The UPA government's waiver of farm loans that was announced in the Union budget is no solution to even the immediate crisis let alone long-term agrarian problems. Nothing in this budget will raise farm incomes, writes P Sainath.

Through January the US has seen the loss of 17,000 jobs every day since the meltdown began in September. Here in India, too, things are slipping but the lessons remain unlearnt, writes P Sainath.

Growing numbers of elected representatives fund their poll campaigns with corporate backing. And growing numbers of people with a big business background have ventured directly into the electoral arena, writes P Sainath.

The share of the 'suicide belt' - Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh - remains very high; these states account for two-thirds of the total farm suicides in the country. P Sainath reports.

In 2006-08, Maharashtra saw 12, 493 farm suicides. That is 85 per cent higher than the 6,745 suicides it recorded during 1997-1999. And the worst three-year period for any State, any time. P Sainath reports.

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.

Freebies for the IPL - at a time of savage food subsidy cuts for the poor - benefit four men who make the Forbes Billionaire List of 2010 and a few other, mere multi-millionaires, notes P Sainath.

The official line is simple. Since we cannot afford to feed all the hungry, there must only be as many hungry as we can afford to feed. The truth is the government seeks ways to spend less and less on the very food security it talks about, writes P Sainath.

The NREGS is restricted to a 100 days a year. The PDS is targeted to exclude 'APL' families. Only exploitation is universal, writes P Sainath.

There is indeed a vital link between paid news and private treaties. One is in the political sphere. And, second, in the sphere of business and commerce, writes P Sainath.

India has lost nearly a half-trillion dollars in illegal financial flows out of the country, says a new study by Global Financial Integrity. P Sainath reports.

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.

The government’s counter-affidavit in a recent suit could strip the ECI of its power to disqualify candidates for fraudulent accounts or put an end to the pandemic of paid news. P Sainath reports on civil society attempts to stop the subversion of the EC’s powers.

The slaughter of daughters in India may not continue forever; just by virtue of being scarce, girls will be desired again says Dilip D'Souza.

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.

Often, the deaths of our military officers raise questions. The answers? That's the hard part, says Dilip D'Souza.

Dilip D'Souza contrasts the unquestioned annual increases in the defence budget with the real challenges of security faced by civilians.

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.

Eight months since the December 2004 tsunami, Dilip D'Souza returned to Nagore near Nagapattinam, Tamilnadu, to find that plenty of boats donated by NGOs were poorly built. As 'relief', many fishermen received boats that leak and one boat reportedly split under their feet on its first trip out to sea.

It's bad enough that you can pay bribes to officials who are very willing to take them; bad enough that ill-gotten gains are nearly a birthright today; bad enough that values are to laugh at. But corruption is about more than these. Corruption breaks down the very rules we live by. Dilip D'Souza remembers his court appearances.

What's the difference between hearing a case, and merely setting a date for hearing it? Dilip D'Souza isn't quite sure, after yet another day spent answering a court summons. Justice, he learns first-hand, is riding on a prayer, and is often at least one more hearing away.

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 oppression of the Dalit community, and especially its women, by upper caste society is still widely prevalent in Rasulpura village of Rajasthan’s Ajmer district. Shirish Khare visits the village to find that the agents of law are often equally discriminatory.

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’.

Close to 5500 hectares of land in six states, acquired for 52 SEZs, were subsequently de-notified and diverted for commercial purposes! Himanshu Upadhyaya draws attention to this and other findings in the CAG audit of SEZs, which leave several questions unanswered.

It’s like a scam unnoticed: even after access to over 45000 hectares of land, with massive tax exemptions and holidays, the SEZ experience has been a sorry story. Devinder Sharma questions the government’s economic reasoning and insists on accountability.

Jayprakash Narayan on the recent SC judgement that reinstated mandatory discloures from election candidates.

Pradeep K Baisakh traces the changes in the balance of power between our courts and lawmakers.

Jayaprakash Narayan criticizes Parliament's moves to limit diversity of opinion among lawmakers, and to appropriate all authority to a few powerful leaders.

A critique of the process and research used by the Justice Malimath Committee to recommend reforms to the Criminal Justice System. This is the first of a two part series.
Click here to read Part II

In the second and concluding part of the series on the Malimath Committee's report, Bikram Jeet Batra looks at the detailed recommendations in terms of implications for Human Rights.
Earlier: Part I

Geographical indications of Indian origin such as 'Basmati' rice and 'Darjeeling' tea continue to remain open to being wrongfully exploited internationally. Kasturi Das looks at the issue in depth.

Are death penalties in India being awarded under the most rigorous standards for trials in capital cases? Maybe not. Bikram Jeet Batra on India's current practice.

After several visits to Parliament the Lokpal Bill is once again before the nation's legislators. Pradeep K Baisakh traces the lineage and condition of the legislation that could curb corruption in public offices.

The central government has proposed the Food Safety and Standards Act as part of a series of steps to 'harmonize' existing food laws. Devinder Sharma agrees the old exploitative laws must go, but says the new bill may deliver unfair advantage to the food industry over dhabas and hawkers.

What is education for, and what is the State's obligation to support it financially? As the Central Advisory Board of Education reviews the legislation introduced in Parliament by the NDA government, Satlaj Dighe provides a snapshot of the direction of public education policy today.

By consolidating several different laws for the food sector, the proposed bill seeks to establish a single reference point for all matters relating to food safety and standards. The scientific development of the food processing industry is also sought. M R Madhavan and Kaushiki Sanyal present a legislative brief.

Journalists have strongly objected to provisions of the proposed Broadcast Bill empowering the government to cripple media through pre-censorship. The media industry has been furiously lobbying against the Bill's attempt to regulate ownership. Amidst all this, there has been little mention of the need for the public to have a say, notes Ammu Joseph.

The central government has proposed to exempt file notings and cabinet papers from the RTI law. The government's idea that it can 'reveal the decision but not the reason for it' is anti-democratic. In democracy, people need reasoned decisions, reasons for decisions and not mere decisions without reasons, says Madabhushi Sridhar.

The Post Office (Amendment) Bill 2006 proposes to give the Department of Posts an unaccountable monopoly role in the delivery of small letters and couriers, and introduces a registration system for private carriers. Kaushiki Sanyal presents a legislative brief of a Bill that harkens back to the license raj.

In the name of internal security, the Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Bill would add to the government's already long list of rules applicable to voluntary organisations, even as it ignores the fact that they receive less than one per cent of the foreign funds flowing into the country. Priya Narayan Parker presents a legislative brief.

Acquiring land for a 'public purpose' is claimed as a right by the state under its powers of eminent domain, but it accepts no duty to resettle and rehabilitate all the affected citizens. Instead, rehabilitation is presented as an act of benevolence, writes Kannan Kasturi.

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.

The proposed Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill is a policy move in the right direction - to acknowledge the critical role women play in building and maintaining a household's assets, write Hema Swaminathan, Suchitra Yegnanarayan and Rahul Lahoti.

A legislative brief from PRS Legislative Research about the Electronic Delivery of Services Bill, which proposes to introduce a new regime for public service delivery.

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.

As the Budget Session of Parliament nears its end, the House is expected to decide on at least two key pieces of legislation that propose major reforms in the areas of food security and the rights of the displaced; Sakshi Balani provides a quick round-up of the provisions and issues related to the two Bills.

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.