Maulana Syed Mohammad Ashraf Kachochavi is the General Secretary of the All-India Ulama & Mashaikh Board (AIUMB), a Sufi sect that came from nowhere to take Moradabad — and the Muslim world — by storm last week. Soft-spoken and gentle, with long robes and a flowing beard, he fits the part of the Sufi cleric to perfection. Yet on stage at the Sufi Maha Panchyat, he roared like a lion, hurling...

The year 2010 endured 950 natural disasters, 90 percent of which were weather-related and cost the global community well over 130 billion dollars. From wildfires in Brazil to record rainfall in the United States to the severe drought and famine in the Horn of Africa, it has become clear to many that quick and radical decisions need to be made about the world's future.  One of the biggest advocates of this position...

-The Hindustan Times   The government on Monday said activist Anna Hazare’s demand for the Rights to reject and recall elected representatives would be discussed soon at an all-party meeting on electoral reforms. Law minister Salman Khurshid said though chief election commissioner SY Quraishi had said these Rights would destabilise the country, the government “will be happy to put it up for all-party consultations.” But he said, “We have a very strong lobby that...

-Express News Service   Two prominent members of Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption have dissociated themselves from the group in protest against its overt flirtation with politics, as seen during the Lok Sabha bypoll in Hisar.   Magsaysay Award winner Rajendra Singh, who earned fame working on water conservation in villages in Rajasthan, and P V Rajagopal, a tribal and land Rights activist, have decided to quit the core committee, the 26-member panel which...

-PTI   Information given to income tax authorities by assessees does not come under any fiduciary relationship and cannot be denied to an RTI applicant on this ground, the Central Information Commission has ruled. Hearing the plea of Rakesh Kumar Gupta, who sought information on estimated tax evasion figures, the panel rejected the income tax department’s argument about such a relationship. Information commissioner Annapurna Dixit said the fiduciary relation exists when there is scope...