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.

A voter discusses the chances in the Sawaimadhopur Lok Sabha seat in Rajasthan where Colonel Kirori Singh Bainsla, who led the Gujjar agitation last year, is the BJP candidate.

Shripad Dharmadhikary critiques the recently released NITI Aayog’s report on Composite Water Management Index.

Kanchi Kohli reports from the public meetings on a Hydro Electric Project that involves diverting a river tributary near Manali in Himachal Pradesh.

The central government prefers that large multipurpose storage projects are not converted into run of the river hydro-electric schemes by the states. Not stopping there, at a meeting last year, top officials of the water and power ministries made it clear that they wanted their preference to be binding on all the states. Himanshu Thakkar has more.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, it is possible for developed countries to simply buy off the cost of their pollution from less developed economies that do not put out their permitted quota of harmful substances into the atmosphere. This mechanism is fraught with both moral and practical difficulties, writes Darryl D'Monte.

The Electricity Act, 2003 requires each hydel project to be considered in light of other projects in the same river basin, but investigation of one project shows that this is not really enforced, writes Shripad Dharmadhikary.

Will the Kudankulam nuclear power plant finally become operational this month as assured by the Prime Minister? Krithika Ramalingam takes an in-depth look at the long history of delays and conflicts that has plagued the project since its inception.

India's energy set-up requires a major overhaul in order to keep up with the growth imperative, but there may be no quick-fix solutions. Ashok Sreenivas and Sreekumar N outline the critical areas of concern that call for focused solutions beyond the ambit of private investment.

Both the Ministry of Renewable Energy and the Ministry of Environment and Forests appear loath to pay attention to the potential environmental impact of small hydel power projects in the country. Parineeta Dandekar underlines the shortcomings in the official stance towards such projects.

Pune-based NGO Prayas Energy’s ESMI programme provides easily comprehensible data on the extent and quality of power supply in regions across the country, which can be used to demand accountability as well as enable social research. Manasi Mathkar reports.

Maitreyee Chatterjee was a woman of great grit, and a crusader for the rights of women long before such efforts gained attention or recognition. Shoma Chatterji notes her passing.

Mars missions and scientific innovations notwithstanding, a large section of India still reposes great faith in the future predicted by astrologers. Satellite TV leverages that to offer a plethora of shows, one of which recently defied all limits of decency, as Arpana H S reports.

Interactions at the WSF, Tunisia with activists and thinkers from vastly diverse fields, united only by their dream for transformation and alternatives to well-being, inspire Ashish Kothari to hope for another world.

Several newly elected panchayat presidents and and council members attended a unique ceremony in Lalpur, U.P., in late September. Watched by the District Magistrate, they took an oath of 'office and transparency' as opposed to the customary oath of 'office and secrecy'. Sandeep Pandey writes about a new beginning.

India begins 2009 from a position of strength. But how it approaches security issues in the internaland external security planes will determine how it ends the year, writes Firdaus Ahmed.

Is military combat the only way to deal with the Islamic state and its likes? Firdaus Ahmed ponders about the role India can play in making the ongoing temporary ceasefire in the five-year old Syrian civil war a more permanent one.

Media reports that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has given clearance to Railways to approach the state government regarding the Hubli-Ankola rail link, which will pass through the dense Western Ghats in Karnataka. Kanchi Kohli writes on how the orders of NGT do not necessarily imply a complete go ahead for the railway line as the seems to suggest.

The world’s largest and longest-running longitudinal research and action initiative on gender in the news media released in New York on 2 March, where the 54th session of United Nations Commission on the Status of Women is currently on. Ammu Joseph summarises the findings.

In mid-June, the Election Commmission of India directed Chief Electoral Officers of all states and Union Territories to enforce the law against "paid news" during elections. The institutionalised racket has been running into hundreds of crores of rupees. Ammu Joseph brings you up to speed.

Ritual culture is fundamentally incompatible with modern city life, but an alternative based on an implicit social contract has yet to emerge in India, writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.

New forms of power and influence are emerging in the 21st century, with opportunities no longer controlled by the west. So why are we harking to outmoded forms of power, asks Rajesh Kasturirangan.

In the past few hundred years, every revolution has caused much more harm than the evil it sought to eradicate. Perhaps the conservative is on to something after all, writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.

The nation is still the best mediator of the sphere of thought and the sphere of action. Even in a changing world, we cannot wish away the Indian nation and replace it with a world government overnight, writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.

The recent simplifications to the Central environmental clearance process may endup pushing peoples’ participation and transparency to fringes, says Sunita Dubey.

Without an iota of public debate and due process, Gujarat had increased allocation of Narmada waters for industry five fold last year, eating into the share of drought affected villages. The Comptroller and Auditor General reported this in 2007, finding it untenable. Himanshu Upadhyaya has more.

The CERC is mandated with balancing the interests of power generation companies and their consumers. But it appears that its new regulations are heavily skewed against the latter. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports.

