The arrest of Suresh Kalmadi on 25 April marked yet another scene in the prolonged drama surrounding the Commonwealth Games held in Delhi in October 2010. Yet the general media focus on Kalmadi may have served to distract attention from the many other acts of omission and commission that mark the sordid history of that extravagantly planned and deeply flawed public show. In these other actions, there are stories of funds...

Final draft bill on website within a week for public comments NAC hopes Bill will create a “robust accountability system” Government will be obliged to lay down national standards for all provisions for victims After several extensions, and a controversy over the exit of members of its drafting and advisory committees, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC)'s draft Communal & Sectarian Violence Bill is finally ready: it will be presented on Thursday...

Modi appeals to Manmohan to raise height of Narmada dam ‘Rehabilitation of over 2 lakh tribals, farmers still pending' The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) on Monday urged the Union government not to accede to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's demand to raise the height of the Narmada dam to its final level even when social and environmental compliances with regard to displaced families were lagging. The dam's height at present is 122 metres. In...

Prashant Bhushan seeks CBI probe into financial irregularities Scrap power purchase agreement with State government Land acquisition orders served on 46 villages The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not to reverse the stop-work order imposed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests on the construction of the Maheshwar dam for “non-compliance” of various norms. The dam is being built by S. Kumars group in Madhya Pradesh. Addressing a joint...

The cultivable land in India has shrunk marginally by 0.43% to 182.39 million hectare in last five years. This is due to shift in area for non-agricultural purposes such as buildings, road and railways among others. The total agricultural land in 2003-04 was 183.19 million hectares against 182.39 million hectare in 2008-09, a fall of 0.80 million hectare, according to the government data. Major foodgrains producing states like Punjab, West Bengal, Bihar and...