In the age of twitter, written words run the risk of getting distorted. Ask Shashi Tharoor how he faced flak for describing general category air passengers as “cattle class”. He was rapped on the knuckles by his boss – Sonia Gandhi. But the twitter generation is irrepressible in not only giving expression to its feelings through smart usage
Urban development minister Kamal Nath’s assurance to members of parliament (MPs) and members of legislative assembly (MLAs) that they will have a greater say in the implementation of the second phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) is a welcome step. Even a cursory reality check will reveal that the scheme has at best been a partial
The problem with opening ceremonies is that there have to be closing ceremonies and that means more canned culture, corporate cupidity and mind-numbing visuals of boys and girls running aimlessly with coloured pieces of cloth. And what could be worse than all this? Lots. As the World Cup opening ceremony wound down (not that it ever would up) I was le
The parliamentary standing committee on finance was tasked to examine the changes proposed by The Companies Bill, 2009. The committee made various recommendations, one of which relates to mandatory corporate social responsibility by companies. Stemming from a concern for a comprehensive CSR policy, the committee’s report states that the bill may now include a mandatory provision tha
Is Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi, that is) relevant today? To that clichéd question that pops up twice a year, Narayan Desai’s answer is: he remains as relevant as you want him to be. Last year, there were reports from West Bank, which has been witnessing one of the most violent conflicts of our times, that Palestinians were trying o
Watching ‘No One Killed Jessica’ is not like viewing any other film. One, it deals with too recent a history. Secondly it leaves one kind of confused. Whose tale is it? The fighter Sabrina or the foul mouthed TV anchor? Does it convey the victory of truth over evil or the result of a master con game played by a rising media star out to prove a point to her peers? Whatever, the film
India can learn a thing or two on water recycling from Singapore and better combat its own worsening water crisis. That`s because Singapore, when faced with diminishing freshwater sources, successfully revived its water bodies with the help of technology. Tan Thai Pin, director of Singapore`s Water Supply (Plants) Department, tells Trithesh Nandan in an exclusive interv
Forty days before anti-Mubarak slogans rented the air at Cairo’s Tahrir Square on January 25, India’s Supreme Court passed a stricture against a cabinet minister. The court slammed Vilasrao Deshmukh for abusing his power as Maharashtra chief minister by shielding a Congress MLA, doubling as dubious money lender and accused of squeezing debt-ridden Vidarbha farmers dry, against crimi
The immediate challenge in front of India may have to do more with the distribution of the benefits of growth rather than driving growth itself, international NGO Social Watch contends. The civil society organisation has tabbed India orange in its report `Slowing Down`, a colour code for very low progress in sectors of development. In maternal health, India is tabbed red, `criti
The most dangerous moment for a bad government is when it begins to reform itself.” Alexis de Tocqueville, the French political thinker, may have altered his views if he could have taken the Manmohan Singh government into account. This government not only lacks the courage to even go through the charade of reforms but also buries its head deep in the sand in the face of the gathering stor
Renewable energy (RE) rich states like Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand possess 65 percent of India’s small hydropower resources but these resources remain largely untapped, said a World Bank India report which was released here recently. “Given the flow of Himalayan rivers, their combined installed capacity is less than the combined small hydro cap
The corporate affairs ministry has initiated a healthy debate on corporate social responsibility that has thrown up several ideas. The latest among them is that companies with a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore or more (or net profit of Rs 5 crore or more) should set aside two percent of the net profit for CSR. The parliamentary standing committee on finance headed by former finance minister Yashwant
The remarkable success story of the “green revolution”, which turned a starving nation into a food sufficient one in a matter of years, can’t be overstated. Ironically, however, one of the key elements of that revolution – extensive use of chemical fertilizer which was subsidised by the government - now threatens to turn that very revolution on its head. In a report that
On December 13, 2009, the champions of the right to information (RTI) act held demonstrations across the country, protesting against the government’s desire to amend the act. Aruna Roy was the face of one of these demonstrations held near Jantar Mantar in the capital. Prithiviraj Chavan, then minister of state for personnel, grievances and training, went on record saying t
It is common practice for government to ignore opinions of bodies of experts when the latter differ with what those in power want to hear. Think of all those commissions of inquiry. But if you believe it is only due to political reasons that the government rejects the findings of bodies it sets up, here i
In a new report, the World Bank said that Indians are very prone to heart attacks and suffer their first heart attack six years earlier than other groups worldwide. It is the same with the other South Asian countries. “A recent study of 52 countries from all over the world, including Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, found that South Asians were six years younger
