The Indian government has stopped short of imposing effective controls on gold imports despite the soaring current account deficit and its concomitant ills. Kannan Kasturi examines recent trends in gold demand to see if the government's rationale behind the soft policy holds good.

A recent editorial in The New York Times rightly recognises the flaws of a growth model driven by lower trade barriers. But Devinder Sharma wonders if the American daily will take a stand and extend its arguments to champion the cause of all nations, including India.

The complex contractor-maistry system, the devastation of agriculture, an ineffective food-for-work programme, debt and debilitating mass migrions - these are an explosive mix. P Sainath continues his journey with the migrant exodus from Mahbubnagar
Part I : The bus to Mumbai

June 2003 - The bus we're on is one of about 34 leaving the Mahbubnagar region direct for Mumbai each week. That's against just about one a week, a decade ago. People are leaving in droves.

Drought? Mahbubnagar does have a problem. Quite a bit of that, though, is about the control, distribution and use of water. At 634 mm, the average rainfall of the last 14 years here is close to 30 mm above normal. Those, at least, are the official numbers. There have been deficit years. And a couple of truly awful ones -- as in a lot of other districts. This year, District Collector Madhusudhan Rao says, "the deficit is eight per cent so far". Unpleasant, but not crushing.

P Sainath reports on the serious problem of rural hunger in Andhra Pradesh, and the politics of free lunches.
Part II : Hi-tech, low nutrition

P Sainath.

Superstition, the occult, God, government and technology have all been pressed into service in Anantapur's desperate search for water. P Sainath continues his series on farmer suicides.

The elite wants a society geared to deal with rare disasters but shows no urgency at all when it comes to the destruction of the livelihoods of millions by policy and human agency. P Sainath turns our consciences towards Mumbai's demolitions of tens of thousands of the homes of slum-dwellers.

"It is time for my daughter to get married but where's the money? We ran a teashop for a long time. That folded as people had no more to spend." P Sainath finds that as the agrarian crisis has deepened in Wayanad, many people are now simply unable to afford weddings.

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.

Maharashtra began by telling the NHRC there had been 140 suicides Statewide since 2001. It ended 2005 conceding a figure of 1,041. That is the fourth figure the same State has put out within months. For Vidarbha, it is decidedly not a happy new year, 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.

In the long-time UDF bastion of Wayanad, the agrarian crisis has transformed things. All have been affected, writes P Sainath.

As farm suicides in Vidarbha cross the 500-mark in under a year, families are holding funerals and weddings at the same time. Sometimes, on the same day. In moving shows of solidarity, very poor villagers are pitching in to help conduct the marriages and funerals of down-and-out neighbours, writes P Sainath.

The failure of the banks has seen new kinds of creditors emerge in Vidharbha. Some of these now come in from neighbouring States - with a 'home delivery system' of loans. Many farmers owe money to banks, cooperative societies, input dealers, private lenders, close relatives - and 'anna.' Life is about borrowing from one lender to pay off another, writes P Sainath.

There are several immediate steps both the Centre and the Maharashtra Government could take to ease the situation in Vidarbha. These would not solve the long-term crisis, but would surely slow down the farm suicides that continue to rise, writes P Sainath.

Had there been a waiver of debt of up to just Rs.25,000, more than 80 per cent of Vidarbha's farmers would no longer have owed the banks money. People thought that waiver would come. It didn't, and the sense of being let down is great, writes P Sainath.

The Maharashtra Government's findings now show us that over 75 per cent of all farm households in the Vidharbha region are in distress. The data also show that farm suicides were 25 times higher this year than in 2001. But conscious jugglery works to play down the numbers, writes P Sainath.

Claims of a cotton bumper crop in Maharashtra have faded. Farmers feel such talk was meant to push prices down further. Procurement delays could also force many to sell in distress to private buyers, writes P Sainath.

Sure, we have this crouching tiger economy. But life expectancy here is less than it is in Bolivia, Honduras or Tajikistan. Per capita GDP ranks below that of Nicaragua, Indonesia or Guatemala. And the inequality we so strongly pursue breeds its own mindset, writes P Sainath.

Even as the suicides in Vidharbha go on relentlessly, a trend has strengthened these past months. More and more farmers are blaming the Government and even talking directly in their suicide notes to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, writes P Sainath.

In society's eyes, Kamlabai is a `widow.' In her own, she's a small farmer trying to make a living and support her family. She is also one of about one lakh women across the country who've lost their husbands to farm suicides since the 1990s, writes P Sainath.

The agrarian crisis has seen over a lakh of women farmers lose their husbands. But survivors like Kalavati Bandurkar - with seven daughters - still run their farms, writes P Sainath.

