Environmental activists and locals in Kerala's Ernakulam region allege with evidence that the Pollution Control Board is entirely ineffective in preventing contamination of the Periyar river. M Suchitra reports.

The Supreme Court keeps issuing orders on water disputes, but these rarely prevail. Videh Upadhyay urges the Court to seize the opportunity to change that, permanently.

Thanks to voluntary water harvesting measures by a few, as well as legislation-led RWH by the others, many of Chennai's open wells have sprung back to life. The bountiful rains of 2005 showed that where conservation efforts are in place, even a single season's rainfall can largely restore water security. Shree Padre reports.

The MoEF's assessment of the environment, which should be the foundation for strategic planning in the ministry, is highly inadequate, and is a poor second to similar efforts by environmentalists themselves, writes Shripad Dharmadhikary.

This dairy in Palakkad, Kerala spent over Rs.2 lakhs buying water from outside in 2008, since borewell yields were insufficient. This year they will spend nearly eight-nine times less, because of a rain pond. Shree Padre has more.

A recent report by the UNICEF highlights the most critical issues faced by the Indian water sector today, urging the establishment to break new ground in resource management and utilization. Shripad Dharmadhikary discusses the key findings.

The construction of barrages to meet the water needs of thermal power plants in western Chattisgarh shows that irregularities involved in the allocation of this resource may be as large as the ones in coal allocation itself. Shripad Dharmadhikary throws light on the issue.

Ramesh Ramanathan on participatory democracy and public governance

Third in a series of articles on civil society and governance, Jayaprakash Narayan says that political parties have to be transformed and maintains that visions of partyless democracy are unalloyed idealism.

Autonomy will not improve the IPS, instead it will simply make a system already tainted by its conduct even less accountable, says Arvind Verma.

Year after year, Police refuse to act and file thousands of complaints made by citizens. Arvind Verma looks at the FIR mechanism that forms the basis of criminal investigation.

Elections 2004 are around the corner and Jayaprakash Narayan points out that the 'hate-politicians' attitude is perilous to democracy itself.

As poverty in Karnataka acquires a larger urban face, municipal administrations must reorient themselves to meet basic needs, says Kathyayini Chamaraj.

Ashwin Mahesh shows how some states wield more power in Parliament than they would if statewise seat shares were fixed on the basis of population alone.

When Executive Engineer S K Nagarwal reported corruption in railway track laying in West Bengal, his saga with colluding officials and contractors began. Now, supported by the S K Dubey foundation, a citizens' forum has sprung up to protect Nagarwal and other whistleblowers. Varupi Jain reports.

Tamilnadu's foray into e-governance has not yet lived upto potential because policy makers may be implementing top-driven projects with little public participation. Still, the state does have its own examples of how things could work. Krithika Ramalingam reports.

The Police Act Drafting Committee's term came to an end on 31 January. Any significant attempt to reform the Indian police must begin with the men at the bottom, the constabulary, not at the top. However, such changes would call for a struggle against the nature of Indian society itself, says former IPS officer K S Subramanian.

Police officers are uniform in the belief that political interference in their work is uniquitous. They also see themselves as crime fighters first and foremost, and hence view all other work as a distraction. But in fact, says Arvind Verma, there is little truth to either of these beliefs.

Held in Geneva last month, the Rotterdam Convention was attended by 500 participants from 140 governments, UN organisations, and NGOs. India sided with Canada and few other nations to prevent the listing of chrysotile asbestos, a known carcinogen. R Sridhar has more.

The government has recently announced its Resettlement and Rehabilitation policy. Even though there are some important improvements in it -- the move is timed during rising violence and resentment around the eastern region -- it appears to sidestep the tough questions. Shripad Dharmadhikary has the early verdict.

Policy issues in the mainstream media tend to be about the economy. It is time that we pay closer attention to education, health, environment and foreign affairs, writes Ramachandra Guha.

The draft notification specifying emission standards for coal-based thermal power plants is a welcome first step towards regulation, but needs much greater attention to detail and further calibration, writes Debadityo Sinha.

The Ishrat Jahan case has again hit the headlines with former home minister P Chidambaram being accused of rewriting an affidavit to prove the 19-year-old’s innocence. Ramesh Menon presents a recap and investigates where things stand now.

Pradeep Baisakh analyses a recently released report by human rights activists and civil society organizations to see how the present government has performed in the three years it has been in power.

An Uttar Pradesh district's local functionaries feel the grassroots media's reporting of development needs deepening. A two-part series by The Hoot.org.

