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

India's current account deficit reached alarming levels in the year 2012-13. Kannan Kasturi provides a historical context and lucid explanation of the phenomenon and rues the government's shocking lack of action.

The media have decided that 70 per cent of the population does not make news. The electorate has decided otherwise. P Sainath contrasts expectations before the elections with actual outcomes, and finds plenty that should have been always evident.

Almost every sector failed the Andhra Pradesh farmer - the Government, the political class, intellectuals, planners, human rights groups, a once-activist judiciary and the media, says P Sainath.

The ongoing agrarian crisis has had a telling impact, causing the lapse of insurance policies of farmers. P Sainath reports.

Calls for the renewal of hundreds of thousands of lapsed insurance policies have begun, reports P Sainath.

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.

The municipal polls verdict has a significance beyond Andhra Pradesh's borders. None of the excuses for the Telugu Desam's rout in the 2004 elections works this time. Voters are protesting the pro-rich, anti-poor measures that pass for 'reforms' in this country, writes P Sainath.

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.

In the villages, we demolish their lives, and in the city their homes. The smug indifference of the elite is matched by the governments they do not vote in, but control. P Sainath contrasts the tongue-lolling coverage of the Beautiful People with the studied indifference to the plight of millions.

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

This time three years ago, there were around 300 cotton procurement centres at work in Maharashtra. This year that number is 56. The farmers are being pushed towards private traders. And much lower prices, writes P Sainath.

There have been some 250 farm suicides in just the first three months of this year. Things could be a lot worse after June. And, as always, the farm suicides are a symptom of the crisis, not its cause. They are its outcome, not its engine, 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.

Several women in Karnataka's Mandya district like Jayalakshmamma, whose husband committed suicide four years ago, still stand up to the unending pressure with incredible resilience, writes P Sainath.

The week-long 'Incredible India' campaign in New York aimed at boosting the vibrant image of an emerging, powerful India at 60 and showcasing its diversity. But the real action was at home, writes P Sainath.

The state has witnessed 30,000 farm suicides in a decade. Vidarbha is the worst place in the nation to be a farmer, writes P Sainath.

Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh have together seen 89,362 farmers' suicides between 1997 and 2005. On average, one farmer took his or her life every 53 minutes between 1997 and 2005 in just these states, writes P Sainath.

Even nations that are far below us in the Human Development Index rankings - and which have nothing like our growth numbers - have done much better than us on many counts, writes P Sainath.

The broad trends of the past decade seem unshaken. Farmer suicides in the country since 1997 now total 182,936, but the real causes behind this devastation remain unaddressed, reports P Sainath.

Maybe the pro-farmer claim was a typing error. This is a budget crafted for, and perhaps by, the corporate farmer and agribusiness, writes P Sainath.

The Delhi High Court's dismissal of Ashok Chavan's petition and the CIC's orders to the Press Council to make its report on 'paid news' public promise many blushes for Big Media and platinum-tier politicians, writes P Sainath.

Five States did manage a significant decline in the average number of farm suicides between 2003 and 2010. However, more States have reported increases over the same period, reports P Sainath.

The "Genuine Progress Indicator" or GPI is a better balance sheet of the costs and benefits of grow than the GDP, says Dilip D'Souza.

Accessible public libraries bring strength to democracy, says Dilip D'Souza.

Was the salt march an essentially libertarian stand against taxes and government, was it about non-violence, or simply an assault on British rule via its weakest link? The more I reflect on Gandhi, the more I think that his enduring legacy is that you can find your own message in him, says Dilip D'Souza.

The tsunami is not forgotten, but in Keechankuppam the fishermen have weighed the risk of another tsunami against the prospects for finding safer housing further inland. And so their huts are back again on the once-ravaged beach, as though the tsunami never happened, writes Dilip D'Souza.

The efforts of metals major Hindalco to mine bauxite from Mali Parbat in Odisha has run up against stiff resistance from local Kondh adivasis, who wouldn’t shy away from militancy to protect their ecology, if needed. Javed Iqbal explores why they reject ‘industrial development’.

Policies on development have been ignored with impunity. Little wonder, then, that the language of people's demands now centers on "rights", says Videh Upadhyay.

Suman Sahai discusses India's progressive legislation in the area of patents and protection for plant varieties.

Years since the adoption of the environment impact assessment law, systemic weaknesses and a token approach to public hearings are defeating its purpose. Kanchi Kohli does a review.

Hopes for India's languishing Freedom of Information Act becoming effective were given a boost on July 20. Subramaniam Vincent reports on the Supreme Court's deadline and implications.

The Right to Information Bill tabled in Parliament raises expectations to new levels by proposing a dedicated Information Commission for enforcement. Except, the commission is crippled at conception, with no direct penalizing powers. Prakash Kardaley comments.

In the last two decades, a variety of petitions filed before the Supreme Court over illegalities concerning large dam and irrigation projects have all had a common result. Project proponents have gotten the judicial go-ahead. What is the point of overcrowding laws with more 'enabling' provisions then, asks Videh Upadhyay.

M R Madhavan presents a brief summary of the proceedings in the national legislative bodies during the Winter 2005 session, which was conducted during Nov-Dec 2005.

The Central government proposes to shuffle the composition of the IMC and bring in more of its own appointees, reducing elected members to a minority. The government claims this will increase the IMC's accountability, but will it also turn it into an arm of the government? M R Madhavan and Ruchita Manghnani present a legislative brief.

The UPA Government is attempting to achieve consensus and amend the Office of Profit law to allow select legislators to hold additional public offices. This is merely the climax of a larger trend, says Madabhushi Sridhar, of an already thin separation of power between executive and legislature, and of earlier efforts to dilute the Constitution.

New provisions in law would make sexual exploitation of trafficked persons punishable. While well-intended, the draft bill is vague; the term 'sexual exploitation' is not clearly defined. Without this, the bill's provisions could lead to greater harassment of prostitutes and their clients. Kaushiki Sanyal presents a legislative brief.

With the Central government lobbing the ball into the states' court, the right to education bill has practically lost its very essence. Without a central legislation to support it, a constitutional guarantee will have little meaning, say most experts. Deepa A concludes the 'Lens on Education' series.

The Domestic Worker's Bill, if passed, will be an important step toward securing the rights of a large chunk of the unorganised workforce. But as with all laws, the real test of this legislation will be in its implementation, writes Anuja Agrawal.

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.

Although dropped for now, a Bill that seeks to disqualify the permanent resident status of J&K women who marry outside the state is pitting their equal rights and dignity against ‘Kashmiri identity’, argues Rekha Chowdhary.

There are wide differences between the various parties on various provisions of the Lokpal Bill. And India Against Corruption wants its own amendments too.

In late January, the Justice J S Verma Committee recommended amendments to the India's criminal law so as to provide for quicker and more effective redress of sexual assault against women. PRS Legislative Research provides highlights.

The Consumer Protection Act passed by the Indian government in 1986 defeats its own objectives in the way that it functions today; Sakuntala Narasimhan reveals how it sidelines consumer rights and protects the bigger multinationals operating in the emerging market.

Going beyond value judgments, T R Raghunandan presents an objective explanation of why the Supreme Court judgment upholding the constitutionality of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code lacks sound reasoning and could have been much better crafted.

Despite the enactment of a law prohibiting the casteist and deplorable practice of manual scavenging, many continue to labour in the profession in the face of neglect, deprivation and indignity. Pushpa Achanta draws attention to the injustice meted out to manual scavengers and other sanitary workers.

The Prime Minister has received at least two letters in the past week from eminent economists, activists and citizen groups, raising their voices against dilution of the Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which seems imminent from recent announcements by the government.