For some time there has been an impasse between media and the government over the media regulation and the Broadcast Bill, with citizens left on the sidelines. A set of documents is being released into the public domain to stimulate public debate. Ammu Joseph has more.

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.

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.

A land in which every kind of oppression has a long history is a country in which wounds are deep and forgiveness difficult. Moral indignation comes too easily to us, writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.

The decline of politics and of intellectual discourse is related to the struggle between politics and economics as the arbiter of the moral commons and the role of the developmental state in this fight, writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.

We need a new mechanism for creating trust, a mechanism that is neither traditional nor institutional. Post-institutional technology holds more hope than rule-based institutions, writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.

A number of barbs have been flung at Anna Hazare and the India Against Corruption campaign, amidst the rising popularity of the effort. Are these justified, wonders Rajesh Kasturirangan.

It is clear that people across the country are driven by strong environment values. Therefore, without having a policy process that channelises their perceptions and crystallises them in policy statements, it is not possible to sequence and prioritise our environmental problems, says Videh Upadhyay.

The Planning Commission is urging higher Central funding of large irrigation projects, but the Finance Minister promised more decentralised water management. What's going on? Meanwhile, Himanshu Upadhyaya thumbs through a CAG report and finds that these projects don't lack money - what they really need is accountability.

Total plan funding for urban areas is Rs 3,500 crores, but for rural programmes, it exceeds Rs 40,000 crores. In the meantime, the urban poor often live in sub-human conditions, and the infrastructure is barely able to cope. Ramesh Ramanathan says we need more rigour in our policy discourse.

In major finding, the Comptroller and Auditor General reported to Parliament earlier this year that a key objective of the SEZ policy, -- augmenting real exports -- has not only been defeated, but the policy had further resulted in revenue losses of hundreds of crores of rupees. 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.

Private telcos see intra-circle roaming agreements as a way to provide pan-India 3G service to customers. But TRAI, BSNL believe such deals violate license conditions.

Sikkim leads the nation in per-student expenditure by quite some distance, but bureaucratic hurdles to progress common elsewhere are to be found here too. Himanshu Upadhyaya 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.

Taking a 360-degree view of the Union Budget 2013, Shankar Jaganathan points out that despite 'inclusive and sustainable development' being a stated goal, the emphasis has primarily been on growth and finances.

The smart-card driven CORE-PDS system demonstrates the feasibility of introducing portability in social security systems without the use of biometrics. A student team from IIT Delhi surveys Fair Price Shops in Raipur district following the new system to assess how it has been faring.

A report published by Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) on the institution of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), its auditing and reporting process falls short in many aspects, writes Himanshu Upadhyaya.

The Shillong Chamber Choir follows Neil Nongkynrih, a concert pianist, as he strives to find a balance between his music and the purpose of his life: to look after under-privileged children. Shoma Chatterji reviews the film.

Filmmaker Q's reinterpretation of Rabindranath Tagore's Tasher Desh is a bold experiment, not only in format but also content, as it seeks to layer the classic satire with unprecedented connotations of sexuality and gender issues. Shoma A Chatterji reviews the film.

In Chhatisgarh's Durg district, there is no shortage of farmers who have taken their lives - the district ranks second in the state on this count. But equally, there is no shortage of those who don't see these suicides. Shubhranshu Choudhary reports.

Even in regions touted as India’s food bowl, Rs 3000 a month is all that a farmer earns for his family! Devinder Sharma crunches data from CACP to highlight the grave crisis in the agrarian economy.

The first of a three part series on the crisis facing farmers today by Kannan Kasturi.

In a significant move, the Kerala government has decided to promote the production and marketing of organic food. C Surendranath reports.

Kasturi Das makes a strategic case for a shift to organic agriculture in India.

Farmers' suicides will end only when we are willing to confront the real villain - the misplaced faith in industrial farming, says Devinder Sharma.

Suman Sahai comments on the recently released report of Task Force on Biotechnology policy.

Much of the agrarian crisis is the result of unwanted and cost-intensive technologies that have been forced on the farmers. Scientists were unknowingly trying to promote the commercial interests of the seed, tractor and the pesticides industry. And we don't need to repeat this error, says Devinder Sharma.

