While the Union government has been harping on the need for fiscal rectitude, the Maharashtra Raj Bhavan has sent a wish-list to the state government asking for a luxury sedan worth Rs 32 lakh. The Honda Accord 3.5 V6 will be at the service of Alemla Jamir, wife of governor S C Jamir, and the proposal has been sent to the general administration department of the state government along with...

We need to recognise that there is no intellectual democracy; elitism in science is inevitable and needs to be promoted.  The Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman had famously said, ‘the difficulty with science is often not with the new ideas, but in escaping the old ones. A certain amount of irreverence is essential for creative pursuit in science.’ The first grand challenge before Indian science is that of building some irreverence. Our...

Rampur-Mathura (Uttar Pradesh): It is not yet 5 p.m. but the light has started fading in Rampur-Mathura, a village of barely 5,000 people, in Sitapur district. A group of village elders settle down comfortably in wooden chairs around a small fire lit under a tree. It is here that they gather every evening to discuss the day's events before retiring for the night. Until now, the village's busybodies used to keep...

At a time when there is growing concern about the causes of increasing discontent and alienation among tribals, it is important to recall a very important law for improving the governance of the Scheduled Areas in such a way as to protect the interests of tribals. The reference here is to the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996 (briefly called the PESA law). If this Act had been properly...

People around the world can now keep tabs on countries’ promises and proposals on combating climate change, thanks to a new online tool launched today by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The Climate Pledge Tracker was launched today in Copenhagen, Denmark, where nations are currently meeting with the aim of agreeing on an ambitious new agreement. The new programme will be updated as new proposals are made in the...