What has changed since the economic reforms began? Many things. No waiting for years for a telephone connection, now cell phones with everyone. From three makes of cars with wind-down windows to dozens of makes, all air-conditioned. From one domestic airline, government owned and for the rich, to many private carriers for the middle class too. What has also changed is the knocking on the window. There are many more rich people...

-NDTV Profit   Some of India’s biggest and most-respected entrepreneurs have released an open letter to the government. The group which includes Wipro’s Azim Premji, Anu Aga of Thermax and HDFC's Deepak Parekh, refers to the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill that is meant to be introduced soon in Parliament. The industrialists write, “The Lokpal Bill is only one small but critical step in the national task of weeding out the plague of corruption...

In a landmark order, the state chief information commissioner told an applicant to pay for information that should have been given to him free of cost. Provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act mention that an applicant cannot be charged for information if it is not provided within 30 days if there is no valid explanation given for the delay. An applicant also cannot be charged if he is not...

-The Hindustan Times   Nine years after the path-breaking documentary War and Peace, Anand Patwardhan, one of India's controversial filmmakers, is back with a documentary on Dalit music and activism - Jai Bhim Comrade. Last week, his film was awarded the Ram Bahadur Trophy for the Best Film at the Film Southasia 2011 festival held at Kathmandu. Fourteen years in the making, the three-hour-and-20 minute-long film explores the history of Dalit activism...

India is finally ready with a comprehensive Bill that will protect children from sexual abuse. But the Bill, says author-activist Pinki Virani, has a major flaw regarding sexual consent that needs to be immediately addressed and the stakeholders consulted before it becomes law. With a certain Standing Committee so much in the news, let us look at what is happening with another Standing Committee looking into a Bill to protect children...