The India Together editorial.

For one-and-a-half lakh people, we have a committee of eight people to decide? Ramesh Ramanathan points to the irony of the allegedly empowered, but actually despairing urban citizen.

We cannot implement policies for land reforms without a well-functioning land records system. And If we get this platform in place, we can enable all those interested in reform policy with the tools to ensure that their policy dreams get translated into ground realities, says Ramesh Ramanathan.

The task of cleansing our polity of crime and corruption is best done by people of compassion, empathy, humility and deep caring, people who remain fair and non partisan even when dealing with those they hate, writes Madhu Purnima Kishwar.

Baba Rampal is the most recent in a long line of Indian religious gurus who have hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Revathi Siva Kumar looks at a long list of Indian ‘godmen’ over the ages and tries to explain the influence they exert on a mesmerised flock.

Women in India have continually faced restrictions on how they dress, whether it is on wearing jeans to college or sports gear on the fields. Shoma Chatterji looks at this persistent trend of sartorial repression and urges women to reject such diktats.

Responding to reports of high stress among students and parents, the state proposes to revise the grading system used in Class X. Sreedevi Jacob reports on the hopes and fears it has raised.

With crop prices rising 30-fold, thousands of farmers in the hills of the south abandoned their traditional crops and switched to vanilla, with bank loans and rumours fueling their already unrealistic hopes even higher. But of course it was all too good to be true for very long. N P Chekkutty reports.

India's share in international trade has increased from 0.7 percent to 1 percent, which is a remarkable achievement, some say. In the meantime, lakhs of farmers in Kerala are being adversely affected by reduction of import tariffs on edible oils, spices and other cash crops. Thomas Varghese delves deeper.

In Kerala, considered a role model for other parts of the country, almost all Muslim children up to the tenth standard are in school, numbers that compare well to that of other communities. Yet, the story is very different when one looks at higher education, writes Deepa A.

For seven-year-old Sandhya and her siblings, totally dependant on their mother who ekes out a living by making beedis, the state government's relief package, announced nearly 18 months ago, is simply not enough. Many more suffer the same fate. P N Venugopal reports.

Some sections in Kerala are already blaming the land reform law for hurting big industrial projects; meanwhile around 10,000 dalit and adivasi families are locked in a struggle for the original entitlements that never came, reports M Suchitra.

The K N Panikkar committee recommended a change in a controversial chapter of a social sciences textbook that triggered violent agitation on the grounds that it promoted atheism and communism. P N Venugopal has more.

Since Kerala and ASEAN countries both produce several similar items, competition from the latter is a cause of worry in the former. But the Centre has over-ridden the State's objections to the free trade agreement, writes Bhaskar Goswami.

Over 1400 families who had started living on the rubber plantation of Harrisons & Crossfields -- the Chengara struggle -- will now get land in a deal brokered by the Chief Minister in the presence of the Leader of the Opposition. P N Venugopal takes stock.

Passed in 2005, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act could have been an effective tool to ensure redress for victims of domestic abuse. But an understaffed implementation body has made it yet another selective and often toothless piece of legislation, finds Puja Awasthi.

The displaced people of the Narmada valley have long argued that the states and the Centre have shortchanged them - ignoring the claims of many, offering uncultivable land in exchange, and going ahead with dam construction even before they are resettled. A recent Supreme Court verdict proves they were right all along, says Medha Patkar.

Collective Action for Rural Development (CAFORD) encourages families in Andhra's Prakasam district to keep their children in school.

The Confederation of Voluntary Associations discovered that religious symbolism is best left to personal choice; instead, harmony is more easily attained by linking peace with people.

In Sriramagiri panchayat, a few Kondareddi settlements want nothing to do with the relief and rehabilitation package for those who would be displaced by the Polavaram dam. Fighting off underhand tactics by officials, they are determined to remain in their homes, amidst their culture and its history. R Uma Maheshwari reports.

The narrow legal definition of rape, recently reiterated in the Sakshi case, has been criticized by Indian and international women's and children's organizations, who insist that broader interpretations are needed to protect victims, and also to serve justice. Shivkami RaviChandran says we haven't heard the last of this debate.

Policies of privatisation and globalisation are changing not only economies but societies and cultures. At their core is the fight of ideas, and these will be expressed in words. What these words are, and what they mean, therefore, matters greatly, writes Shripad Dharmadhikary.

