Yesterday the government responded to rising anger and decided not to move the infamous amendment to the RTI Act – ‘for now’. The victory that activists are celebrating is misplaced given that the Evil Empire has only slunk away to recover; but the moment is nevertheless a watershed in India’s public life because of the [...]
Amidst a real estate boom all around, urban folk command market prices for their land. But with rural and public lands, state governments have become high-handed land brokers. A price is fixed for vast tracts of land covering several villages, the state gets it acquisition machinery going, archaic laws are cited to support state action, [...]