from the farmers than the time he has spent as a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha. Interacting with farmers at Devaka village, Gandhi said: "When we sit in Delhi or Lucknow, we don't get to know ground realities. I have not learnt as much in Lok Sabha...

As expected, the government and the Anna Team have disagreed on vital points. The question of inclusion of the Prime Minister within the ambit of the Lokpal is being falsely blown out of proportions by the government’s apologists. The Prime Minister, though the head of government, is only first amongst equals. In a democratic country, political vacuum does not arise as the Cabinet has a collective responsibility. Also, our past...

The episodes of violence in land acquisition by the government, as witnessed recently in Bhatta-Parsaul in Uttar Pradesh and in other states earlier, occur because patterns of violence are inbuilt into the process. Despite a bill pending in Parliament since 2007, there has been little effort by political parties to evolve a consensus on acquisition of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes. The law as at present and also the provisions...

-PTI   In an effort to keep the land acquisition issue alive, the Congress on Monday announced that it will celebrate Rahul Gandhi's birthday as farmers rights day across the country. While criticising the Mayawati government for the alleged police atrocities against protesting farmers in Bhatta-Parsaul villages in Gautam Budhha Nagar on May 7, UP Congress president Rita Bahaguna Joshi said the party general secretary's birthday on June 19 will be celebrated as...

-Reuters   Sitting at the edge of fields in the heart of India's grain bowl, Gurdayal Singh Malik shakes his head in resignation about the lack of workers needed for his 60-acre farm, blaming the government's flagship welfare program, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), for the shortage. Ever since the start of the program, which guarantees 100 days of work a year for rural households, the flow of...