In India, other states look at Kerala's record of firsts with envy. Dr Amartya Sen, the Nobel laureate, has hailed it as a model. But Kerala, caught in a web of paradoxes, is not what it seems, writes Ramesh Menon.

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Related Article: The Road to Destruction

For decades now the beautiful state of Manipur has been wracked by a violent insurgency and torn by the excesses of a draconian army. Anjali Nayar visits the state, bringing back poignant tales and the feeling of what it is like to live with fear.

The Budhan Theatre Group has become the nexus for a movement to change attitudes towards denotified tribes both within Ahmedabad's Chharanagar community and outside it.

Labour contractors and large landowners continue to employ children, often exposing them to vulnerable situations. Extreme poverty in Rajasthan's tribal districts fuels the practice. Pradeep Baisakh reports.

The famed textile industry of Surat is one of the pillars of Gujarat's industrial success story. What is less known about it is the unfortunate reality of rampant child employment and exploitation that prevails there. Shirish Khare reports.

The courts have drifted far from their humanitarian past, and judicial aggression against the urban poor is now the norm, says Videh Upadhyay.

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

She lives in a six feet by eight feet hut in Mumbai and pays a whopping Rs.400 per month for electricity that lights one bulb and a table fan. She is a leader of her community, and yet some better off want her disenfranchised. Kalpana Sharma rebuts a new divisive cry in Mumbai.

In the recent impressive gains made by the Indian economy, the OBCs have not benefited proportionately. The recent extension of reservations to elite institutions that are seen as passports to the new economy is therefore logical. But it must still not be excessive, writes Ramachandra Guha.

The Indian government has a responsibility to understand and respect the people who live on its peripheries; so do the citizens who live in states more keen to count themselves as part of India, writes Ramachandra Guha.

The survey of child labour in agriculture has helped to draw attention once again to many issues that must be addressed if every child is to have a meaningful right to education, writes Kalpana Sharma.

Adivasi Academy, a learning institute set up by Bhasha Research and Publication Centre is a must visit place for one to learn the importance of language and cultural diversity of our country. Ashish Kothari writes about his experience and learnings at the Academy.

Vijay Tendulkar's Kanyadaan is not about domestic violence. It is about deeper, multiple, and sometimes invisible layers of violence that is an integral part of society. Shoma Chatterji reviews the play.

The System of Rice Intensification, known to increase rice yields significantly merely by following a few simple rules, is spreading throughout Bihar, thanks to an award-winning film that educates farmers. Shoma Chatterji reports.

Manhole is a scathing celluloid indictment on the state of manual sewer cleaners in India, writes Shoma A. Chatterji.

At Santiniketan, Tagore's presence still inhabits many buildings; the keepers of which buildings are often knowledgeable about his legacy. But the place needs to be de-parochialised to make it once more inclusively Indian, writes Ramachandra Guha.

The rural Muslim women of Murshidabad district in West Bengal have circumvented religious curbs and successfully used a prevalent religious tradition to eke out a living as well as create social awareness. Ajitha Menon has more.

Not many trace their way back to the human tragedy that has given rise to the culture of violence that marks Lalgarh today. The women do not appear scared of any police reaction in response to their protests. Soma Mitra has more.

It is ironic that 'Conservation Agriculture' the new wave from agriculture scientists, requires so much new technology, and focuses so little on existing traditional knowledge of conservation techniques, writes Devinder Sharma.

President Trump congratulated UFC for restarting the sports world Saturday night after a nearly two-month hiatus. Trump's taped message was played during ESPN's broadcast of the UFC 249 undercard from a fan-free arena in Jacksonville.

Dynamo Dresden placed their entire squad into a 14-day quarantine on Saturday, just a week from the restart of the Bundesliga season, after the club reported two more cases of coronavirus.

French tennis chief Bernard Guidicelli admitted Sunday that Roland Garros, already controversially pushed back four months due to the coronavirus, could be staged behind closed doors.

The Sports Ministry had banned spectators in stadiums for any events, including cricket matches, in one of its earliest advisories on the pandemic before all sporting events were brought to a halt altogether.

Though there is no avian flu outbreak in Tamil Nadu, poultry farmers across the state have taken precautionary measures.

Former Union minister G K Vasan, who quit the Congress recently, unveiled a tri-colour flag for his yet-to-be named party on Wednesday.

Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday arrested a former trustee of Lilavati hospital in connection with a foreign exchange violation case.