Briefing

The real Green Revolution
THE DECCAN Development Society (DDS) started its work in 1983 in the Zaheerabad region with the main aim of regenerating the livelihoods ...

For sustainable farming
Dalit women show the way to a sustainable future in agriculture in the Zaheerabad region of Andhra Pradesh. IT was the morning of ...

Path-breaking plays
The Kerala People's Arts Club, or KPAC, which has undertaken many a bold experiment in political theatre, celebrates its golden jubilee.

A harbinger of new physics
A new experiment points to the world beyond the Standard Model of Elementary Particles. FOR nearly three decades now, the ...

Directions of vaccine research
Interview with Nobel Laureate Rolf Zinkernagel. Dr. Rolf M. Zinkernagel, along with Dr. Peter C. Doherty, was awarded the Nobel Prize for ...

Scientist as revolutionary
The life of J.D. Bernal is a testimony to the commitment that a scientist must use his knowledge and technique only for human welfare.

A unique licence
THE Simputer's licensing model, the Simputer General Purpose Licence (SGPL), while influenced by the Free Software Movement's General ...

Computer reinvented
The arrival of the Simputer, a low-cost hand-held computing device, generates hopes of bridging the digital divide.

'It is an engineering accomplishment'
Interview with Professor Vijay Chandru. Professor Vijay Chandru has played a key role in the efforts to develop the Simputer. He holds ...

For equitable sharing of water
India's policy on sharing of river water resources needs to be redrawn on the basis of the United Nations Convention on the Law of ...

The AIDS divide
The panel set up by South African President Thabo Mbeki to advise his government on dealing with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome stands ...

Deals and questions
A petition filed in the Delhi High Court by Rear Admiral (retired) Suhas Purohit throws new light on processes at play in the realm of defence ...

Contempt in question
The Supreme Court expresses its dismay over the "tone and tenor" of the averments made by Arundhati Roy, Medha Patkar and Prashant Bhushan in ...

What constitutes 'scandalising the court'
THE contempt of court jurisdiction is exercised not to protect the dignity of an individual judge but to protect the administration of ...

Fighting on
The struggle over Balco continues. THE two-month-long strike by more than 7,000 workers of Bharat Aluminium Company Limited ...

Of sleazy, criminalised capitalism
Proliferation of financial scandals and pillage of the exchequer have become integral to the Indian economy. The NDA has added a wilful policy ...

Questions of legality
A small step for the Election Commission, but a great assault on Parliament and the judiciary. THE rejection of the nomination ...

The disqualification debate
The seeming discrimination in allowing R. Balakrishna Pillai to contest in Kerala while rejecting Jayalalitha's papers in Tamil Nadu emerges as ...

The law and the Order
Legal experts raise questions about the validity of the Election Commission's Order on disqualification and see certain incongruities with ...

'Jayalalitha can create good conventions'
Frontline met Cho S. Ramaswamy, Editor of the Tamil weekly Thuglak, to get his views on the issue of Jayalalitha's disqualification. Excerpts ...

A fierce fight
In one of Tamil Nadu's most bitter electoral battles, neither do adverse findings by pollsters fail to unnerve the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ...

The Pondicherry scene
BY the last week of April, the Union Territory of Pondicherry was far ahead of neighbouring Tamil Nadu in terms of campaign tempo and ...

A brush with Bangladesh
Versions of the exact sequence of events differ, but there is unanimity in general on the need to resolve the outstanding issues.

Deadlock in Nepal
With Prime Minister G.P. Koirala refusing to step down as demanded by the agitating Opposition, the political situation in Nepal continues to ...

Skulduggery and collusion
There is growing concern in Nepal over the tendency of criminal and terrorist forces making Kathmandu their major base on the one hand, and it ...

Starting all over again
An offensive by the Sri Lankan security forces in Jaffna peninsula comes to a sorry end, and the process of negotiations between the government ...

A reality check
Confrontation at the venue of the Summit of the Americas in Quebec. FROM April 20 to 24, two sets of acronyms faced each other.

Progress and problems
The Ninth Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam takes stock of the country's progress in the last decade and identifies problem areas.

The art of circumvention
ADOPTIONS in India are governed by guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court, in its judgment in the Lakshmikanth Pandey vs Government ...

Violent elections in Bihar
The elections to the 8,452 panchayats in Bihar, held after 23 years, are marked by high voter turnout, despite violence. THE ...

Fissures in the RJD
THE process of disintegration of the ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar has begun. Three of the seven RJD members in the Lok Sabha, ...

The Dabhol mess
The dispute between the Maharashtra State Electricity Board and the Dabhol Power Company reaches a decisive stage. AFTER years of ...

Waiting to go home
Peter Bleach, the British national, languishes in a Calcutta jail 10 months after five Latvians who had been jailed along with him in the 1995 ...

Of livelihoods and entitlements
It is not a drought, says the Maharashtra government, it is scarcity. For people who have already been in the poverty trap, it could still be ...

Lyndon Johnson and India
Recently declassified documents from the United States from the period 1964-1968 throw light on approaches and issues relating to ...

Directions of vaccine research
Interview with Nobel Laureate Rolf Zinkernagel. Dr. Rolf M. Zinkernagel, along with Dr. Peter C. Doherty, was awarded the Nobel Prize for ...

Scientist as revolutionary
The life of J.D. Bernal is a testimony to the commitment that a scientist must use his knowledge and technique only for human welfare.

For equitable sharing of water
India's policy on sharing of river water resources needs to be redrawn on the basis of the United Nations Convention on the Law of ...

The AIDS divide
The panel set up by South African President Thabo Mbeki to advise his government on dealing with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome stands ...

Contempt in question
The Supreme Court expresses its dismay over the "tone and tenor" of the averments made by Arundhati Roy, Medha Patkar and Prashant Bhushan in ...

What constitutes 'scandalising the court'
THE contempt of court jurisdiction is exercised not to protect the dignity of an individual judge but to protect the administration of ...

Fighting on
The struggle over Balco continues. THE two-month-long strike by more than 7,000 workers of Bharat Aluminium Company Limited ...

The Tehri turnaround
The issue of purity of Ganga jal puts a bigger question mark on the Tehri dam than what the seismic controversy has done to the progress of the ...

A setback and some lessons
The failure of GSAT to reach the geo-synchronous orbit does not detract from the success of the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle ...