Nothing, it seems, moves our elected government as political expediency. Note the alacrity with which the government moved to clear the food security bill and induct RLD leader Ajit Singh into the cabinet on Sunday in sharp contrast with its vacillation over the Lokpal bill. Amid reports of rotting stocks in the FCI godowns even while a large chunk of population faced starvation,
The action research on exploring market-based mediation for generating opportunities for knowledge and resource rich but economically disadvantaged people has generated several new alternatives. We realised that women groups from over 15 districts of Gujarat tried to commercialise their products and cooked traditional foods, they may not be able to compete well with the professionals or more ex
Washington: India witnessed illicit financial outflows of a staggering $128 billion during the 10 years to 2009, making it one of the biggest victims of illicit money among developing nations, says a report. The startling data come at a time when the country is aggressively exploring ways to fight the black money menace. The study by Washington-based research group Global F
People in India as well as elsewhere in the world had to live with rising prices of food and other essentials this year, but they can hope for a bit of relief next year, according to a report of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP). “Inflation is predicted to improve in 2012,” says the 2011 year-end update of UN-ESCAP. However, it also sa
It is not often that the words of a ‘literary icon nonpareil’ make sense to the man on the street. But Mani Shankar Aiyar’s comments on the parliament logjam over FDI in retail would make every person who wants his vote’s worth nod in agreement. For those who, out of sheer habit, had reached for their earplugs when Aiyar spoke last, here’s a rewind.
“Didi, are there rivers big like this in your country? Have you ever seen water like what is here below? I have, in Bihar. And in Bangladesh. Once the river got so big that the water came down and took houses and buffaloes away with it. All of a sudden, in the blink of an eye.” Alekh was whispering in the half-light. There was a small group of us who were huddling, unable to
While most of the rest of India may not care about the northeast, retired IPS officer Prakash Singh, who served long years in the region first as DGP of Assam and then as DG of BSF, feels strongly for it. The recurring blockades in Manipur coupled with the state and central governments’ apathy in dealing with it irked him so much that he filed a PIL in the supreme court alleging that
When Anna Hazare sat on a fast demanding a strong Lokpal in August this year, a big fuss was made about the ‘sanctity’ of parliament and its procedures by the parliamentarians, especially in view of the fact that the matter was pending with the parliamentary standing committee then. Now that the standing committee has submitted its report we are wiser about that sentiment
After many international aid agencies failed to replicate the green revolution model in Africa despite billions of dollars they spent, what did they do wrong? They still did not ask themselves whether there was a need for developing not ‘the’ model but a variety of models building upon African genius and ground-level wisdom. Such a question would have taken away the jobs of thousand
Protests, uprisings, upheavals, fasts and revolutions marked 2011, the year that we stand to say goodbye to. Most recently, protests hit the streets of Russia on Saturday after disputed polls that granted victory to Vladimir Putin. In India, all indications are that Anna Hazare will resume yet another fast from December 27. All along when India was rising against graft this year, other countrie
When a top legal eagle does sabre rattling for India, he’s expected to be super sure. This column is devoted to how an overexcited Kapil Sibal, driven purely by a courtier’s instinct, has jumped into a royal mess in his battle with Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Yahoo! But first a point on Politics 101. Sibal’s department of information technology has called re
The people have been facing different kinds of deprivation and inequality in the Indian cities, according to a UNESCO study on the India urban policies. “There are inequality, ghettoisation, apartheid and segregation across the cities in India,” said Miloon Kothari, former UN special rapporteur on adequate housing, while releasing the study in Delhi on Friday. He has
The officials in the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) are anxiously awaiting some communication from the government on the National Identification Bill 2010. Sources within UIDAI claim that any action on the bill will be taken only after the government’s decision to accept or reject the
No, the Justice is not the frog prince who turned into an editor soon after he sat on his new chair in the press council of India office. People with such perverted imagination should remember that he wielded a gavel not long ago and could have hammered them to death. It’s just that such talents cannot remain hidden long. And that he loves playing ‘order, order’, a wont which
Assembly elections are due in Uttarakhand early next year. The Bharatiya Janata Party dropped Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, who remained in news for all the wrong reasons, and brought in BC Khanduri to win the next term. The 77-year-old former army general (he was honoured with an Ati Vishisht Seva medal), known for his no-nonsense administration, had led the party to victory in F
Something extraordinary happened on November 25. Our democratically elected representatives actually conducted some parliamentary business, only for a little while though, without bringing the houses down – something that hadn’t happened before and wouldn’t for the next five days of the winter session. That day the presiding officers began the day’s proceedings b
What does it mean when a country holding almost 40 percent of the world’s known uranium reserves, decides to review and consequently lift its ban on nuclear trade with India? This suggested policy u-turn on part of Australia, has been viewed as a result of the political influence and visit of US president Barack Obama, who was in Canberra recently. While Obama has denied putting any press
A while ago, sports minister Ajay Maken asked the International Olympic Committee to keep the sentiments of the Bhopal gas tragedy victims in mind and drop Dow Chemicals from the list of sponsors for the next year’s London Olympics. Dow Chemicals, which in July last year signed an agreement with the IOC, is the company that took over Union Carbide, responsible for the Bhop
The United Nations has warned that the world is on the brink of another recession, projecting that global economic growth will slow down further in 2012 and even emerging powerhouses like India and China, which led the recovery last time, will get bogged down. The UN `World Economic Situation and Prospects 2012` report has cut the global growth forecast for next year to 2.6 per cent fro
Book Review Infrastructure at the Crossroads: The Challenge of Governance By Gajendra Haldea Oxford University Press, Rs 575 I’ve never been to a book launch where the anchor described the author as “insufferable”, and got away! Only because the elegant la
