India, which relies heavily on the monsoon rains for its vital agriculture sector, may suffer “frequent and severe” failures in its monsoon system due to global warming in next 200 years, a new research has warned. The effects of this unprecedented decline in rainfall by 40-70 per cent would be “extremely detrimental to India’s economy which relies heavily o
Increasing urban development and labour flexibility are key to creating jobs, sustaining growth and reducing poverty, World Bank said in a report. According to the `World Development Report 2013: Jobs` released on Monday, part time work is on the rise in India. "Medium-size businesses are not growing and the share of informal workers in organised firms is up from 32 percent
But for the grey tone and the smoggy haze of a lazy Sunday morning, the setting couldn’t have been more perfect for the Congress to go all guns blazing with big-ticket reforms: a massive 1 lakh-plus crowd at Delhi’s historic Ramlila Maidan and a power-packed dais comprising Prime minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the party’s PM-in
Not many years ago the Harvard economist Lant Pritchett called India a “flailing state” for its gigantic failures to implement programmes and policies crucial to maintain public trust in governance. According to Pritchett, “In police, tax collection, education, health, power, water supply—in nearly every routine service—there is rampant absenteeism, indifference, i
With evening news on TV slowly taking over from the newspapers in setting the agenda for much of political discourse — heck, much of the monsoon session of Parliament was conducted in television studios, so to speak — eloquence has attained more import than ideology or grassroots. At least in days other than those when a political rally is planned. More so for the Con
Maybe, just like a blade-thin sliver of faint light but the Anna Hazare effect is visible on the political leadership. They are not taking charges of corruption lightly anymore. When Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy raised questions over acquisition of company that published the now defunct National Herald newspaper to which the Congress reportedly gave a loan of over Rs 90 crore, the Bhara
Hari Ranjan Rao serves as the Madhya Pradesh information technology secretary and the secretary to the chief minister. A 1994 batch IAS officer, Rao is working on providing adequate manpower for overseeing e-governance in the state. In an interview with Pratap Vikram Singh, he talks about his plans for restructuring IT in the government. What is your vision for a digital Madhya
There is a new and ever-increasing buzz about economic reforms. The business community is excited, stock markets are ecstatic, and economists are elated with the government’s recent decisions to allow FDI in multi-brand retail and pension, and hike it in insurance. In a recent interview to the Economic Times, finance minister P Chidambaram said that these decisions, including the hike in
“Irresponsible allegations made by the IAC at the behest of vested interests without basic understanding of the complexities of a project of this nature do not merit a response,” said Reliance Industries Limited tersely on the latest expose of India Against Corruption’s Arvind Kejriwal. Kinda true. On another edgy Wednesday when political leaders were glued to TV sets (thanks
With India becoming the world’s largest spender on military equipment, in the recent years, most of its deals have come under accusation of corruption and middlemen swindling money out of deals. A recent study by a Swedish think tank said that India had surpassed China to become the world’s largest arms importer. Despite such high-ticket weapons procurement, a latest policy paper by
Much has been written about India’s emerging status as a rising power, a fast-growing economy and its huge market. Much has also been written about the stark realities of poor economic conditions of those at the bottom of the social ladder, the rural-urban divide, malnutrition, economic inequality and corruption in politics and even everyday life. Yet, one may ask: what is that makes &nda
To be fair to arch-rivals Hindu, only six out of seven in Manmohan Singh’s new-look council of ministers completed their degree at St Stephen’s. Jyotiraditya, the seventh, is reported to have procured admission in BA Programme, but he soon got through his undergraduate admission at Harvard, before going on to Stanford for an MBA.
Two sons-in-law! Two eras! Two entirely diverse results! By the mid 1950s, Feroze Gandhi, the son-in-law of the then prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was at the forefront to fight corruption in government. In 1956, he along with several others led the campaign to nationalise 245 private insurance companies, which were riddled with frauds, and consolidate them under the newly formed, st
I did make an honest attempt, but let me confess with that frankness for which I am known from one end of my table to a point close to the same end that I failed. Obscure tomes by monks from the Dark Ages I read and enjoy without the help of students’ guides of that era. But this, the US government’s report about reports about reports, prepared by its accounting office, stumped me.
He is dismissed every Thursday only to be awaited with bated breath the next Wednesday. Toast of the masses, darling of the media, this swashbuckling newest kid of politics is apparently also the fiercest of them all. With India Against Corruption’s Arvind Kejriwal taking the centre stage in politics, rules of the game are being considered for a revision by the old guard. Kejriwal
KV Thomas, minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution, plans to take forward the national food security bill in the winter session of parliament. He is confident that India can and will implement the right to food. A relentless optimist, he dismisses surveys which paint a bleak picture of India’s food security and insists that conditions are much improved. Excerpts from t
To fight corruption at the lower levels and eliminate role of middlemen the central government has introduced the unique identity number, Aadhar, in the delivery of social security services and subsidy – which, according to an estimate, accounts for Rs4 lakh crore annually. Aadhar, the “magic number”, has been endorsed by the topmost functionaries of the government as citizens
An uncle recently showed me the first currency note from the first salary he earned over half a century ago. It is no longer legal tender, of course, but its value for my uncle is way beyond anything monetary. He will not give it away for money or love. My hope of being remembered in his will received a severe setback when I told him it was a silly thing to do. There is no great sanctity to the
The spectacular growth of the economy during the last decade has changed the entire landscape of the transport sector in India, particularly the road and the air sectors. The considerable increase in disposable incomes has changed the profile of consumers as well as of service providers beyond recognition. While roads are teeming with cars of all sizes and brands, airports have become as crowde
Delhi and Mumbai figure among 95 world cities identified by the United Nations as those moving towards prosperity, but the two Indian metropolis are just "half-way" to achieving it with the reasons being poor infrastructure and environment conditions among others. The report places Delhi at 58t
