Double standard on foreign money Yes to Industry, no to NGO
If Parliament's Standing Committee on Home Affairs, which is currently deliberating on the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Bill, 2006, decides that repealing and replacing the FCRA, 1976, is good and fine, NGOs and Media will lose another slice of freedom.....Full Story

Can we justify the judiciary?
The Indian judiciary itself is hardly a paragon of probity, as has been proved over and over again down the years. Nonethelsss, corruption in the judiciary is a subject that is often discussed in private but less so in public. And that has to change......Full Story

Reforming the IMF Too little, too late
From an awe-inspiring organisation that could shape the economic policies of nations, the International Monetary Fund has now become all teeth and no bite. There’s no reason to fear its US-dominated armtwisting......Full Story

Many worlds apart
A path-breaking study done last year by a group in Helsinki found that the world is far more unequal than we think: there is a Third World in the First World just as there is a Fourth World in the Third World.....Full Story

Lies, damn lies and poverty
At least one out of four Indians is poor by any yardstick. And close to half the population live on less than two US dollars a day, currently equivalent to less than Rs 100. More than half the children who join primary school drop out.....Full Story

Too poor, too far from Delhi
Dhanbad is 1,100 km from Delhi, but the rest of India is much more distant. In the media, fashion shows carry more weight than human interest stories. And journos have followed the social warp, tailoring their ethics to the demands of what the readers want.....Full Story

How IT can change India
Can information technology bridge the digital divide in India by percolating down to the grassroots? It already is—but through minuscule pulls and pushes, not the major makeover that the country needs. And that is not because India lacks binary talent.....Full Story

India’s feudal industrialists
Despite claims about the importance of separating ownership and management, Indian industrialists still control their fiefdoms through a complex web of investment firms, trusts and HUF entities.....Full Story

All that’s right with the Left
What has helped the Left is the image of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who became
Jyoti Basu’s successor as chief minister, and is often compared to
Deng Xiaoping.....Full Story

Negative discrimination or affirmative action?
The government might find it difficult to amend the Constitution to mandate SC/ST/OBC reservation in corporate houses.....Full Story

Need for a reality check
With the stock markets booming in this country of unequal opportunities, there is more reason to introspect than celebrate.....Full Story

Gasline on the backburner
The fact that US pressure on India has worked rather well is evident from the question mark that has come to hang over the 2,600-km-long gas pipeline from Iran to India.....Full Story