Bhatta-Parsaul villages in Greater Noida may have become the new symbol of disquiet over land acquisition but they represent a larger, worldwide challenge to policymakers. Large-scale acquisition of farmland in Africa, Latin America, Central Asia and Southeast Asia has made headlines over the past one year. Africa has become a prime target for land grabbers from the corporate sector, with money
There is a clear pattern in the way a section of our "intellectuals" has reacted to the recent people’s movements against corruption – the Anna Hazare campaign on Lokpal and now Baba Ramdev’s agitation against black money. This section has bluntly brushed aside both the movements. The point is not whether such movements will be able to achieve what they set o
Twenty-nine students, studying between class III and class VIII, were asked to leave school. Not because of bad behaviour, poor attendance or having failed a class but because they were infected with HIV. This is what happened in a government school in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu, where the headmaster barred these children from attending regular classes because of the fear that the othe
The prime minister has promised to resurrect land acquisition reforms. But the bill in the works is quite a shoddy piece of legislation. It doesn’t even have the decency to say, “I’ll take your land, but I’ll make you
The question that struck me after seeing the India census 2011 report is: Is the Pre-natal Diagnostic Technique (Prohibition of Sex Selection) (PCPNDT) Act a toothless piece of legislation? That seems to be the case as the sex ratio has turned from bad to worse. While the normal ratio for children between 0 and 6 is about 950 girls to 1000 boys, the 2011 census shows that the number of girls ha
Should the PM and other dignitaries/high offices be within the ambit of the Lokpal or not? I believe Anna Hazare and Co are being too ambitious in wishing to put everybody under the Lokpal radar. They should instead take a pragmatic approach and demand that the Lokpal should have powers to probe only the PM and the select few. Think about it. The proposal is not half as counterin
Stakeholders including small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and professional services firms are now worse off with a half-hearted approach of the government allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in limited liability partnerships (LLPs) in a piecemeal measure, while also withdrawing the advantages enshrined in the LLP Act, 2009. This has raised more questions than answers about the fate
Shunglu Committee holds Sheila Dikshit responsible for the CWG mess in Delhi last year. Don`t you think the state government`s soft approach to reports of graft and the delays in execution of projects were the major factors behind the scale of graft that marked the Games? I have not read the report. So, I do not know what it says. Whatever information I have, is from the
What is world class? About two decades ago when the Canadian government wanted to modernise itself and its public services, it appointed a group of consultants to go around the world and find out what constitutes the quality of world-class organisations. This team came out with the following qualities of world-class organisations which they preferred to call as “adaptive organisations&rdq
Technology has come in handy for the educated and affluent Indians to exterminate the female child before birth. This ugly aspect of our society has been laid bare by a study conducted by Lancet which points out that the growing imbalance between girls and boys aged 0-6 is indicative of a trend of selective abortion of female foetuses. The study mentions that the conditional sex-ratio f
The further tightening of the monetary policy to contain inflationary trends would likely weaken domestic demand and economic growth of India and other countries like China and Brazil, says a UN report. Still, these three countries are leading the global financial recovery too, according to the report released on Thursday. “If inflationary pressures continue to rise, author
Have you ever seen UN TV or even heard about it? No? Then you are not the only one, there are billions who have not. But UN TV is real and its pre-recorded telecast can be seen at Live Station. UN TV features live coverage of UN meetings, such as those of the Security Council, General Assembly, Economic and Social Council, as well as conferences, briefings and oth
The sensational helicopter raid in Abbottabad has spurred India into direct action, India style. We have refreshed our list of “wanted” men and despite Pakistan’s protestations the world now knows there is no evading India’s objectives. We want Dawood Ibrahim and we know he lives in Karachi. We also know he keeps hopping houses just to keep our intel guys engaged
On the afternoon of Wednesday, April 6, at a busstop outside a cluster of South Delhi colleges of the University of Delhi, I spotted a tall man, talking to students and gathering first-hand accounts of the issues that were foremost in their mind. I realised that the man was none other than the eminent mathematician and current vice-chancellor of the university, Dinesh Singh. I wa
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) finally notified the regulations titled “The Competition Commission of India (procedure in regard to the transaction of business relating to combinations) Regulations, 2011 (Merger Regulations).” These regulations, due to come into force on June 1, 2011, regulate all acquisition of shares, voting rights, control, merger or amalgamation (coll
The focus in public diplomacy is on the public. When country A practises public diplomacy with the rest of the world then it is engaging global public by sharing with them more information, explanation of major policy decisions, replying to their genuine queries, it makes an effort to win global public opinion. So does country B when it practises public diplomacy. As a whole the
The World Bank has supported cash transfer in ensuring food security over the public distribution system (PDS). In its report on its first ever audit of the Indian government’s welfare programmes, the bank contends that the country`s poor are yet to reap full benefits from such programmes despite India spending over two per cent of GDP in social security schemes. However, it l
Privatisation is a panacea for all ills. That is what the World Bank thinks, suggests, propagates and pushes full-steam around the globe, despite fierce criticism and condemnation from several countries, people, experts and civil society groups. The world over, the bank’s privatisation policy has led nowhere, achieved nothing, as is well documented by different scholars including Nobel La
The teething problems for the passport seva pilot project continues with people under the Bangalore regional passport office (RPO) still complaining of delays in getting online appointment to visit passport seva kendras (PSKs), not to talk of the passport itself. The delays in getting an online appointment often go beyond a month, which is 10 times the period (three days) the go
During the monsoon session of 2010, Lok Sabha witnessed a stormy exchange, dividing its members along linguistic lines. The incident revealed an outdated thinking on the part of even some senior MPs. To recap, dur¬ing question hour on August 13, some MPs complained about the failure of their language interpretation devices while a question was being raised in Hindi. It was first reported by