The government's stance towards biotechnology shows such disregard for the public interest that even its own Expert Committee is not privy to the proposed new policy. Suman Sahai protests the reckless endorsement of vested interests while many other stakeholders are kept in the dark.

Growing corporate interests and influences in the country's farm sector are beginning to underplay the significance of cooperatives, despite failed pilot programs. Moreover, farmer-owned-firms continue to be successful in the developed nations, and this evidence too is being ignored, writes Sudhirendar Sharma.

What is behind the suicides in Vidarbha? Is it drought or lack of irrigation, like some are saying? Why have over 550 farmers ended their lives in the last season? Many factors -- local and global -- have together pushed farmers to the brink here, notes Jaideep Hardikar , but says that lopsided global cotton trade is one major cause.

In what appears to be a desperate move to prop up agriculture growth, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called for reversing the declining trend in investment in agriculture. But his approach may also end up compounding the already existing crisis, writes Devinder Sharma.

A two-day seminar held recently in Mumbai brought together policy makers, bureaucrats, social workers, farmers, journalists, activists and researchers. Scrutinising farm policy in depth, they said that policy had failed to address some of the main challenges, reports Aparna Pallavi.

The policy that reportedly favoured Indian consumers at the cost of farmers has come back to bite the consumers with a vengeance. And with the US and Europe embracing biofuels, things could get even worse, writes Kannan Kasturi.

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 curbs on a woman's right to choose who to have a relationship with and/or marry manifest themselves in myriad ways. The data suggest that 'honour' crimes against women are widespread, but prevailing customs in many parts of the country thwart the protection of this right. Puja Awasthi reports.

Boregaon is a small village in Solapur district of Maharashtra where men have shunned the patriarchal mindset to support women’s political empowerment and gender equality, writes Suchismita Pai.

Naam Poribortito, the debut film of activist Mitali Biswas, reveals the dark and gory underbelly of West Bengal in particular, and the nation at large, where rape victims are denied justice and crusaders are silenced more often than not. Shoma Chatterji has more on the film and its portrayals.

An India Together radio program featuring Professor Jagdeep Chhokar of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad on the new anti-criminalization rules for India's elections.

The environmental benefits accruing from green buildings and living spaces are widely known, but it is often inertia that prevents the adoption of these alternatives. Chandrashekar Hariharan discusses a few easy steps that could foster greener urban infrastructure.

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.

Despite notoriously variable and low earnings, close to 30% of the male population in Bilaspur's Chingrajpara slum are cycle-rickshaw pullers. Third in the SLUM DIARIES series, Ashima Sood cuts across boundaries to chronicle the forces impinging on the pullers' livelihoods.

Allocations in the annual budget are the real indicators of the government's priorities. It is by studying these that we can really judge how committed the administration is to the goals proclaimed publicly. Jacob John examines Budget 2005 and finds a yawning gap between promises made and the money approved to achieve them.

There is now mounting hope that micro finance can be a large scale poverty alleviation tool. Banks too are shedding their old reluctance to lend to the poor, and are looking to tap the expertise of micro credit groups to create a new market. Ramesh Menon reports on the status quo and the challenges ahead.

With their long history of affiliation to political parties, unions have been unable to articulate the interests of workers independently. Also, a narrow understanding of labour has made them irrelevant to the majority of workers in the unorganised sector. A new formation proposes to tackle these failures. Aparna Pallavi reports.

The economy in the North East is still largely based on subsistence-oriented farming. There is plenty of frustration arising out of inability to meet modern aspirations. What are the options for people to engage in productive work and earn more money? Surekha Sule has more.

Moments after a customer approaches this cart, the vendor pours tender coconut juice into a funnel-like part. Chilled juice comes out of a stainless steel tap below, filling a 250 ml glass, for Rs.10. Shree Padre reports about Fruit Hut Beverages, a Hyderabad-based firm that has launched the Coco Fresco brand.

The origins of today's law for land acquisition for SEZs act can be traced to 1824, when the British colonial power felt the need to codify the undisguised forcible seizure of land. While colonial rule has long gone, the unjust application of the principle of eminent domain remains, writes Kannan Kasturi.

A new policy framework for hydro-electric power seems to have given confidence to private corporations to enter the sector, with a large number of mega projects lined up. But the same policies raise critical questions in relation to equity and access, writes Shripad Dharmadhikary.