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 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.

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.

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.

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.

When this social communication event hit Kolkata in 2002, the entire ambience spilled over with empathy and a deep understanding for films – documentary, fiction and docu-fiction – made on or about the marginalised and the oppressed. Very little of all that was in the air during the 2007 version, writes Shoma Chatterji.

The recent decisions of several state governments to ban sex education in all schools concern everyone, particularly women. In this age of the knowledge economy, we cannot believe that people's access to information on any subject, including matters relating to sex, can be controlled, says Kalpana Sharma.

India's community conservation areas (CCAs) are nowhere near prosaic; they are instead heartening and remarkable pools of ecological and biodiversity rejuvenation in a country beset with environmental degradation in its bid to industrialise. Keya Acharya identifies the silver lining.

The army would like to point to low morale and push for higher pay. But as far as the troops are concerned, morale may have more to do with the way they are treated by officers, and this is what needs changing, writes Firdaus Ahmed.

The April 2005 deadline for a nationwide Value Added Tax regime is only months away. But what exactly is on the cards, and what will it achieve? Dinkar Ayilavarapu considers the rationale for the shift, and finds that many of the goals have been whittled away already.

The first few weeks of the Value Added Tax have been shaky, with traders and some states threatening to bring down the whole system. Economic pundits too are angry at the diluted focus of India's version of the VAT. But the method has merit, and must be persisted with, notes Dinkar Ayilavarapu.

The findings of a recent study by scholars at the University of Oxford point to the adverse outcomes and poor economic returns associated with large dam projects. Amruta Pradhan summarises the findings and shows how they have been consistently borne out by empirical observations in Maharashtra.

A PPP project, hailed as a milestone in logistic infrastructure development at the time of launch shows scant growth three years later, costing the Cochin Port trust dearly in the process. P N Venugopal throws light on all that has gone wrong with it.

The people-versus-tiger conflict haunts every protected habitat of the beast, and unless relocated communities' needs are met, conservation efforts will remain uncertain. Rajasthan's plans to relocate villagers from Sariska's core zone will have a profound impact on all other tiger reserves, writes Sudhirendar Sharma.

Abuse of animals by humans in various garbs is a sad reality across countries and communities. Deeply moved by an HBO documentary, Malini Shankar explains why the issue of animal rights and prevention of cruelty must be inextricably linked to conservation efforts.

The country's latest Geographical Indication certificate offers some new hope - of putting the sheen and colour back in a vital piece of Indian heritage, and livelihoods linked to it. Puja Awasthi reports.

Disputes over output do not hide the trouble Maharashtra's cotton economy is in. Small farmers face another year of huge losses. The role of nature is very minor compared to conscious policy measures that have undermined the farmer and world cotton prices, writes P Sainath.

Converting water to a commercial good to be sold for profit invites disaster. Most of all for poor people whose already pathetic access to water will shrink swiftly, writes P Sainath.

P Sainath

There is indeed a vital link between paid news and private treaties. One is in the political sphere. And, second, in the sphere of business and commerce, writes P Sainath.

Opposition to reservations for women in Parliament have centred on at least four points. Step by step Vaijayanti Gupta rebuts the arguments and re-iterates the case for reservations.

With the Modi government strongly pushing for the removal of UPA-appointed governors, the issue is once again in the limelight. Anviti Chaturvedi throws light on what the Constitution and Supreme Court laws say on the matter.

"In the Varadaraja Swamy Temple in Kanchipuram, I saw with my own eyes, just a year ago, how the late 17th-century murals were literally disintegrating. As you watch, they are going. It has happened in temple after temple". David Shulman talks to Lalitha Sridhar .

While the global epidemic of violence against women (VAW) stems from a culture of misplaced masculinity, the role of men in ending the same cannot be ignored. Mallika Dutt, CEO of global human rights organization Breakthrough, talks to India Together on the Bell Bajao! campaign that emphasises the fact.

Delhi's Right to Information Act (RTI) is increasingly being used by citizens to pressure offiicials into delivering on projects and services says Arvind Kejriwal.

This Delhi non-profit's initial success in effective enforcement of Delhi’s Right to Information Act has woken up the establishment just as much as it has informed citizens, reports Varupi Jain.

Varupi Jain reports on the steady progress in transparency in Delhi's public distribution system.

Attitudes among consumers long used to pilferage and non-payment of bills, has made early attempts at privatisation only of limited use. Ranjit Devraj.

