In this edition, we find out how free speech and dissent has never been welcomed in our country by any of the ruling parties, why the approval of the Hubli-Ankola railway line is not yet final, the gaps in the social security law for unorganised sector being proposed by the finance minister, the brutal and brave stories of some rape survivors, and more.

The UGC and the Ministry of HRD must rehabilitate a fine scholar persecuted merely for asking that a place of learning focus on the practice of learning, writes Ramachandra Guha.

S G Vombatkere points out the future that awaits those who will be displaced, given India's track record in 'rehabilitation and compensation'.

Farmers in rural India and students in American universities may have more in common than it would seem. While Cola companies have run into opposition in several states in India, student bodies in North America are pressuring universities to wind up contracts letting the firms exclusively sell water and soft drinks on campus. Sandeep Pandey connects the dots.

The practical management of water systems has become detached from the knowledge gained through research, which has made great progress in the last two or three decades. Because critical elements of research have been externalised, the induction of new inter-disciplinary learning has been greatly limited, writes Jayanta Bandyopadhyay.

Members of parliament find many uses for their constituency development funds, but a number of these are simply photo-ops for the incumbents.

We need to think about how RTI could be used to ensure more "systemic" solutions, where the performance of our government institutions are discussed in a regular, predictable manner says Ramesh Ramanathan.

One month ago, on June 27, Vadodara and surrounding areas received the first monsoon rains after a 15-day delay. Citizens spent the first two days of rains in jubilation. On the third day, things went wrong. Surekha Sule assesses the recent floods that devastated one of Gujarat's leading cities.

While Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has managed to push centre-stage the key concerns of 'universal literacy' and 'elementary education for all', a spirited pitch for its implementation is necessary to ensure that it does not remain floundering in India's most populous state. Puja Awasthi reports.

On Independence day, a District Magistrate in U.P. handed over three teachers of a primary school to the police, during a surprise school visit. School children are among the worst sufferers in the state; they continue to pay for a system they neither moulded nor understand. Puja Awasthi reports.

Retired Nascar driver Danica Patrick talks to WSJ's Lee Hawkins about her post-racing life as an entrepreneur, which has taken her into the wine, clothing, and cooking businesses, while also maintaining an endorsement relationship with GoDaddy.

Diane Tuft shows the front line of climate change, in her new book "The Arctic Melt: Images of a Disappearing Landscape." Diane joins Lunch Break's Tanya Rivero to discuss her disturbingly beautiful images. Photo: Diane Tuft

The battle against anxiety disorders and panic attacks since childhood is the focus of Wall Street Journal contributor Andrea Petersen's forthcoming book, "On Edge." She describes fears of carrying out simple activities in life and traces mental illness through her family. Photo: Brian Stauffer

While it is true that the overall situation worsened and the state got deeper into the quagmire of backwardness during the RJD regime, yet the party bags many credits for bringing about a fundamental change in Bihar's society and politics as well.

The Congress performance in Andhra Pradesh in the Lok Sabha poll may have been impressive, but party leaders are worried about the results of the assembly election, which turned out to be below their expectations. Though the Y S Rajasekhar Reddy-led Congress swept back to power, winning 157 seats in the 294-seat assembly, the party failed to secure an absolute majority.

If the cost of ecological damage and social deprivation are accounted for, Narendra Modi will only be half as tall as he is made out to be, says Ashish Kothari, issuing a grave warning.

They make an appearance before every election with a basket of promises and some patchwork to impress the electorate, only to disappear later. Chennai residents tell Lavanya Donthamshetty how tired they are of such politicians, wishing for a leader with vision and the commitment to turn it into reality.

Supporters of a "dislike" button, which Facebook does not have, say the culture of Facebook has become too nice. WSJ's Andy Jordan reports from San Francisco on what some creative contrarions are doing to game the Facebook system to "get" a dislike button.

The second attempt of the NDA government to create a market for farmers' produce may not fare much better than the first one, for the same reason - it fails to address the asymmetry of power between the farmers and buyers, writes Kannan Kasturi.

The energy sector is undergoing a massive transformation, with large customers option for direct access from producers and those in the middle looking for decentralised storage and consumption. Between these forces, the old distribution business faces serious risk, says a report from the Prayas Energy Group.

Displaying extraordinary grit, courage and openness to change, women from some of the most feudal communities in Rajasthan's villages are changing the rules forever and leading development and local governance at the grassroots. Abha Sharma brings us their tales.

Until women are provided adequate access to information, both about their rights and available budgetary resources, Joint Forest Management (JFM) programmes will only lead to more disempowerment for them, says Madhu Sarin.

The Patents Amendment Bill involved an issue of great concern to citizens. But did the Indian media provide a public forum for debate on the issue and enable individuals and institutions to contribute their thinking? Ammu Joseph doesn't think the media lived up to its responsibilities.

