Set up in 1988, Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) is a miniratna public sector enterprise under the ministry of railways. It provides multi-modal logistics support for domestic and external trade. Its core businesses are cargo carriers, terminal operations and warehouse operations. In an interview with Puja Bhattacharjee, CONCOR chairman and managing director Anil Gupta
Sadanand Dhume, a resident fellow at the Washington-based conservative think-tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI), has co-authored a working paper on the Indo-US relationship – ‘Falling Short: How Bad Economic Choices Threaten the US-India Relationship and India’s Rise’. As the title explains, his argument is that India made some bad choices in the last couple of yea
India’s large rural and semi-urban population is still out of banking fold, according to the latest report released by McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm. “Despite, the presence of nearly 90 scheduled commercial banks, the extent of access is still low, with around 35 percent of India’s population financially excluded, and only 28 percent total
In the violence affected areas, it is the education of children that is the worst hit, as many schools have been destroyed due to fight between Maoists and security forces, says a report released by Save the Children, an international NGO working for the upliftment of under privileged children. Jairam Ramesh, minister of rural development released the report titled ‘Caught in Cros
As the Campa Cola compound in Mumbai’s upscale Worli area simmered for the last couple of days, with the supreme court on Wednesday putting a stay on razing of the illegally raised floors and finally putting a temporary lid on the scalding issue, what came to the fore were brazen apathy of the administration and lack of faith in rules among both the builders and the authorities of the tim
They did it again. In the still hot debris of the death by ambush of five Indian soldiers and a shrillness in the hostility, Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif and Manmohan Singh had a lukewarm coming together in the Big Apple but neither bit into the fruit of what both believe is a poisoned tree. With the now stale as a biscuit promise of happier days to come being the sole outcome of this tryst no
I have nothing against statues. They look nice and pigeons love them. But the one they are planning for Sardar Vallabhai Patel and making it the largest in the world baffles me. What is this thing Indian politician having about statues; they are constantly setting up folks on pedestals. ALSO READ: Who l
The Indian meteorological department (IMD) has been the object of ridicule for long. With a series of inaccurate predictions, including its failure to predict three droughts (2002, 2004 and 2009), the department’s reputation was in tatters. October 12, a black day for Odisha, changed all that, inadvertently becoming a red-letter day for the Met department. Often questioned for cr
As a journalist, you get to meet a lot of people. And there are some who leave an impression on your mind. Dr Nitish Sengupta, erstwhile chairman of the board of reconstruction for public sector enterprises (BRPSE) who died on Sunday, was one of those in my life. I had just started on the public sector enterprises (PSE/PSU) beat for the magazine in May this year and had no clue
The story goes that free passes for Sachin Tendulkar’s last Ranji match, largesse from Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to his political clientele, have been freely traded for cash. Some went for Rs 10,000 apiece. Are you surprised therefore that the Lahli stadium emptied no sooner the master took just 7 balls to be bowled by a rookie called Mohit Sharma o
As secretary to the government of Arunachal Pradesh, Gaken Ete is holding charge of two departments: information technology and water resources and development. When he joined as the IT secretary in 2012, Ete meticulously planned the execution of e-governance and telecommunications projects. In the past, the IT department had run into trouble for allocating work of few e-governance projects to
The author is a government officer who prefers to remain anonymous. It is quite amusing to note that on one hand government policies are framed after much deliberation and that too after much passage of time, from the date such an idea emanates in certain minds to the date of issue of such a policy for implementation. On the other hand, after declaration of a polic
Us jaded media consumers can tell from a mile away when a star or star-pair is due to have a film released. As the stars acquiesce to promotional and PR tours, the interviews, general interest, red carpet-sightings, romantic rumours swirl toward a crescendo, and reach an enduring frenzy if the film is a success. So, we knew from afar that ‘Gravity’ was coming. I also began to sen
Tariq Anwar quit the Congress in 1999 to join Sharad Pawar in founding the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Today he is the only representative of Bihar in the union council of ministers (he hails from Bihar, though currently he represents Maharashtra in Rajya Sabha). In an exclusive interview with Bhavdeep Kang, Anwar discusses the NCP-Congress ties, the Bihar scenar
Engineering from Mumbai University, MBA in finance from London Business School, corporate honcho in Siemens and Google, and then a straight dive into municipal politics. Now 38, Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon councillor Nisha Singh zooms in on the outsider-turned-insider perspective of politics and tells Srishti Pandey why and how sitting on the cryptic fence is not going to change our lives.
Am I the only one who feels they are overdoing the choreography for the Sachin finale? Like, not only adding pressure on to the man but making his final showing into a kind of a circus? The venue, the hype, the 200th Test record, the suitably arranged home ground choice, the return of the tired Windies – all of it is a bit unfair and not in the finest traditions of the sport. Bet
Talking to large rallies of people with scores of everyday problems, pains and sorrows -- to a farmer, a labourer, an unemployed youth with so many dreams -- is no easy work. It is all the more difficult if you are a descendant of a ruling family whom everyone looks at with awe. Rahul Gandhi is looked at with such awe – when he talks with people in villages and on streets or lifts a load
India has moved two spots up on the global hunger index (GHI) released on Monday worldwide compared to last year’s ranking. The new ranking may cheer Indian policymakers but the problem of a huge chunk of children below the age group of five being malnourished persists. "India and Timor Leste have the highest prevalence of underweight children under five more (which is) than
Growth “wallahs” (the Reserve Bank of India and the finance ministry) routinely underestimate the interlinked role of land, water and housing in development. In the Indian context, these are critical for a long term growth strategy. Our growth czars are disingenuous in routinely deriding the use of equity markets and foreign investment as valid indicators for economic health but are
The National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) is an attempt to bring broadband connectivity to the remotest corners of the country by connecting 2,50,000 gram panchayats in a network. To oversee the project, a special purpose vehicle, Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL), was created. Under it three agencies, BSNL, Power Grid Corporation of India and Railtel, were chosen as the implementing enti