Ration shopkeepers won't divulge their records, Food Department officials wont file complaints, and the police wont act on their own or accept complaints from the public. But the cycle of corruption can still be broken.

Historian and author Sugato Bose is taking a break from his position at Harvard University to contest the Lok Sabha elections from a key urban constituency in West Bengal as a candidate of the ruling Trinamool Congress. He speaks to Amrita Mukherjee on his plans for parliament if elected.

Hailed for his stewardship of Titan Industries where he built a premium brand from scratch and won for it international renown, Xerxes Desai naturally has one of the keenest perspectives on Indian industry. But his equally deep insights into Indian society and development become apparent through this interaction with Christopher Lopaze.

Every year the Knight fellowships program at Stanford University awards eight international fellowships for journalism innovation. This year, one of the eight is your own newsmagazine’s co-founder.

"There is this growing feeling among the adivasis of Jharkhand that in this newly created state, given to them only in name, they stand at the crossroads," runs the commentary in Ab Aur Waqt Nahin, a documentary film directed by Abhijoy Karlekar. Shoma Chatterji reviews the film.

In this small sleepy Orissa village with a population of barely 400 adivasis, where there is no electricity and harsh conditions prevail, there is something remarkable about the women. Their level of awareness, their attitude and their personality have undergone a dramatic change in the last few years. Pradeep Baisakh has more.

Vultures are nature's scavengers and their effectiveness in disposing off dead cattle has been a critical public health safeguard in India. But with the sub-continent losing 95% of its vulture population in just 15 years, scientists and conservationists have been scrambling to understand why, and propose remedies. Darryl D'Monte has more.

J&K's Permanent Resident (Disqualification) Bill 2004 is now in cold storage, but Mehbooba Mufti and other Kashmiri women appear to have opted for the future character of their State, than their own rights, says Kalpana Sharma.

Jhum, a traditional form of shifting cultivation common in the North-East, was the focus of a recent international meeting in Guwahati. But dilution of the original practice has impacted the ecosystem in some areas. Should jhum persist or perish? Surekha Sule has more.

Shifting cultivation in the Northeast, called jhum, is under stress because of conflicts and industrialisation. Sriram Ananthanarayanan examines how the cycle of jhum cultivation is getting adversely affected, causing immense hardship to the people dependent on it.

Ban on entry of women into places of worship comes out of deep-seated religious and cultural prejudices. However, a recent development in Western Assam's Barpeta district offers a ray of hope to those in search of justice, reports Teresa Rehman.

A livelihoods programme for villages on the fringes of Kaziranga National Park makes big gains in the fight against poaching, and also recognises the importance of locals as stakeholders in wildlife conservation. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports.

This May 1, taking a resolute stand, the Supreme Court directed the Union and state governments to take specific measures to address the desperate crisis of food for drought-affected communities.

Several cases of starvation deaths have been reported in Orissa, especially in areas with high tribal populations. Added to this, government inaction in response to the crisis deepens people's woes. Arpan Tulsyan reports.

BPL politics at the central level is skewed, and quotas are fixed for every state, regardless of the actual number of people who need to be protected. Pradeep Baisakh reports on one family's near-total loss.

Even as the state government refuses to accept the cause behind the recent 50 starvation deaths reported by the media, hunger stalks the people of Balangir and other KBK districts in Orissa portending more such tragedies, writes Pradeep Baisakh.

The private sector Baspa II hydel power project went live over two and half years ago and has been selling power to the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board. Lack of regulatory approvals and determination of final wholesale tariff has not deterred the company from raising money in capital markets. Himanshu Upadhyaya finds out more.

The poor never follow the rules of good health, we often hear. But the rules, in fact, are no guarantee of safe health in a system that is poorly regulated and unaccountable to its users.

This IIT Kharagpur professor's vision is to remove the digital divide between the visually impaired and the sighted world. Rasika Dhavse profiles Anupam Basu and his innovation, Sparsha.

Despite crores of rupees having been spent in name of tribal and other development programmes in one block of Palakkad district in Kerala, the region suffers from poor access to decent health care. 80 per cent of the adivasi population here are living in abject poverty. M Suchitra reports.

The Bangalore based technology non-profit, eGovernments Foundation has recently been in the news for expanding its municipal systems reform operations to New Delhi. Managing Trustee Srikanth Nadhamuni talks to Subramaniam Vincent.