The Justice Sampath committee looking into the devastating Kumbakonam fire is expected to report its findings on school safety in the next few months. But Tamilnadu has already seen other reforms reports with little real change. Will the upcoming recommendations bring any fruit? Krithika Ramalingam finds out.

Many widows and destitute women in the fishing communities of Tamilnadu have been left out of tsunami relief because of acute gender bias. Men are also abusing relief funds on liquor, with women bearing the brunt. In the meantime, NGOs are trying to erode rigid attitudes with social awareness, reports Freny Manecksha.

India's food security bill is on top of the negotiating agenda for the forthcoming WTO Conference at Bali. Devinder Sharma explains why the likely compromise in the face of posturing from developed countries could have serious ramifications for food security and self-sufficiency.

India's position is opaque, based on incomplete research, and unresponsive to public health and food security issues. Dr. Suman Sahai lists recommendations from a national symposium.

Once among the most productive agrarian economies in the country, this region of Thanjavur district is now reeling. Lalitha Sridhar reports on the situation and implications.

An environment magazine recently carried a Gujarat government-funded NGO's advertisement portraying vast tracts of Saurashtra and Kachchh supplied with drinking water through pipelines forking off of the Sardar Sarovar Canal. Reports in the print media were telling quite a different story. Himanshu Upadhyaya digs deeper.

Rainwater harvesting isn't just to overcome shortages in piped supply, sometimes there is so much to tap overhead that no other source is needed. And some of the regular sources can even be loaned out to others! Shree Padre visits a District Panchayat Office in Kerala that has discovered this.

In many part of rural India, women spend most of their time walking long distances to collect water for their household's needs. Nitin Jugran Bahuguna visits the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand where the women no longer have to worry about fetching water from long distances thanks to an intervention that has brought potable water right to their doorstep.

Fourth in a series of articles adapted from the book Holding the State to Account by Samuel Paul of the Public Affairs Center, Bangalore, the author looks at the weaknesses in civil society as a factor for our ailing public services.

Fifth in a series of articles adapted from the book Holding the State to Account by Samuel Paul of the Public Affairs Center, Bangalore, the author looks at the low priority given to productivity as a factor for our ailing public services.

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.

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

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.

One month ago, on June 27, Vadodara and surrounding areas received the first monsoon rains after a 15-day delay. Citizens spent the first two days of rains in jubilation. On the third day, things went wrong. Surekha Sule assesses the recent floods that devastated one of Gujarat's leading cities.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's proposal for a North East Water Resources Authority to steer development along the Brahmaputra river basin in an integrated manner is both grand and glamorous. But how will the proposed Authority succeed where the Brahmaputra Board failed? This is still unclear, says Videh Upadhyay.

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.

Even as the CAG audit findings find faults with SSNNL for diverting the central funds from canal construction to unintended purposes, permission has been granted to raise the Narmada dam height. Himanshu Upadhyaya. points out this irony and more.

If we lack the courage to be ashamed of the callousness with which our government treats its own people, we have no right to hope that a different India can be put on display when the world is watching, writes Madhu Purnima Kishwar.

It is an opportunity for the President to assert the authority and independence of his office by rejecting a clearly political move that is a slap in the face of constitutional morality, writes Nitin Pai.

The decision of the MoEF to allow only organisations accredited by the Quality Council of India to carry out environment impact assessment of interventions might sound promising, but is likely to achieve little. Kanchi Kohli discusses the inherent flaws in such notification.

Municipal corporations in India have neither any grip on the number of staffers employed and their skillsets nor any mechanism to ascertain these. Madhavi Rajadhyaksha discusses several studies including the ASICS from Janaagraha to expose what ails urban local bodies.

A recent consultation between global and local urbanisation experts and bureaucrats focussed on securing Mumbai’s position in the map of ‘Globally Fluent Cities,’ as envisaged by an international initiative. Darryl D’Monte draws attention to a few critical issues that should be included in such deliberation.

The initial euphoria over its emphatic electoral win over, the focus is now on realities within which the AAP will have to deliver on its promises. T R Raghunandan explores if the party can realise its vision of ‘swaraj,’ living up to the true ideals of decentralisation.

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.

