Reforms in urban governance are long overdue, and the cities are croaking under the weight of their neglect. But the National Urban Reforms Mission may be too much medicine, bypassing citizen input and consultation in a hasty drive for change. Vinay Baindur reports.

These are unusual times - when even the most capitalist and free market proponents of the world see an important role for governments. But it is not a time to to look at government challenges through ideological prisms alone, writes C V Madhukar.

The annual Constitutional Day lecture organized by non-profit organisation Daksh this year will be delivered by Usha Ramanathan on 26 November. Find the details here.

With Avis Budget's announcement that it is acquiring Zipcar, WSJ's Andy Jordan looks at Zipcar's "personalization" strategy, which encourages users to refer to the cars by name and see them as their own.

When nuclear companies are unwilling to stake their financial health on the safety of a reactor, how can the Government ask local residents to risk their lives, ask M V Ramana and Suvrat Raju.

In yet another contested environmental approval decision, a 300-MW power plant in Gujarat has been granted changes in technology, relaxing certain original conditions, without any public consultation. Kanchi Kohli reports on the grievances of the local people.

Badal Sircar's plays liberated the actor from the inhibiting confines and influence of performances in a rigid framework of conventional indoor stage props and architecture, recalls Shoma Chatterji.

The ongoing vigorous debate between wildlife enthusiasts and tribal rights activists must be steered by a vital lesson from past conservation failures - that India's unparalleled riches of biodiversity can only be protected by working with, rather than against, the rural and tribal communities who live closest to them, writes Ramachandra Guha.

A series of recent executive orders, amendments to law and ministerial directives either seek to curtail avenues of public participation and consent over projects of critical impact, or do away with them altogether. Kanchi Kohli tracks the trend.

In conversation with Vinita Deshmukh, Magsaysay award winner Arvind Kejriwal talks about India's RTI movement, and worries that a formidable tool of empowerment might slip out of the hands of citizens if amendments proposed by the UPA government are enacted.

Shabnam Dhar

Jan Adhikar Yatra, a ten-day long march took place across the state of Jharkhand last month. The yatra was to mobilise people against the growing attacks on their basic rights like employment guarantee, food security, social security, and right to their forest and land. Ankita Aggarwal reports about her experience in the Yatra.

A private high school in Sirsi, in northern Karnataka is not stopping at imparting academic education. It has also started teaching practical water literacy to the people of five Malnad districts. The rain centre at the school, with 28 examples of rain water harvesting, opened in early June. Shree Padre reports.

Smooth relocation of forest dwellers from within to outside tiger reserves requires effective land records and land use policies. Citing the messy situation in the Sariska Tiger Reserve, an official says that even today, there is no reliable estimate of number of people and livestock living inside the reserve. Malini Shankar has more on the challenges.

Rasika Dhavse profiles the Pune-based Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA).

Rajani Mani tracks the spread of watershed development from Ralegan to Panoli in Maharashtra and notes that women have come to play a critical role.

Chandrakant Pathak has invented power-generation gadgets tailored especially for rural energy needs. As Pathak's gadgets are gaining popularity in rural areas of Pune district and several neighbouring districts in Maharashtra, state energy development agencies are taking note, reports Aparna Pallavi.

Well-known PR firms, professional designers, and ad agencies served the richer parties and candidates. They made up 'news' items in the standard fonts and sizes of the desired newspapers and even 'customised' the items to make them seem exclusive in different publications. P Sainath reports.

The periodic floods in the Kosi basin and embankment breaches have landed the people of north Bihar in a perpetual mess. In assembly sessions, politicians discuss flood relief but seldom the cause behind the disasters, reports Surekha Sule.

Nearly 1000 returnees, including 140 students of Assam studying in different universities and institutions of Gujarat, arrived in Guwahati on Thursday, even as nearly three lakh people, who had earlier registered for coming to the state, have re-applied cancelling their requests for permits.

As many as 7,720 Indian-origin people including 272 women and 591 minors were apprehended in 2019 for trying to enter the US illegally. A total of 851,508 people were apprehended in fiscal 2019 (Oct 2018-Sept 2019), a 115 per cent increase from the previous fiscal year and the highest total in 12 years, NAPA said.

Lack of sleep has long been considered a potential risk factor for mood disorders. According to a new study, older people with depression, who also experience persistent and worsening sleep disturbances, are at much higher risk of remaining depressed.

To show your support and care to others, you can now use the new reaction added by Facebook.

The video has been captioned, 'When India's Persons with Disabilities decided to have some fun.'

With millions of tourists canceling plans for vacations, work trips and family visits, Airbnb earlier this year said it was allocating $250 million to help offset losses incurred by hosts.

People across the world are talking about flattening the curve of COVID-19 but Shilpa Shetty, on the contrary, has informed her online family about a curve that need not be flattened.

Sonakshi has been in the eye of the storm ever since Doordarshan started re-runs of its popular mythological shows.

Certain online activities have been given a major boost by internet users during the coronavirus lockdown around the world.

Rahul kept the wickets in the limited overs series against Australia in January this year and also during the team's tour to New Zealand.

Then there are the particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) which are not being able to access healthcare that is critical to their survival because of social distancing norms.

Districts with high population and heavy inter-state movement of people will be selected for the study to represent the respective state, sources said.

The entire incident, which took place on Wednesday, was captured on a video which has gone viral on social media.

Ministry of Home Affairs said the government's efforts have been to give maximum relaxations to people within the lockdown guidelines.

An activist has moved the top court pointing out alleged racial attacks on people of North-Eastern like spitting on them, evictions from their homes and termination from their jobs among others.

A bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Sanjeev Narula set aside the May 21, 2019 notice/result published by the Delhi High Court Registrar General rejecting the candidature of a person.

Justice Deepak Gupta emphasised the apex court must stand up for the rights of the deprived and underprivileged classes, including the minorities, who cannot be deprived of their rights just because they disagree with the government on certain issues.

The Madras HC on Friday ordered closure of liquor outlets noting that no social distancing was being maintained. It, however, allowed doorstep delivery of booze through online mode.

LJP Chief Chirag Paswan said the Bihar government has not issued ration cards amid the coronavirus lockdown despite repeated statements by the Centre

Be it businesses, offices, education institutes or medical sector, everyone is adapting to changes in the post-coronavirus world, PM Modi said.

BJP MLA Suresh Tiwari said that the statement was made last week during his visit to the office of nagar palika, where several government officials were present.

Official sources said top party leadership has found his comments 'highly irresponsible', and its national president J P Nadda 'pulled up' the state brass for not taking quick action.

Congress said while other governments were putting money in people's hand during the crisis caused by coronavirus, the BJP-JJP dispensation was 'taking anti-people decisions' in Haryana.

The state can provide free treatment to the underprivileged without burdening its exchequer if it signs up for the Centre's Ayushman Bharat Yojana, Ghosh noted.

Studies show that the fear of contagion leads individuals to become more conservative and less accepting of experimentation. They prefer quietly falling in line, however long, rather than taking on eccentricity.