Good nutrition is crucial to individual and national development, and is one critical area where India’s progress is slow even after nearly a half-century of respectable agricultural productivity growth and two decades of post-reform economi
Karl Marx once asserted that “history repeats itself, first as a tragedy and, second as a farce.” The observation is valid to this day when one observes the behaviour of dominant and rising powers in relation to other nations. The gr
In their eponymous book on debt crises, noted economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff remarked that the most dangerous words in any language are: “This time is different.” The next most dangerous words, according to Dr Raghuram
The ministry of tourism has rolled out a six-month online programme, Incredible India Tourist Facilitator Certification (IITFC), on November 15, in order to boost the tourism sector in the country. Within five da
“We are nobody’s concern. We are not part of any election manifesto, or any state government,” says 28-year-old Farah from Mahasamund district, Chhattisgarh. Five years ago, Farah was rescued by an anti-human trafficking NGO in M
September 4, 2018. Kolkata. It’s quarter to five in the evening. The shanty dwellers in Majerhat felt the earth shake. A loud crash, dust rising from rubble and crumbling concrete, water splashing. The Majerh
As of 2018, India has 209 dams that are a century old or more. Raging debates have also contested how a few of these British-built dams have surpassed their life span by developing leaks and fissures. Case in point, the 123-year-old Mullaperiyar
The dates for the polls in five states have been announced: Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Mizoram will have new governments by the end of the year. A few short months thereafter, the parliamentary elections will throw th
Hitlerkiller, a sniper, has landed in Georgopol, a city with many disused brick buildings and container depots hugging a bay in a U-shape. To survive for the next thirty minutes in the unknown land, he needs to find weapons, a motorcycle and a f
Vibrant Gujarat, the biannual gathering organised by Gujarat, will go beyond pitching for investments and will provide a forum to explore trade and export opportunities. The ninth edition of the event will take place on January 18-20 at Gandhinaga
Mumbai generates 8,780 metric tonnes of waste daily, out of which approximately 3,000 metric tonnes is wet waste. Only 100-150 metric tonnes per day (MTPD) is treated to localised composting and biogas generation. The civic body, Municipal Corpora
The recent uproar in the country regarding the finance ministry apparently coercing the RBI in doing things it is unwilling to do has spiked to such heights that the RBI deputy governor valiantly warned the government that it might “incur th
Unsafe abortion is the third leading cause of maternal mortality in India, and around eight women die from causes related to unsafe abortion each day, according to a report by the Guttmacher Institute, International Institute of Population Science
Dhiraj Nayyar’s book, Modi and Markets: Arguments for Transformation (published in October by Westland) came a bit too early. The title would have made for seductive reading had it coincided with RBI deputy governor Viral Acharya’s r
Khohar, a village located in Alwar district of Rajasthan, nestled in the foothills of Aravalis, is home to 154 families, most of whom are farmers by profession. The village has a large adult population with 65 percent over the age of 18. The vil
The New Pension Scheme (NPS), the government of India’s flagship pension scheme, has been subject to a number of important reforms in recent times. This is a welcome change from the norm wherein the government’s and the regulators&rs
Olden days of civilisation experienced famines and natural disasters that caused human misery. While human population was limited, natural habitats were undisturbed and abundant; so calamities of nature were absorbed without any serious cons
Jhunjhunu, in northern Rajasthan, is known for its grand havelis and the frescoes on their walls. But they weren’t on prime minister Narendra Modi’s mind when he spoke of the desert town in his Mann Ki Baat radio talk of March 2018.
A fter mixed response from the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) and BOT-Annuity (build, own, transfer) model, the road sector in India is exploring the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) for roadways construction. In HAM, 40 percent of th
A building comes up based on a plan, which is based on discussions among the client, the architect and the builder. Can they draw a blueprint without basic information like measurements of land, location, market price of materials required and s