It is a sign of trouble when experienced players sit out and fly-by-night-type operators take control. In the case of public infrastructure, this is exactly what is happening. We should ask why, writes Sunita Narain.

In Jahangirpur Gram Panchayat of Bihar’s Kishanganj district, Rs 30 lakh meant for pregnant Muslim women had already been misappropriated, when a community-driven project launched by Oxfam decided to tackle the corruption head on. Ajitha Menon reports.

Nigel Akkara, once a criminal and a prisoner, decided to turn his life around, helped by the culture therapy program of Alakananda Roy. Shoma Chatterji reports.

Celluloid Man pays a moving tribute to P.K. Nair, a man whose passion and commitment has kept alive the history of Indian cinema for film lovers, even as it exposes the tragic indifference of the establishment towards Nair, and archiving in general. Shoma A. Chatterji reviews the film.

Having failed to meet the challenges of the post-green revolution era, agricultural research has reached a dead end, says Devinder Sharma.

Despite the high price of imported wheat, the government prefers this option to paying Indian farmers a higher support price for their crops. Bhaskar Goswami says that this amounts to a covert policy of dismantling the procurement and price support mechanisms.

The current situation of impotence that the Government finds itself in should prompt some soul searching about the reliance on market mechanisms to take care of India's food security, writes Kannan Kasturi.

The Mayawati government proposes to reduce the distance that farmers must travel to take their produce to market to an average of seven kms. This should help farming families boost their incomes, writes Devinder Sharma.

Despite India's reliance on the agrarian sector, a serious farming and food crisis persists due to lack of government action and policy indifference. On its 20th anniversary, Gene Campaign releases a Charter of Demands to form the basis of an advocacy programme for bountiful farming, prosperous farmers and healthy food.

As a young country with many technical problems, we need an army of Holmeses who can solve them. But the Macaulay-inspired education has always suited the Watsons, who cannot. Until this changes, there will be little hope of swaraj in ideas, writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.

As tea estates are closing down, 70,000 plantation workers in Kerala face joblessness. M Suchitra and M P Basheer report from Peermade.

Why is it that large expenditure on food subsidy in India does not achieve more in reducing undernourishment? At a New Delhi public hearing earlier this year, Dr. Amartya Sen addressed this question.

Globalization has hit the Indian tea industry's fortunes hard. With brokers and buyers in apparent collusion workers bear the brunt, reports Ranjit Devraj.

Among the traders at the crowded Crafts Bazaar in Secunderabad, the struggle for survival and economic security seems to be the only noticeable thing. But in some ways, their worries are those of ordinary merchants everywhere, thanks in part to Mahila Sanatkar. Safia Sircar reports.

The vendors and hawkers of the Chingrajpara slum in Bilaspur are the lynchpin of the slum’s homespun economy. In this seventh article in our SLUM DIARIES series, Ashima Sood notes that operating on small capital outlays, these petty retailers offer a humbling portrait of entrepreneurship in action.

Does the World Bank advocate development, or is it simply a money-lender pushing its loan packages? For too long, the distinction has been blurred, allowing the Bank to make self-serving recommendations. Sudhirendar Sharma notes the latest instance of this as the Bank pushes into water sector reforms in India.

Can transgenic cotton ever be a livelihood security measure for the majority of India's small-holder farmers? Keya Acharya is circumspect. She says that the Bt cotton story in India is one of confusion. Bt appears more to favour 'rich' farmers, who have access to water, better resources, and alternative support.

India has only 5,100 Industrial Training Institutes and 1,745 polytechnics compared to 5,00,000 similar institutes in China. The USA boasts of 1500 trade training programmes compared to India's 171. A national conference in Delhi this February recommended measures to bridge the yawning gap between growth and jobs, reports Varupi Jain.

Against the wishes of the local people, and even the State government, a salt factory is proposed to be established on land that has been used freely by 20,000 villagers for decades. In the face of shifting politics, the residents are determined that they will protect their livelihoods. Aparna Pallavi reports.

It is nobody’s case that there is no crisis. But when remedies are prescribed, the diagnosis and the investigation have to be beyond dispute. P N Venugopal critiques a report from the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram.

While government and other sector actors are on the alert to address the power crisis, some find a business opportunity in it. Meanwhile, attention to rural supply continues to be low, write Sreekumar N and Shantanu Dixit.

In his latest book, The Wisdom of Ants: A Short History of Economics, with numerous revealing historical arguments and anecdotes, Shankar Jaganathan traces how economics emerged from being a relatively obscure field to a structured discipline that may be used to explain the basis for every aspect of human life and society, writes Satarupa Bhattacharya.

The relationship between professionals such as doctors, lawyers and teachers and the society they serve is increasingly and radically changing. The reasons behind the same, however, may go deeper than the obvious mercenary tendencies of the former. Shankar Jaganathan ruminates.