A noteworthy shift in the new Draft Water Policy is the clear preference of the Government to privatise the water sector. This goes against all the evidence so far, writes Shripad Dharmadhikary.

A recent report by the UNICEF highlights the most critical issues faced by the Indian water sector today, urging the establishment to break new ground in resource management and utilization. Shripad Dharmadhikary discusses the key findings.

The belief that slum dwellers convert any structure they are given into another slum is thoroughly disproved in Charkop. There is clearly a sense of community, and each cluster feels proud to maintain the cleanliness of its surroundings, writes Kalpana Sharma.

Fifth in the series of articles on civil society and governance Jayaprakash Narayan assesses the challenges from where a process of transformation must emerge.

In a recent lathi charge on protesting student activists, Kerala's police used electric shock batons. The state's model of development has many votaries worldwide, but the savageness in police actions on mass programmes does not seem to be going away, reports Venugopal P N.

Two years after being appointed to the National Advisory Council, Aruna Roy has decided to decline a new term. While expressing happiness over some of the work the NAC has been able to do in the past, she now believes that the space for the advisory body to function as a forum for public consultation has diminished.

Both the Supreme Court and the Prime Minister recognised that rehabilitation for Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada river was incomplete, but neither was willing to fulfil their legal responsibility to actually stop construction. Instead, the the Shunglu Committee is now "independently" investigating rehabilitation and it appears compromised, worries Mike Levien.

Still dodging the constitutional requirement for devolution of powers to local bodies, the Centre is now demanding that cities fall in line with the 74th Amendment. The National Urban Renewal Mission is deeply flawed, and civic groups that have proposed steps to rectify it should be heeded, writes Kathyayini Chamaraj.

The Supreme Court issued six directives in 2006 on bringing about police reforms in the states to make the police free from political interference and accountable to the citizens. Kathyayini Chamaraj analyses the state governments' responses and finds much amiss.

The Ishrat Jahan case has again hit the headlines with former home minister P Chidambaram being accused of rewriting an affidavit to prove the 19-year-old’s innocence. Ramesh Menon presents a recap and investigates where things stand now.

The more things change the more they stay the same. Bored by the hyperbole and premature celebrations of a new India in the metros, Videh Upadhyay travels to eastern UP, and gets a firsthand look at power cuts, the power brokers, and the despair of the majority who are simply powerless.

A spate of suicides by students in Lucknow has parents and school administrators equally worried. Puja Awasthi reports on the reasons behind this alarming trend.

Lack of open communication between parents and school authorities is diminishing trust and respect between them. This in turn has caused many unfortunate incidents that could have been avoided, reports Puja Awasthi.

September 28 is being observed as the Right to Know day by the Freedom of Information Advocates Network, a global group of NGOs working for better transparency in governments. An India Together report on the recent strides citizen activity has made in India on the right to information.

Chitta Behera points out that the otherwise progressive draft Right to Information Act 2004 (prepared by the National Advisory Council) could do with some additional fine-tuning while still under review within the offices of our government.

The new national Right to Information law came into effect on 12 October as citizens groups nationwide – from Karnataka to Delhi -- have virtually been on alert and awaiting the opening of government departments to applications for information. Much remains to be seen and done, reports Subramaniam Vincent.

When a Pune-based die-hard transparency activist went to a government book depot in the city on 15 October morning to buy a copy of the new Right to Information Act, he was surprised to see that there were already 50 odd citizens in line for copies. True, bureaucrats have also planted landmines, but the citizens may yet win, says Prakash Kardeley.

On learning that she could find out why her widow pension was being delayed, she made her grandson write out an RTI application on her behalf. When she got her pension, I realised how powerful this law could be, writes R Balasubramaniam.

The new head of the nation's highest body for enforcement of the Right to Information Act has himself been appointed with little public awareness of the process or criteria used for his selection, writes Krishnaraj Rao.

Sheila Johnson, the first African-American female entrepreneur to be worth $1 billion, tells WSJ's Veronica Dagher why some women don't help each other, the story behind founding Salamander Hotels and Resorts and BET, and how she's investing in other women's companies.

Kobe Bryant, the former Los Angeles Lakers superstar, died in a helicopter crash on Sunday, NBA officials confirmed to league employees. He was 41 years old. Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, was also killed in the crash. Photo: Getty Images

Fashion designer Eileen Fisher tells WSJ's Veronica Dagher how she discovered that money isn't the answer to all of life's problems, why she's committed to sustainable fashion and what motivates her to meditate on death.

