A recent report suggests merging the Central Water Commission (CWC) and the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) into a new organisation to be called the National Water Commission. Shripad Dharmadhikary comments on the report.

Civil society candidates should be eligible for appointment to key RTI posts in the States and the Centre. We must apply for such jobs, and help improve the system, writes Krishnaraj Rao.

WSJ Heard on the Street's Miriam Gottfried visits Mean Street to shed light on how Viacom and CBS, since splitting into two companies in 2006, have experienced a role reversal in terms of growth. Photo: Getty Images.

Stocks pushed to session highs as dovish comments from a Federal Reserve Bank president offset mounting worries about Spain's banking system. Brendan Conway has details on The News Hub. Photo: Reuters.

Turo lets individuals rent their personal vehicles. Some “hosts” are building businesses at airports that major car rental companies slam as unfair competition. WSJ’s Jason Bellini reports. Photo: Jake Nicol/The Wall Street Journal

Amazon.com opened a bookstore in Manhattan this May, but are young people interested in visiting it?

Oprah Winfrey, Rex Tillerson, and Abby Wambach were just a few of the notable people chosen to give commencement addresses that stressed integrity, truthfulness, and courage. Here are some highlights from this year's speeches.

You aren't being judged at office parties--in most cases--but you will be scrutinized if you drink too much, make off-color remarks or behave in a manner that doesn't fit in your workplace. Dennis Nishi reports on Lunch Break. Photo:Getty Images.

There's more to being elected from Calcutta North than the ability to turn a phrase around different consonants at the same time, and Mohammed Salim is keenly aware of this fact.

Pollsters say Jayalalithaa will sweep Tamil Nadu, but in Tuticorin she may bite the dust.

'I feel Rahul Gandhi's emerging influence may do good to the Congress.' Political analyst Cho Ramaswamy on the post-election scenario.

In July the Chief of the Central Election Commission wrote to the Prime Minister outlining several proposals for further reforms in the electoral arena. Rasika Dhavse reports.

It was once hoped that curbing election expenses would keep the process fairer. Today, the opposite is true, and neither the UPA nor the NDA wants to disturb this comfortable arrangement. Kannan Kasturi reports.

The choice for the last remaining Communist party on this planet is clear. It either reinvents itself, as its brethren around the world have repeatedly done. Or it walks off into the JNU sunset.

If you’ve read a book in a car, you probably know what motion sickness feels like. WSJ’s Tim Higgins visits Massachusetts-based ClearMotion, which is betting its suspension technology could provide a solution as we move closer towards a future with driverless cars. Photo: Max Esposito/WSJ

The new iPhone SE may seem like a sad, recycled phone but it's more than that. WSJ's Joanna Stern (with the help of an animator) brought the budget phone to life to explain how its performance and camera tricks make it a worthy option—even compared to its expensive, bigger iPhone 11 siblings.

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.

Community engagement should be born out of respect for the participating community members and their capacities rather than as tokenism needed to fulfill a program requirement, writes R Balasubramaniam.

The two protagonist South Asian states got their independence in the middle of the last century, and it is about time that they seize control of their mutual and intertwined destiny, writes Firdaus Ahmed.

The buzz on the global front should not distract us from pressing matters at home. This would also make our security agenda more human and less state-centric, writes Firdaus Ahmed.

L S Aravinda points out that many Indian children are better off because their parents prefer natural infant hygiene, but warns of an increasing number being swayed by 'the convenience' of diapers.

Rasika Dhavse reports on the transition from conventional conservation practices to community based ones.

For some time now, the Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court has been reviewing the decisons of the Forest Advisory Committee, which grants permission for converting forest land for non-forest use. But this oversight may be coming to an end. Kanchi Kohli reports.

A new Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha, ostensibly to re-green India, is actually a blow to the environment. Rather than conserve forests, it advocates market mechanisms to make money off afforestation in degraded lands. Kanchi Kohli writes.

