SEZs, touted as the silver bullet for India’s economic ambitions, appear to have lost their sheen as the Direct Tax Code threatens to withdraw the exemptions offered them. We have only just begun to realise how many thousands of crores of revenue have been forgone due to tax holidays granted to SEZs, says Manshi Asher, who secured some revealing statistics on this subject after invoking the RTI law More...

For close to a century veils have been drawn over the backwardness of the Dalits and OBCs. It is time to draw the veil aside, gather the numbers and give the long-neglected OBCs their rightful voice in the affairs of the nation, says Cynthia Stephen in this historical perspective on the question of including caste in census data More...

By Cynthia Stephen

In fulfilling its election promise of banning cow slaughter on religious grounds, the BJP government in Karnataka ignores the fact that it is not just minorities whose livelihood will be badly hit but also dalits and other poor sections of society who depend on the cattle industry for a living More...

The quota within a quota demand in the Women’s Reservation Bill should be encouraged because women from the minority, dalit, and tribal sections want to articulate their own issues and organise under their own leadership since the mainstream feminists have for long given step-motherly treatment to their issues, says Cynthia Stephen More...

Tinkering with reservations has become our substitute for building a social infrastructure and enlarging the pie so everyone has more, writes Swarna Rajagopalan. But if accompanied by sincere efforts to deal with gender violence, education and healthcare for girls, the Women’s Reservation Bill could be a termination notice for gender inequality in India More...

While there has been a furore over the Women’s Reservation Bill, the government has been attempting to push through the Nuclear Liability Bill, Communal Violence Bill and Biotechnology Regulation Bill without the discussion and consultation that are mandatory in a democracy, writes Manish  More...

By Mukul Sharma

As the demand for minerals grows, the huge revenues generated from it are all too often fuelling conflicts and human rights violations, increasing poverty and undermining sustainable development. The new legislation the government is introducing must ensure transparency in allocation of mining concessions, and ensure participation of, and consultation with, communities affected by mining projects More...

The judiciary is always wary of intruding into the terrain of the legislature and executive. But increasingly, says Mukul Sharma, the courts in South Africa, Gambia and now in India with the Mayawati memorials case, feel it is their duty to question government’s resource allocation and policy prioritisation More...

Milind Wani writes a rejoinder to Ashish Kothari’s ‘Why I did not vote’, pointing out why a cynicism about the representative form of democracy is a cynicism about Indian citizens themselves More...

Exercising your right to vote every five years is not democracy, a genuine participation at every level of decision-making is, says Ashish Kothari, outlining ways to make this possible More...

By Mukul Sharma

Is there a problem with having so many millionaires contesting the 2009 elections? Yes, says Mukul Sharma. It is not their riches themselves that are the problem, but their potential for misuse. Will a rich candidate from a mining district put his political power behind the displaced, for instance? More...

Where will the extra power come from to light up 78 million households, even if they are given electricity lines and if their villages boast transformers? A critique of the ambitious rural electrification programme, the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana, by Rahul Goswami More...

By Richard Mahapatra

Developing countries are the sole market of the World Bank. But they collectively have only around 38% of its voting rights. All this is set to change, with developing nations set to get more representation and power. An exclusive report More...

Economic growth and technology may increase access to comforts, but may also induce a new individuation and social disintegration, says John Samuel   More...

Political parties are crucial for the vitality of a democracy. But across the world, political parties have been reduced to mere electoral mechanisms, networks to capture power, says John SamuelMore...

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