If Sharukh Mistry were to be considered by the yardstick used for most people – how good is he at his profession – he would pass with flying colours. He is one of India’s most well-known architects, with over a dozen awards to his credit. But he is more.

Putting Gurgaon into shape is no easy challenge. From the lack of civic amenities to corruption among officials and politicians and the defiance of builders, the list of problems to be fixed is a daunting one.

Some time in the early 1980s, Dr R.K. Anand, a paediatrician, returned from London to practice in Mumbai. One evening, he went to see a film. Advertisements preceded the main film.  Dr Anand watched with deep dismay as one of the ad films cheerily told mothers that bonny babies came from tins of Glaxo milk powder. Dr Anand was working in a charitable hospital and he knew the reality was very different – weak, malnourished babies fed on bottled milk were dying of diarrhoea and pneumonia. But mothers who breastfed had healthier babies.

Takiya Kale Khan is an obscure slum behind the highrises of Connaught Place. You could go round and round in circles trying to find it. On 15 December the slum became the venue for one of four camps held by the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) to register public grievances against government-run services.

The Mysore raspberry hails from Coorg in Karnataka. Dismissed as a thorny wild weed no one would ever dream of cultivating it there. You would be laughed at if you had the temerity to make such a suggestion. But far away in picturesque Hawaii, the Mysore raspberry earns an income for small farmers and has a loyal fan following.

“It was the number one choice of 54 chefs here,” says Ken Love, president of the Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers (HTFG) and the moving force behind the 12 Trees Project, an agricultural programme launched in 2005 which has boosted the income of small farmers.

Wajahat Habibullah’s many years as a bureaucrat give him deep insights into the working of government. He is currently Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, but he has a presence that goes much beyond his job. Having served in key roles at the Centre and in Kashmir, Habibullah was India’s first Chief Information Commissioner.

Hundreds of Kashmiris turned up to see the four-day Philatelic Exhibition organized in Srinagar by the Department of Posts at the end of September. The event was being held in Srinagar after more than four decades. Jammu had last hosted a philatelic exhibition in 2001.Special covers depicting facets of life in Kashmir and its tourist attractions were released. Senior citizens fondly recalled the past when they collected stamps as a hobby. Around 100,000 stamps were put on display.

Mining leases in Bhilwara district of Rajasthan will soon be made public so that miners who seek to dig beyond the area earmarked for them can be held to account and illegal mining can be prevented.

The District Collector of Bhilwara, Omkar Singh, took this decision at a convention held at the campus of the School of Democracy in Thana panchayat in Bhilwara district of Rajasthan.

The spate of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) being signed by the Union Ministry of Commerce are making micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) very nervous. They feel such agreements will hurt their businesses. FTAs have been signed with South Korea, Japan and Singapore. Negotiations for a more contentious FTA with the European Union began in 2007. FTA talks are on with New Zealand, Canada and Australia as well.

It was two in the afternoon at the Ramlila Ground. Anna Hazare lay on stage with a Gandhi poster as a backdrop. This was the fifth day of his fast unto death for a law to have a Lokpal to fight corruption.  Barely 20 per cent of the ground was occupied. But a hot and humid Saturday afternoon is perhaps the wrong time to judge an agitation's support.

Admiration for Hazare currently borders on worship. After four months of a determined and often aggressive initiative, Hazare and his team have succeeded in gathering a wide range of followers across the country.

Two months after the Union government appointed a committee of five ministers and five activists chosen by Anna Hazare to draft a bill on the institution of a Lokpal to fight corruption, deep differences persisted on what powers should be bestowed on such an ombudsman.

A high-voltage campaign to draft in record time a major anti-corruption law for India won concessions from the government in the street, but thereafter its leaders found the going much tougher.

Another anniversary of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, was celebrated in Delhi with rallies and seminars. Although five years have passed, activists say implementation has been patchy. States lack the political will to implement this law and forest departments continue to be spoilers.

Being diagnosed with dementia is  a watershed event in one’s life. Currently there is no treatment to stall, cure  or reverse dementia. The prognosis is grim and it is  a tragic moment for the victim and his/her  family.  There is social stigma attached  to this affliction as well.