In Anantapur, farm suicides are fewer than they were in 2002. But they still happen and could rise again in this fragile region. As elsewhere, agriculture is plagued by uncertainty, writes P Sainath.

Families left behind by farmers who committed suicide face up to the odds, fighting for survival so that the next generation might do better. As one farm widow puts it, "it is all for the children, sir. Our time has gone". P Sainath reports.

It took minutes for the top guns to swing into action when the Sensex fell by several hundred points. But no Minister came forward to calm the nation when India hit the 94th rank in the Global Hunger Index, writes P Sainath.

Left to “take its own course”, the law invariably manages to meander into a dead end. Time to make it chart a more meaningful course, says Dilip D’Souza.

The Kumbakonam and Ervadi tragedies may not have happened if our nation building process had taken a different turn decades ago. Dilip D'Souza on a patriotism that stems from concern for everyone.

Asia's largest shipbreaking yard has a regular supply of cheap labour as well as suspect environmental and safety conditions. Dilip D'Souza on the conditions we tolerate.

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 mob came from three different directions. Each group was preoccupied with its own murder. Bhayyalal's wife and daughter had their skulls smashed in, and his boys were beaten to death with sticks. Dilip D'Souza listens to the 'background' of yet another caste murder.

Reviewing recent High Court and Supreme Court rulings, Videh Upadhyay comments on judicial recipes for protecting urban water bodies

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.

Campuses across the country are reimposing law and order in an indication of new resolve to root out ragging and violence, especially against women students. Puja Rawat reports.

Allegations have been made repeatedly that the penal code's protection against matrimonial cruelty is often abused by women. But no evidence is given to support this claim, says Bikram Jeet Batra.

Fixated on eliminating the grounds for disqualification of legislators that arose from their holding of offices-of-profit in the Executive, Parliament has sent back the infamous Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Amendment Bill to the President, who is now constitution-bound to sign it. Madabhushi Sridhar points out why the legislation must be stopped.

The Centre proposes to establish a National Judicial Council to examine allegations of misconduct or incapacity against senior judges, but questions remain over just how much teeth it should have. Omair Ahmed presents a legislative brief on the Judges (Inquiry) Bill.

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.

Land acquisitions have raised a number of concerns related to fair compensation, valuation of land, definition of 'public purpose' and other issues. As the government moves to amend the Land Acquisition Act, Priya Parker and Sarita Vanka present a legislative brief on the proposed changes.

Compared to the death penalty, life imprisonment is considered less harsh. The courts have preferred to leave undefined exactly how long such punishment should be, and commutation pleas are considered on a case-by-case basis. Ipshita Sengupta reports.

To shield women from vilification, the National Commission for Women (NCW) is all set to recommend strict penalties against men who level false allegations of adultery against their wives in divorce cases. Tripti Nath has more.

The Sustainable Development Framework has captured the feedback of civil society and communities about mining-related damages, but the draft regulations for mining don't reflect this understanding, writes Kannan Kasturi.

It is impermissible under the law to 'scandalise the courts'. But is this vague restraint contrary to the guarantees of liberty given to citizens in the Constitution? Kannan Kasturi examines the notion of 'contempt of court'.

The Whistleblowers Protection Bill moves closer to becoming law, as the Standing Committee on the draft law submits its latest report to Parliament. Kaushiki Sanyal reports.

The government has introduced the Microfinance Bill in Parliament, empowering RBI to oversee small lenders as well. The law will take MFIs outside the jurisdiction of state-level laws, and bring them under federal regulation.

Internet monitoring, surveillance and censorship by the Government has become a norm in the country today, even while users are kept completely in the dark about it. Snehashish Ghosh argues why more transparency is critical to upholding the very basic tenets of democracy.

Indian political parties have been notorious for their opacity, particularly when it comes to questions of their funding. A recent quasi-judicial order bringing six large national parties within the ambit of the RTI Act 2005 might change that. A quick summary of the latest developments:

India has been witnessing a rising trend of judicial intervention and directives in cases involving a face-off between large institutional projects and the people they affect. Kanchi Kohli looks at two recent judgments as she tries to explore the real impact of such court rulings on the struggles at the grassroots.

The Companies Act 2013 has extended its scope to provide norms for the organisation and functioning of not-for-profit ventures. Why not, then, use the same or similar legislation to create a conducive environment for social enterprises, asks Shankar Jaganathan.

PRS Legislative Research provides a quick summary of key amendments in effect in the final version of the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill, that was passed by both houses of Parliament in December 2013.