IF YOU walked down the streets of Jantar Mantar in New Delhi between 3-5 August, you would see what TV cameras aren’t putting out on primetime news. Thousands of farmers from Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh to Rohtak in Haryana. On protest. Against the systematic grabbing of their land by various state governments across the political spectrum. On one side of the road, on large green carpets, are about 3,000 farmers,...
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Talking To Maoists by Nirmalangshu Mukherji
After the brutal murder of Azad, is there any hope for well-meaning routine calls for “dialogue” and “peace talks”? What can the "civil society" do as a serious, real intervention? It is reported that the decades-old talks with Naga insurgent groups has made some progress recently (See “Differences ‘narrowed’,” Times of India, July 19, 2011). One reason why talks have a chance in these cases is that separatism comes in...
More »Auditor's explosive report on CWG: Highlights
-NDTV The report of the government's auditor - the Comptroller and Auditor General - has been tabled in Parliament. Among those it faults for mismanagement are Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and the Lieutenant Governor Tejinder Khanna. These are the highlights of the 800-page report: * There are 33 audited entities; 33 chapters, 743 pages * The unique challenge of monitoring activities of multiple agencies should have been met...
More »Money doesn’t make the landowner fonder by EAS Sarma
The country’s first legislation on land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement is out as a first draft. Here is a sharp critique of the bill THE GOVERNMENT has made public the new Draft National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation & Resettlement Bill, 2011, which FW has run in these columns over three days. This is what I think of it. In terms of the definition of public purpose, the Bill is more colonial...
More »Muslims, by any other name by Farah Naqvi
The (word) games we play to avoid dealing with the problems of some of the poorest Indians. It's strange season again in the corridors of planning and power — the run up to the 12th Five-Year Plan. This is when myriad Planning Commission committees review the (somewhat predictable) non-implementation of policies intended to benefit some of the poorest Indians, and recommend changes, only to repeat the exercise five years later. Forgive my...
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