India

A Watered-down Bill

Haima Deshpande

The Maharashtra government rushes through a controversial bill after midnight

Parallel Interlocutors

Rahul Pandita

Another group hopes to achieve in Kashmir what the Centre-appointed interlocutors could not

Keeping Anna in Check

Dhirendra K Jha

Agnivesh says Hazare will visit Gujarat and issue a fresh statement at a public rally

The Sanctity of Gender Equality

Haima Deshpande

A group of feisty women wrest the right to worship at the inner sanctum of Hindu temples in Maharashtra, if only for a stipulated 90 minutes

The question why Madhu Koda was charged with money laundering is as unsettling as the supposed evidence against him. Speaking to Open, Jharkhand’s former Chief Minister is loud and clear that he is a victim of corporate greed in conspiracy with venal politics

“Why Am I in Jail?”

VK Shashikumar

“Where is the evidence against me?,” asks former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda in the first on-record interview since his arrest.

“Put the Lokpal Bill to referendum”

Dhirendra K. Jha

Prashant Bhushan, one of the chief architects of the Jan Lokpal Bill, speaks to Open in its defence

No City for Young Women

Rajni George

Delhi as India’s ‘rape capital’ is a sensational label that rings true for reasons both heinous and heartless. One woman’s effort to understand why so little is ever done about it

The Sai Succession, Act II

Anil Budur Lulla

Sathya Sai Baba claimed to be Shirdi Sai Baba’s reincarnation. The question of his own succession, though, will be hotly contested

Happy Hours at the Anna Carnival

Rahul Pandita

The mela around the televised Jantar Mantar fast-unto-death had just about everything to keep our urban ‘revolutionaries’ occupied, including a food fest