A report by the Hazards Centre, a Delhi based NGO, has put the total budget of Commonwealth Games 2010 at over Rs 1,00,000 crore. This includes Rs 55,398 crore which has been directly invested in the event related infrastructure and Rs 46,000 crore under the category of non-Games expenditure. The figure is pegged much higher than the Rs 11,494 crore that the government claims. W
India`s economic growth might be considered by some as enviable but it is highly unlikely that the same can be said of our cities. The best rank in a list of 65 cities across the world that an Indian city has managed is 45 - Delhi, followed by Mumbai at 46. Bangalore and Kolkata are at the fag end at 58 and 63 respectively. New York tops the worldwide ranking of cities in
Cancer which used to be a problem in the developed world has now greater impact than any other cause of death worldwide, and it costs the world economy a trillion dollars a year, says a new report. “In 2008, cancer accounted for nearly a trillion dollars in economic losses from premature death and disability,” said the report prepared by the American Cancer Society and LIVESTRONG.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has the image of a quiet and contented politician. Unlike several of his peers, he shuns rhetoric and yet makes his point cogently to his audience in Bihar. Having launched his campaign seeking to renew the mandate in the next assembly elections, Kumar has been harping on development and Bihari pride, themes that are alien to the state’s
The claims of British doctors and scientists can always be re-doubted whether the New Delhi bug actually originated from the Indian capital it has been named after but corruption is one adamant superbug that refuses to leave the power corridors of New Delhi. This time the bug bit a somebody who has been a familiar name in the country’s sports administration, credited, along with several l
In the late 1990s, when I used to work with the income tax department, we surveyed several multinational companies for their tax compliance and some of them were caught red-handed evading taxes. They admitted their fault and paid up taxes without any appeals. If they had been in any other country, their bosses would have been put behind bars. During one such survey, the chief of Indian
Ram Dayal Munda, a member of the National Advisory Council (NAC), which was reconstituted recently, is acknowledged as the most prominent tribal academician and intellectual in his state. Born in 1939 at Diuri village in Ranchi district of Jharkhand, Munda has been a musician, anthropologist, linguist, development activist and, of late, politician as well. He obtained a Master&
Indian farmers are reluctant to take up organic farming because of the perceived high costs and increased risks over technology-sssisted agiculture, according to a report brought out by the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A). There is also very little information on organic farming practices and effciency, says the study. According to report “India ranks 33r
Omar Abdullah is the wrong man at the wrong place at the wrong time. Don’t count on him to suddenly personify the change that the Kashmiris voted for in the last elections. That seems to be the unfortunate if unavoidable inference from the events of the past couple of months. From here on, it will take nothing short of a miracle to restore public faith in the state government. The history
Even though the government has tried unsuccessfully to pass a Microfinance Bill to provide a regulatory framework for the sector, so far no national policy on financial inclusion has been formulated like the UK government has. Don`t you think in the present times, when financial markets can so deeply affect the economy and the workers, financial inclusion should be a matter of public po
With the deadline for the political parties to express their opinion about the need (or otherwise) for undertaking a caste census coming to an end, the UPA government will now have to take a decision sooner than later. Though in the latter half of the budget session of parliament the issue seemed to have been clinched in favour of those who were seeking a caste census, prime mini
Moreyoung women from India and Bangladesh are migrating illegally than before, says a recent study conducted by the Centre for Social Research. While the some of the reasons - poverty, unemployment -are common with most illegal migrants, irrespective of sex, women also tend to migrate because of abandonment by their families, the report has pointed out. Migration from thes
India is on the terrorists radar and faces threats from several Pakistan based terror groups including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad, and Bangladesh based Harakat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami-Bangladesh, says a new US report. The United States State Department in its Congressionally mandated Country Reports on Terrorism 2009 warned “India remained at risk on the basis of
Remember the brief spat bet-ween Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and union home minister P Chidambaram? The home minister had accused Nitish Kumar of not doing enough to take on the Maoists. His ire had emanated from the Bihar chief minister’s disinclination to attend the chief ministers’ meet called by him in Kolkata. Nitish Kumar had instead dispatched his top officials. To Chid
I grew up in a middle-class family in Uttar Pradesh. During those days, students all around me had just one aspiration: to make it to the civil services. This burning ambition cut across students pursuing all sorts of courses. I remember even some of the brighter minds at the Indian Institute of Technology competing for civil services. Despite being a student of computer science, I too op
India could be shining. So, says a NCAER-CMCR report A new study done by the NCAER-CMCR estimates that India has more high income households than the low income. The report titled ‘How India Earns, Spends and Saves’ mentioned that there are 46.7 million high income households while the low income households number 41 million. There has been a sharp inc
I still shiver with fear when I recall the traumatic days when I, along with the other male members of my village, had to wake up at 4 am and perform the most terrible, inhuman, unjustified and humiliating forced labour for the army. With kerosene lanterns in our trembling hands, we would report for the “convoy duty”, so called because we were supposed to provide protection to the a
A new study shows that there is a significant increase of Muslim children especially girls entering elementary education programmes in various schools across the country .“The percentage of Muslim girls to total Muslim enrolment in Upper Primary classes is 49.97 percent which is above the national average of 48.04,” said the report. The preliminary data also reveals
Despite the trust deficit, breakdown in talksand confidence-building measures that backfire, most pakistanis want better relations with India. “Roughly seven-in-ten (72 percent) say it is important for relations with India to improve and about three-quarters support increased trade with India and further talks between the two rivals,” says a new survey done by the noted Amer
Despite the fact that India is struggling hard to put her economy back on the 9 percent growth trajectory, it has remained the second fastest growing economy and energy market in the world. While domestically it needs to address both efficiency and fiscal prudence, its international strategy involves a relentless push to diversify suppliers, increase its equity take overseas and try to avoid de