As Uttarakhand reels in the aftermath of devastating floods, Ammu Joseph underlines the need for greater awareness of the gender dimensions of such calamities and recognition of the special and diverse needs of women and other disadvantaged sections of society.

We should profitably contrast the flexible chaos of our institutions with the iron order of the west. The management of diversity requires a sensible mix of order and chaos, writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.

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.

The Thanjavur region in TN is currently an economy in distress. Lalitha Sridhar captures the voices, concerns and the many questions.

In view of the usual thrust on packaged food distributed in the name of relief and rehabilitation in the aftermath of any disaster or human crisis, L S Aravinda warns against the tendency to sell out local food traditions to the industry.

Firdaus Ahmed reflects on the possibility that there is a budding pushback from the army commanders to their Chief’s increasing proximity with the ruling party at the Center.

In 25 villages across Rayagada district of Odisha, tribal village women have reclaimed the denuded commons and achieved a remarkable turnaround in food security and livelihoods through eco-friendly alternatives to shifting cultivation. Abhijit Mohanty highlights a few successes of the project.

The anger against the multilateral trade regime is pushing developed countries on the defensive before the forthcoming WTO Ministerial, says Devinder Sharma.

When technological change has the potential to put the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people at risk, it must be regulated differently from other products in a free market. Blindly promoting innovation, as is now being done with genetically engineered crops, is self-defeating, writes Suman Sahai.

P Sainath.

Toddy is legal in Kerala, while arrack is banned. Also, while a litre of toddy costs Rs. 30, a sachet of arrack goes for Rs. 11. As the farm crisis sees thousands of migrants crossing over into Karnataka, arrack shops right on the border are booming. P Sainath continues his series on the agrarian crisis in Wayanad.

The Prime Minister's upcoming visit to Vidarbha has had an impact even before he's reached there. It would, however, be a transient impact if he does not see through the charade. The mess there starts right at the top. Vidarbha's condition is the product of design, not decay, writes P Sainath.

The Maharashtra Government's findings now show us that over 75 per cent of all farm households in the Vidharbha region are in distress. The data also show that farm suicides were 25 times higher this year than in 2001. But conscious jugglery works to play down the numbers, writes P Sainath.

Even as the suicides in Vidharbha go on relentlessly, a trend has strengthened these past months. More and more farmers are blaming the Government and even talking directly in their suicide notes to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, writes P Sainath.

Increasingly, job quotas are cited as 'discrimination' - in reverse. But the word discrimination in terms of caste means something very different that the media mostly do not, or choose not to, understand, writes P Sainath.

Jayprakash Narayan on the recent SC judgement that reinstated mandatory discloures from election candidates.

Acquiring land for a 'public purpose' is claimed as a right by the state under its powers of eminent domain, but it accepts no duty to resettle and rehabilitate all the affected citizens. Instead, rehabilitation is presented as an act of benevolence, writes Kannan Kasturi.

With only 14 functional State Security Commissions in the country, and those too with flawed compositions and diluted roles, the efforts towards minimising government interference in police functioning have naturally been lax. Navya PK cites critical findings of a CHRI Report that shows the present sad state of our SSCs.

The recently promulgated ordinance amending the national law related to land acquisition dilutes several clauses of the earlier legislation that were meant to protect the rights of holders. Kanchi Kohli summarises the key changes brought in by the ordinance.

As Parliament debates the amended land acquisition and mining laws, Himanshu Upadhyaya draws attention to the report of an audit of Odisha’s resettlement and rehabilitation policy that clearly highlights the threats to displaced communities.

The Centre may have rolled back its sudden unilateral decision to accord ‘disturbed area’ status to Arunachal Pradesh under the AFSPA 1958, but that does little to restore good faith between the northeastern states and the government. Anjuman Ara Begum analyses why.

The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) registers its dissent over the new Human DNA Profiling Bill draft. Sunil Abraham, Executive Director of CIS, explains how the Bill does not address the privacy concerns despite a seemingly powerful language.

High Courts and subordinate courts have been directed by the Supreme Court to expedite the disposing of criminal cases, yet cases languish for years in these courts. Harish Narasappa explains why it is so and how it can be fixed.

Twenty years ago Sehore was a very livable town. It had a beautiful microclimate and was surrounded by forests and water bodies that never dried up. Today it is becoming a village again, finds Kalpana Sharma.

25 per cent of the seats in Delhi private schools are reserved for poor students, to be provided free. But this provision is dodged in numerous ways; schools claim ignorance of the law, that they can't find poor students, that poor students have to be educated separately even if admitted, and so on. Deepa A reports.

Venu Govindu reviews The Mahatma and the Poet : Letters and Debates between Gandhi and Tagore 1915-1941, compiled and edited by Sabyasachi Bhattacharya.

2009 – mid 2014: UPA.
Mid 2014 – present: NDA.
This map will show you that irrespective of who’s at the helm, national policies and issues considered sacrosanct are not open to debate in our country.