The new head of the nation's highest body for enforcement of the Right to Information Act has himself been appointed with little public awareness of the process or criteria used for his selection, writes Krishnaraj Rao.

Under pressure from RTI campaigners, the department in charge of short-listing the candidates for appointment as Central Information Commissioners itself becomes more transparent.

Central Information Commission asks MoEF to make an environment expert panel's report public, outlining arguments that could be used for disclosure of many other documents. Krishnaraj Rao writes.

While researching suicide data published by the NCRB, Shambhu Ghatak files an RTI enquiry on how the Bureau identifies causes behind suicides and compiles the data across states to arrive at national figures. The response reveals the lack of clarity in the exercise.

In the wake of record-breaking times from runners wearing Nike’s Vaporfly shoes, and new regulations from the sport’s governing body, brands are racing to roll out new shoes ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. Photo: Craig Ruttle/AP Photo

The current version of Nike's controversial Vaporfly sneakers won’t be banned in competition, track and field’s world governing body ruled on Friday. That's likely to fuel further debate about whether the high-end racing shoes offer an unfair advantage. We took a look at the tech inside the shoes to see what all the fuss is about. Photo/Video: Alexander Hotz/WSJ

Malaysian palm-oil producer Felda Global plans to raise $3.2 billion this month in what's likely to be this year's second-biggest IPO. Leslie Josephs reports on Markets Hub. Photo: Reuters.

The world’s first Porsche, built in Nazi-era Germany, is going up at auction. WSJ’s Dan Neil got to take the 1939 Type 64 Berlin-Rome Rennwagon for a drive. Photo: Jack Schroeder Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

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.

“Queer Eye” host Antoni Porowski explains why blueberries are better than cauliflower rice and predicts where he’ll be in a decade.

GoPros on the runway at Rag & Bone, a 4-D fashion show at Ralph Lauren and more from the tech-heavy fifth day of New York Fashion Week.

Wall Street Journal investigative reporter John Carreyrou recounts some of the more unusual experiences he had while uncovering the story of Theranos's business practices.

This year's CES tech show in Las Vegas might not have had an overarching theme, but it certainly was high on invention. WSJ's Katherine Bindley tries out the most interesting contraptions on display, from Segway's new personal transporter and Samsung's rotating TV to a pair of huge robotic arms and, yes, motion-tracking pajamas. Photo/Video: Emily Prapuolenis

Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank, shared his insights and quoted Yoda, the Star Wars Jedi master, during a conversation with WSJ Editor in Chief Gerard Baker at the CEO Council meeting in Tokyo.

The global spread of coronavirus has led to officials postponing the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. For athletes, the delay evokes mixed emotions. WSJ spoke to five athletes from around the globe to understand what the postponement means to them. Photo composite by George Downs

The Netflix documentary series "Tiger King" sheds light on the culture of tiger ownership in the U.S., but doesn’t reveal how prolific this culture really is. This video explains the patchwork of state laws that makes private ownership of tigers hard to regulate. Illustration: Carter McCall/WSJ

Alphabet and Facebook will no longer be part of the tech sector once S&P and MSCI change the way they classify companies.

Clearly, there are few states as important as West Bengal with 42 seats, and the all-important question in Kidderpore on Saturday and all other nights in the run-up to May 16 is, will the fabled party machinery of the Left Front hold its 35 seats in the Lok Sabha?

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.

'Why would the Bahujan Samaj Party nominate a Gujjar to fight from South Delhi and the BJP respond by nominating another Gujjar from the same seat?'

'Today's national picture, where the power rests with the states and not with the Centre, is like the picture of India before the British took power in India,' says thinker Dr Ashok Mitra.

A modern, 7,500 square-foot home connects owner Elizabeth Grossman to the nature and ‘spiritual vortex’ that drew her to Lanikai, a neighborhood on Oahu. She gives us a tour, and explains why it’s time to sell. Photo: Adam Falk/The Wall Street Journal

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the Trump administration supports a plan to send checks to Americans, likely within the next two weeks, to mitigate household and business interruptions caused by the spread of the new coronavirus. Photo: Evan Vucci/Associated Press

U.S. employers shed 701,000 jobs in March, in the worst month for job losses since the 2007-2009 recession. But these losses still don't show the pandemic's full impact on the labor market. WSJ's Eric Morath explains. Photo: JOHN MINCHILLO/ASSOCIATED PRESS

The the machinery and conduct of elections, is robust and intact. But the 'software' of democracy, the processes by which we are governed in-between elections, is corrupt and corroded, writes Ramachandra Guha.