A large number of Ban Gujjar tribal families remaining within the Rajaji National Park are facing constant harassment from the state forest department. Their rehabilitation is mired in red tape. Aparna Pallavi reports.

There is a dichotomy between the normative, rational principles enshrined in the law and the actual practice of public morality. We can overcome this only if we co-locate physically and mentally with fellow citizens, says Rajesh Kasturirangan.

Our notions of collateral damage have done enormous harm to the ecological balance which sustains life on this planet. A new politics is needed to recover from this, writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.

The problem of Indian politics is not that it exists, but rather that success in the system doesn't seem to be connected in any way to the ability to govern, writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.

Last year, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) brought the performance of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme under the scanner. The report, which was placed in Parliament in August 2006, uncovered a top-heavy programme with local leaks and a flawed implementation. Himanshu Upadhyaya has more.

Public audit of an organisation or individual by a statutory authority is proven to give teeth to enforcement. Why then has India's CAG failed to instill fear in the various government departments and enterprises it monitors? A new book by B P Mathur tackles this and more, says Himanshu Upadhyaya.

The report of a high level committee under BJP MP Shanta Kumar proposes radical restructuring of the PDS and reduced coverage of the food security act. But is the estimate of leakages in the report flawed in itself? Shambhu Ghatak presents alternative findings.

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.

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

As the Congress promises priority to agriculture, it needs to strike a balance between its policies and those of the Left Front. Ashok B Sharma reports.

A recent report from environmental research group Toxics Link exposes how multinationals are flagrantly violating the MoEF-notified rules on e-waste, even as the authorities empowered to enforce implementation remain passive. Richa Malhotra details the key findings.

Rasika Dhavse summaries a study on bus transport systems from India's Auto Fuel Policy report of 2002.

The hike in defence spending is one of the reasons Budget 2004 did not do enough justification for development expenditure, says Pavan Nair.

Although the government has spent large sums of money tackling problems, most social and economic indicators in the country are far short of the goals. Jaydeep Biswas and Debashish Sircar say we need better interim assessments of how money is spent, and social infrastructure to complement physical nation-building.

As the share of renewable energy rises, it brings with it new challenges. Going forward, the management of surplus power will be critical, says a new report from the Brookings Institute.

A discussion on the upward delegation of nuclear-related decision making is needed now. The defence sector cannot be reformed in isolation of its place in national security, writes Firdaus Ahmed.

The need for integrating land use with mobility has never been fully addressed within the profusion of plans for Bangalore. The revision of the Master Plan for 2031 may provide a good opportunity to develop a comprehensive mobility strategy, says Shrimoyee Bhattacharya and Sujaya Rathi.

In a changing landscape for power production and transmission, Indian Railways and the Government will need to make new choices, says a new report from Brookings India.

Can something be 'novel' if it is already well known? Patent offices in some countries require only that the patented bits be novel in their own country, and completely ignored the knowledge of other nations. Countries like India that are rich in biodiversity and traditional knowledge are seeking to end this biopiracy. Kasturi Das looks at the issues involved.

In search of new funds to keep the growth story alive, the Centre opens the doors to foreign investment a little further.

Two processes have hit Wayanad. One is the policy-driven commercialisation of education. And the second is the collapse of Wayanad's economy. For the first time in decades in this education-proud state thousands of students are dropping out of college and school. P Sainath continues his series on the agrarian crisis in Wayanad.

While editors and columnists sang hosannas to the brave new world, the resident of Rashtrapati Bhavan showed he had not lost his connection with ordinary people. P Sainath remembers former President K R Narayanan, who passed away this week.

When many households spend less than Rs.225 a month per person, you really need to think of how people live. On what it is that they live. What can you spend on if the most you can spend is, on average, Rs.8 a day? And if close to 80 per cent of what you spend is on food, clothing and footwear, what else could you possibly buy, asks 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.

The decision to give quality cows to poor farmers in Vidarbha has only harmed the beneficiaries, writes P Sainath.

Knowing that big money is undermining the game as a whole, and pussyfooting around it, just isn't cricket, writes P Sainath.