Civil society & politics

Ready for guillotining?

King without a jungle

The sandalwood forests are gone. Now an ageing Veerappan looks for greener pastures

The curious case of panchayats in Delhi

The Nagar Swaraj Bill will usher in decentralised governance in the city state, but what happened to rural panchayats?

Orphaned by apathy

Hidden from the outside world, this is the plight of the Van Taungiyas. They were hired during the British rule as resident labourers to plant …

My god v your resource

Recent Supreme Court order in Vedanta case holds hope for tribal community life

New votebank on the block: Beneficiaries over rights-holders

Narendra Modi’s stress on governing via welfare schemes is antithetical to a  rights-based approach

Mr Modi, you made the pandemic another event

Prime Minister's address to the nation is insensitive to situation, barring fleeting mentions of economic bailout  

जाति विमर्श में प्राकृतिक संसाधन

जाति व्यवस्था के खिलाफ संघर्ष प्राकृतिक संसाधनों पर नियंत्रण के सवाल को लेकर छिड़ना चाहिए, न कि पिछड़ों की आजीविका को लेकर

Panchayat elections are set to become all the more important

These village-level governments have all the ingredients to make or break a political party’s fortune

Cull the caste

The fight against the caste system must be about control over natural resources, not professions of marginalised groups

Bank’s first contest

Developing countries challenge US monopoly by putting up candidates for World Bank’s presidency

The swing

More women than men are voting in India. Majority of them are from rural areas

In search of the missing

In the undivided Koraput district of Orissa, there exist 190 villages that have slowly been pushed off the map of India. Hurled by fast-track …

Pasture posture in time of climate change

The United Nation’s latest appeal for national support to protect mobility of pastoralists brings focus to this ancient, climate-resilient …

Modi’s COVID-19 vaccine turnaround: An answer for Supreme Court queries just in time

The bench of judges Chandrachud, Rao and Bhat have already asked the Union government to review the vaccination policy and file an affidavit by …

Mass poverty is back in India

After 45 years, the world’s fastest poverty-reducing country adds the maximum poor in a year  

Panchayati Raj Day: Pandemic and the panchayats

Prime Minister Narendra Modi says: ‘We need to learn more from how villages manage COVID-19 pandemic than from cities’  

Global corporate taxation: The new bare minimum

The newly agreed global minimum corporate tax to prevent multinational firms from avoiding the legal cess regime is riddled with clauses to …

Rooster’s call for sensory heritage

Months after a couple filed a case against a rooster crowing early morning, France has passed a law with profound ecological meaning

The world is pro-protests, now

While economic crisis often push people to demonstrations, there is an increasing level of dissatisfaction with democracy

Education, infrastructure saving grace for top districts: NITI Aayog report

Top performing districts still lag behind in development parameters like health and nutrition

Presidential panchayat

India's third-tier of government has a few lessons for those seeking presidential form of government

Did economic liberalisation push govt and civil society in to battlefield?

The opening up of India’s economy increased the number of NGOs exponentially, but then…

Kill ‘dwarves’, recommends ‘creatively destructive’ Economic Survey

India’s small firms are holding back growth and job creation; government plans for something else to tide over job crisis