The US will have massive opportunities to engage with India during the impending India visit of president Barack Obama, says a report by the Center for a New American Society (CNAS). The report, “Natural Allies: A blueprint for the future of U.S.-India relations,” notes that India and the US need to take a big step to take the relations forward. The report, h
Now that the proverbial dust has settled on the execution of the fault-ridden games, it is time for another execution – guillotine, if you please, that would finally settle the real scores. To that extent the declarations of intent by the Government of India are laudatory but, as always, discreetly deceptive. The clamour for a Comptroller Auditor General’s [CAG] enquiry into the gam
An acclaimed novel, taught at a university for several years, can be removed from the syllabus overnight because somebody’s son wants to make his political debut hitting the right note. The party in power, which claims to be somewhat more tolerant and inclusive than the opposition party of this father-son duo, rushes to justify this ban. Enthused by the camaraderie cutting across party li
Rather than hang about 27 years till the CWG 2010 Inquiry Committee presents its interim report on all the mudslinging that will start post the closing ceremony I thought, what the heck, let me make my own Commission and indict folks already. After deep thought and reflection these are my observations and recommendations. At the outset find the person who paid the drummers Rs 1,000
Sporting successes at CWG aside, the Commonwealth realm has not much to cheer India for. The country, according to a report, has the highest number of underweight children among all the Commonwealth nations. “India has both the highest number and the highest proportion of underweight children among the Commonwealth countries,” says a report by Save the Children, an NG
India slipped two spots on Global Hunger Index, 2010 compared to last year, according to the new report released by the International Food Policy research Institute (IFPRI) in New Delhi. “India has been ranked 67 in 2010 - in 2009 the country was ranked at 65,” says the IFPRI release. The government`s failure to get the latest child malnourishment figu
Raman Singh has an unenviable job as chief minister of Chhattisgarh, the state worst hit by Maoist violence – he is in fact in his second term. But the 57-year-old ayurvedic doctor has a clear diagnosis of the disease and treatment in mind. In an exclusive interview with Sweta Ranjan, he discussed his approach to find a permanent solution to the
The Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to disclose to the RTI applicant, V R Chandran, an estimate of black money deposited by Indians in Swiss banks. Also see: Swiss banks don`t want to hide, so we don`t wa
Asian countries, including India, are facing a worsening water crisis that threatens to curtail food production while taking an increasingly heavy toll on the region`s economies, the Asian Development Bank said in its latest report. Among the region’s largest countries, the ADB estimated `India would have a water deficit of 50 per cent by 2030 while China would have a short
In Bangalore’s Vidhana Soudha, history is repeating itself as farce. Even as governor HR Bhardwaj has set October 14 as the fresh deadline for the Yedyurappa government to prove its majority on the floor of the house, the course of events from here on seems quite predictable. Having lost the majority, the BJP will use every trick of the trade to avoid the floor test. The BJP h
India is way behind the rest of the world - at least most of it - in parity of the two sexes considering pay, education, health and economic representation, according to a World Economic Forum report. The report, ranks India at 112 out of the 134 countries surveyed. The report says, “India and Pakistan perform above average on the political empowerment of wo
With no updated data on child malnourishment, India slipped further down on the Global Hunger Index 2010. “India has been ranked 67 in 2010 - in 2009 the country was ranked at 65,” says the International Food Policy research Institute (IFPRI) release. “IFPRI calculated India’s rank based on the data on undernourished children in 2004-06, which is the lates
Scoundrels, politics and resorts have an enduring relationship. As the elected leaders in Karnataka have shown, not for the first time, the resort is the first politics of the scoundrel. When in doubt, turn dissident, and lap up the goodies on offer; such goodies as an all-expenses-paid holiday to a popular resort where your silence is golden, although sometimes its opposite can be platinu
Wealth has surged in India, tripling over the last decade, says a new report released by investment bank Credit Suisse. It also added that most Indians may almost double their assets over the next five years. “The total wealth of India has tripled in a decade to $3.5 trillion and by 2015, based on current trends, India’s wealth could nearly double to USD 6.4 trillion,
India is growing economically but Indians face shortage of housing, says a report released by the World Bank. “In India alone, estimates of the housing shortage range from 20 million to 70 million yet as much as half of this excess demand can be profitably serviced by the housing and housing finance markets,” says the report released in Washington DC.
The International Monetary Fund has revised its growth forecast for India in FY `10, raising it to 9.7 percent from the July figure of 9.5 pc. The Washington based lender said that India`s growth-surge is based on local consumer demand. “Low reliance on exports, accommodative policies, and strong capital inflows have supported domestic activity and growth,” the IMF sa
Under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA), only 45% schools across the country received all the three mandatory grants in the years 2008-09, says a report. The Planning, Allocations and Expenditures, Institutions: Studies in Accountabilty (PAISA) report, brought out jointly by Delhi based think-tank Accountabilty Intiative, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) and
The Planning Commission is in the process of reinventing itself. More than making five-year plans and allocating resources, it seeks to transform itself into what is being described as the Systems Reforms Commission—a strategic thinking group that will look ahead and think ahead, sense the emerging challenges and the opportunities and accordingly, devise appropriate responses for the gove
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has paradoxically perturbed an entire generation for the same reason as it has relieved the others. It seems to have placed faith over fact, mythological epic over documentary evidence, legend over law, unsettling those brought up on the denial of religion. It has embarrassed the young urban middle-class Hindus who had built up an entire mental edif
With the demand for clean energy in India increasing, its aggregated potential market is expected to touch Rs 9,728 crore annually, an Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR) report says. The aggregated potential market for the clean energy across four sectors comprising--decentralised renewable energy services, solar home systems, solar lanterns and energy e