Last month the government announced the list of 9 new Smart Cities, taking the total of Smart Cities to 99.  Prachee Mishra of PRS legislative takes a look at the Smart Cities Mission and a few issues with it.

Data from UP's Crime Records Bureau shows only a small number of crimes against women, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Police officials' unwillingness to register and investigate crimes is a key reason, and the State Commission for Women is largely mute. Puja Awasthi reports.

A recent report by Human Rights Watch, No Tally of the Anguish provides a much-needed exposure of the real story behind averages and official data about maternal mortality, writes Kalpana Sharma.

Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts in western Uttar Pradesh had their long standing communal harmony destroyed by the riots that took place there in September 2013. Shoma Chatterji reviews the powerful documentary Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai which looks closely into the how, why and the aftermath of these riots.

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.

Hasmukh Dhumadiya describes the ordeal of residents of Bakshipunch Housing Society in Dwarka, Gujarat, and their efforts in overcoming it.

The government recently imposed a ban on women under 30 emigrating for domestic work and caregiving. But instead of stopping women who want to migrate, it is likely to put them at greater risk to trafficking and exploitative treatment - the very concerns that have driven the ban. Rita Manchanda has more.

London fashion designer Mary Katrantzou is among four designers who created costumes for the new York City Ballet. Others include Carolina Herrera, Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton and Thom Browne.

At MasterCard’s New York City tech hub in the Flatiron District, a mix of business and startup sensibilities informs office style, whether it’s hoodies, tailored jackets or the occasional bow tie.

The battle against anxiety disorders and panic attacks since childhood is the focus of Wall Street Journal contributor Andrea Petersen's forthcoming book, "On Edge." She describes fears of carrying out simple activities in life and traces mental illness through her family. Photo: Brian Stauffer

Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of third-degree rape and first-degree criminal sexual act following a six-week trial. Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance called the conviction “the new landscape for survivors of sexual assault.” Weinstein has denied all allegations of nonconsensual sex. Photo: Peter Foley/Bloomberg News

Global business leaders discuss why diversity and inclusion are important in the workplace—and what they do to make these issues a priority. The Wall Street Journal spoke to them at the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

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

Tim Draper is putting his celebrity to work as a venture investor. The billionaire investor, who starred in the reality TV show Startup U and tried to make Silicon Valley its own state, has raised $190 million for a seed fund.

'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?'

Water is a big local concern, but at the national level, it does not seem to figure very high up in the considerations of major parties, at least as seen in their pre-election promises. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports.

Mainstream media may play up the parliamentary contest as a battle of Goliaths, but statistical analysis reveals the true diversity in the Indian party system and the inevitability of coalitions. Srinivasan Ramani brings us the real picture.

The verdict of the 2009 general election has once again brought the 'centre' in Indian politics to centre-stage. India has returned to an even keel.

By fixing a minimum tenure for secretaries in key ministries, Singh can ensure continuity of policy.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's march towards a two-third majority was halted by the presence of Keshubhai Patel's party in Saurashtra and the saffron outfit suffered reverses in Chief Minister Narendra Modi's own backyard of north Gujarat.

In our coronavirus-tainted world, we’re realizing that we depend a lot on our laptop webcams… and they’re not good. WSJ’s Joanna Stern compared the new MacBook Air to the Dell XPS 13, Google’s Pixelbook Go and Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 3.

Land pooling has helped steer development in Ahmedabad more equitably than in many other Indian cities, but with some limitations and challenges still to be overcome. A World Resources Institute report provides insight.

The government proposes to replace a number of laws protecting the social security of workers with a single Code. But could its vast scope itself make it vulnerable to the details in fine print?

Although as yet in India, there has not been a severe accident leading to core meltdown or large radiation exposures to the public, on measures of occupational exposure to workers, and compliance with standards for accident prevention, Indian nuclear plants perform poorly, writes Ashwin Kumar.

In-depth field studies in nuclear power plants worldwide have shown that they have common features that are essential for reliable operation. DAE's operations do not exhibit these characteristics. Instead, secrecy invoked in the name of national interest is the norm, leading to avoidable risks, writes Ashwin Kumar.

The nuclear liability bill by capping the liability arising out of a nuclear incident appears to be an effort to protect the nuclear industry at the cost of the fundamental rights of the citizens writes Mathew Prasad Idiculla.