While the lay public may have been shocked by the revelation of an often cosy relationship between public relations (PR) professionals and the media, brought out by the Niira Radia telephone tapes, few in the media or in business would have been surprised. Few editors and reporters today can say they have not been approached for “friendly stories” or threatened with ad blackouts or block access for failure to publish...

FOLLOWING a Frontline Cover Story (“Driven to despair”, October 8) that highlighted the factors contributing to the high incidence of suicide among migrant workers and their family members in Tirupur in Tamil Nadu, the Central government set up a team to look into the issue. The team's visit to the knitwear capital of India on November 30 has raised the hopes of workers, trade union functionaries and labour rights activists.Headed...

Livid at the allegation of diversion of funds sent by the Centre to states for NREGA-mandated schemes, the Supreme Court on Monday warned to make an example out of Orissa to force other defaulting states to fall in line. "What nonsense is going on? The Centre must take steps to ensure that funds released under NREGA reaches the target population. We want action in this regard and will not allow any...

Differences between the National Advisory Council (NAC), headed by Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, and the government over the food security Bill have begun to narrow, but a suggestion by the agriculture ministry to offer cash to poor consumers in case sufficient foodgrain isn’t available remains a contentious issue.“We do not have any serious objections to the recommendations of the NAC. But the ministry wants to have the provision for...

Over the past two decades, Maharashtra’s leaders and caretakers have carefully steered it from being India’s most progressive and forward-looking state to lying on the verge of becoming one of India’s most backward.This is no mean achievement. Mumbai, as is well known, contributes close to 40% of the nation’s direct taxes. In 2003-2004, Maharashtra’s net state domestic product was second only to Haryana’s and the gross domestic product was 13%...