On Lynas’ turnaround There is nothing new, content wise. It is a huge PR exercise emerging from the (GM) industry as though Lynas’ change of heart is a game changer. That is not true at all. He was never an active GM crusader or made substantive contribution to the anti-GM debate or activism. He was mostly working in the field of climate change. He doesn&rsqu
Utpal Sharma in his dual role as special secretary IT of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Principal, Dr BR Ambedkar Institute of Technology is pushing for e-governance initiatives in the UT to make sure that people enjoy technology and its benefits. Edited excerpts from his interview with Shivangi Narayan How do you handle e-governance with such glaring connectiv
When people – students and housewives, slum-dwellers and the south Delhi set – came out in the streets demanding justice for the gangrape victim, only one factor was missing in the state’s response: empathy. The first response from those elected or appointed to oversee law and order was obviously to play the blame game. When the prime minister spoke up a week later, a couple o
Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde, it seems, is yet to come to terms with his present position. A strongman of the Congress’ pinch-and-cachinnate battery, he forgets his new chair hardly allows him that luxury. After his recent gaffes have invited guffaws and sparked criticisms, we hope he learns the bitter truth soon. In the eye of storm for his unwarranted comment that he h
In terms of statistics, India has perhaps solved the puzzle of primary education. The enrolments are high, according to many reports. The government is also happy securing brownie points on this issue. But, dig deeper and you will find poor quality education now becoming a huge challenge for the country. Two recent reports released in the new year highlight the sad affairs of education,
Less than a year after taking over the reins of Uttar Pradesh after his historic poll victory, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s laggard legacy comprises only this much: an ugly blame game between the horse and the cart. Yadav has held state bureaucrats responsible for the failure in implementing various projects that formed part of the Samajwadi Party`s (SP) poll manifesto prior to the ass
With an average tenure of 18 months for each chief minister since its formation in 2000, Jharkhand seems to be set to become a test subject for constitutional pundits whether small states suffering from continuous instability are a fit case for being made union territories – what with repeated the president’s rule anyways. After eight CMs in a short span of its format
What do you think of environmentalist Mark Lynas’ sudden change of heart – from being an anti-GM crusader to a pro-GM crusader? It is a renewed propaganda push to create goodwill around GM crop. This is a product that very large corporations are trying to sell. India is a very particular target because of large scale rejections (of GM crop) in Europe, many pa
Mamata Banerjee has a lot to tell everyone, every day. The general public, the voters, other political parties, political opposition (“CPM”), Maoists, conspirators, “anti-people central gorment”, “mischievous and conspiratorial media” — they all get their daily dose of homilies from the West Bengal chief minister. But it’s time Banerjee di
Some years ago, when a friend who had just been invited to provide commentary for a cricket match broke the good news at the press club, a senior journalist told him: “At least now you won’t make spelling mistakes.” Had it been the reverse, and a commentator had been offered a slot as a columnist, well might he have been told, “At least now you won’t make terrible
The government is very cagey about foreign funding to NGOs. But when its own funds to the voluntary sector get squandered, it does nothing to stop it. A new report by a think-tank says that thousands of crores of rupees to NGOs gets lost in what can be called a major scam. “From 2002-03 to 2008-09, the central government and the state governments have provided Rs. 6,655 crores to
Six months since I started driving a diesel hatchback — feeling proud and smarter than the rest every time I am at a fuel station — I am suddenly told by everyone that decontrol of diesel prices is good for the economy. It was necessary. And maybe they are right. I am told that diesel deregulation would also augur well for the current account deficit. It offers a possibility
Dr Bhargava, what do you think of environmentalist Mark Lynas’ sudden change of heart – from being an anti-GM crusader to a pro-GM crusader? [Read more here] I think it doesn’t change the situation one bit. We have no credentials of him and one sw
It takes political will to take the nation forward. The UPA government in its first avatar took a major decision by establishing a high-level committee under the leadership of the prime minister (in short Sachar committee) to study about the plight of country’s largest minority population, the Muslim community. After gathering data and studying the conditions of Muslims, the committee pre
The sluggish growth rate of India’s economy in the last one year will be a thing of past, says the World Bank which expects it to post 6.8 and 7 percent growth by 2014 and 2015 respectively and inch closer to the growth rate of China. However, the bank in the ‘Global Economic Prospects (GEP)’ report expects India to grow at 6.1 percent in the financial year 2013.
Ever since India accused Pakistan of killing two Indian soldiers on January 6, beheading one of them, at the Line of Control, the tension and the war of words between two countries have only gone north. In the latest, India has raised Pakistan`s continuing support to terror groups at the United Nations, seeking international action against the state sponsors of terror. India named Pakistan terr
There is no end to the blunders that the central reserve police force (CRPF) commits in its anti-Maoists operations. Less than seven months after its men went berserk and killed 19 people in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, most of whom turned out to be innocent villagers, it has again landed itself in a mess. This time in Jharkhand’s Latehar district. The facts of this enco
The 26-year-old genius was found dead in his New York apartment where he committed suicide. Involved in the development of Reddit and founder of RSS feeds, here is why his sudden suicide should caution us all. Aaron Swartz wanted everyone, even those without a fancy university education and its privileges to access journals, to access information online. In turn, however, Swartz was ind
Sajjad Hassan was serving as secretary (planning) in Manipur when he finally took the bold decision to quit the prestigious Indian administrative service (IAS) in 2011. He was happy working with people in Tamenglong district at the beginning of his career, but the secretariat was a different ball game. Before quitting the service, he had taken a sabbatical and completed his PhD in politics from
The devil is always in the little details. Uttar Pradesh is notoriously corrupt, with its broad sweeping brush not sparing even the sick and ailing. Yet, Hilauli is often cited as an example of how a few good men with a few good intentions can use funds of the national rural health mission (NRHM) to transform the health map of a block. On the surface, a lot has changed. The sub-centres (SC), pr
