Charming no more
The saperas (snake-charmers) of Delhi loive in a unique colony called Mollarbandhgaon. This community, located next to the Badarpur thermal power …
How MGNREGA blew Rs 10,853 crore
The “little known” success story of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has unfolded as a disaster. …
Profiting from disaster
Zoramthanga , the chief minister of Mizoram, has many reasons to reminisce the birth of his party, the Mizo National Front, an insurgent group …
Meltdown
Till a couple of decades ago Bangalore was a sleepy city -- running to the rhythm of old trading networks and retired people taking their evening …
The lake colony
Call them the "lakers". Some 10,000 of them. Parts of the Dal (land and water) belong to them. And when they feel the need to make a …
Impotent plan?
In August 2005, the Indian Parliament passed the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (nrega). The latest avatar of state-financed employment …
Logjam
Whenever the Supreme Court pulls the trigger, why does it miss the target? Because governments like those of the seven Northeast states work …
Theirs to mine?
This is the question angry and beleaguered tribals in Orissa and Jharkhand are asking, as mining companies set up shop in the midst of their land …
Made it
Enabavi, a village of 52 families, is abuzz. It is hosting farmers from the nearby Kallem village who have come here for tips on profitable …
Everybody's a Loser
The World Trade Organization's recent ministerial meet in Seattle, USA, will be remembered more for the protestors who turned the venue into a …
A watershed plan
Recurrent droughts and floods coupled with mass poverty, chronic unemployment and pervasive malnutrition are the major challenges before India. …
SEZ, how special?
Despite having burned its fingers with export processing zones, which mainly involved a number of substantial fiscal benefits, the government has …
Manipulating Research
Private funding has given a new meaning to scientific research today. With rising corporate research budgets, academic institutions are leaning …
Private affairs
The invitation was innocuous. The Confederation of Indian Industry (cii) -- the grouping of the large and most powerful industries -- was …
The small big polluter
Small-scale industries: Where regulations are meaningless and pollution control an unaffordable luxury. Can they leapfrog to cost-effective …
Nothing to bank on
The government’s much-hyped Direct Benefit Transfer programme has hit a roadblock. Banks have failed to meet the huge demand for opening …
Universal health scare
The country’s planners are debating how to provide healthcare to all. In a drastic shift from the 65-year-old public health system, the …
Bamboo rising
Five years after it was implemented, the Forest Rights Act finally takes root. Communities across the country rush to claim rights over forests …