Garments made in Bangladeshi factories that major retailers have banned as unsafe are finding their way onto Amazon's site for sale in the U.S. WSJ investigates Amazon's apparel supply chains and the impact of its marketplace on garment factory workers. Photo: Karan Deep Singh for The Wall Street Journal

WSJ's Joanna Stern "bumps into" Heidi Zak, the co-founder and co-CEO of bra brand ThirdLove. The two discuss proper bra care, the company’s algorithm that determines bra sizing and how ThirdLove is challenging Victoria’s Secret. Photo: Andria Chamberlin for The Wall Street Journal

Fashion designer Eileen Fisher on trend-free fashion and the limits of technology.

Italian Ambassador Giandomenico Magliano throws a dinner party for shoe designer Gianvito Rossi, and a reporter gets to go along for the included house tour.

Designer Karl Lagerfeld closed his fall 2014 haute couture show with a pregnant model wearing a Baroque-inspired neoprene wedding gown.

GoPros on the runway at Rag & Bone, a 4-D fashion show at Ralph Lauren and more from the tech-heavy fifth day of New York Fashion Week.

Ayesha Curry, home and hospitality entrepreneur, tells WSJ's Veronica Dagher what she's teaching her children about money, how she approaches spending and the importance of setting goals.

First lady Melania Trump presented radio personality Rush Limbaugh with the Presidential Medal of Freedom during President Trump’s State of the Union speech. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Speaking at The Wall Street Journal's D.Live conference in Hong Kong, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn said a merger within the group is one option to prepare the company for future challenges.

Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank, shared his insights and quoted Yoda, the Star Wars Jedi master, during a conversation with WSJ Editor in Chief Gerard Baker at the CEO Council meeting in Tokyo.

Hershey Chief Executive Michele Buck said food companies have to be careful about tinkering with beloved brands to make them healthier. She is joined by Wall Street Journal reporter Annie Gasparro. Photo: Gabe Palacio for The Wall Street Journal

Jennifer Catron boarded Carnival’s Costa Luminosa on March 5 for a transatlantic cruise. Her video diaries provide a window into life on board the ship as the coronavirus scare became a full-blown pandemic.

Forget artificial intelligence for board games. Alibaba used artificial intelligence to predict the winner of a popular Chinese reality TV singing competition – and got the winner and finalists all correct.

Huawei is headed to battle against Apple and Samsung Electronics in the smartphone arena, and its weapon of choice is a camera.

Alphabet and Facebook will no longer be part of the tech sector once S&P and MSCI change the way they classify companies.

Rana Moitra, a Trinamool Congress polling agent, in Kasba, which falls under the Jadavpur constituency in Kolkata was allegedly beaten up by the Communist Party of India-Marxist cadres during the final phase of polling in West Bengal on Wednesday.

BJP spokeperson Ravi Shankar Prasad says, 'It is the time for the real Manmohan Singh, the economist Manmohan Singh, to show his mettle in stemming the rot of the manufacturing sector, the industrial sector, the agricultural sector.'

'She did not push him nor did she push the party in his direction. If she had declared him a leader, that would have been her biggest mistake. She did not do that,' says political thinker Sanjay Kumar.

In a no-holds-barred conversation, Chandan Mitra, editor and managing director of The Pioneer, member of the Rajya Sabha and BJP supporter, tells Savera R Someshwar that the blame for the failure lies squarely at the party's door.

Cash is often viewed as a safe, but boring investment. But lately, it’s looking shinier than it has in a while. WSJ explains why investors are piling trillions into money market accounts, even as stocks reach new highs.

'Shashi Tharoor and the Congress party coming together was a recipe for success. If Shashi had chosen to contest on his own on the basis of his personal accomplishments, he could have presented an agenda for change and made a splash, but like some of the other Independent stars, he would have made a point, but not gone any further.'

'There is more introspection already going on on these web sites than in New Delhi and state capitals, and there is more loud thinking than in the endless debates on our television channels.'

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is yet to congratulate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and refused to say anything on Modi's hat-trick victory on Friday.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's march towards a two-third majority was halted by the presence of Keshubhai Patel's party in Saurashtra and the saffron outfit suffered reverses in Chief Minister Narendra Modi's own backyard of north Gujarat.

In our coronavirus-tainted world, we’re realizing that we depend a lot on our laptop webcams… and they’re not good. WSJ’s Joanna Stern compared the new MacBook Air to the Dell XPS 13, Google’s Pixelbook Go and Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 3.

Sunderban fishermen are caught between court directives and politicians limiting their traditional lives, and large trawlers that operate unfettered by those same overseers.

By bringing the benefits and the knowledge of science to their people, Haseena and Tajunnisa have helped secure the future for the resources on which their families depend. Their home, Agatti, has, now become a model, writes Papri Sri Raman.

Moneylender troubles, a fast depleting catch due to reckless pollution, and displacement: it has been raining blow after blow on fisherfolk in Andhra Pradesh recently. Will a meeting with a cabinet minister fix things? Keya Acharya reports.