On the world map, India is a growing economy but it is a global problem on open defecation map, said a new report released by the United Nations. It said that 626 million people still defecate in the open in India. In China, 14 million and 7 million people in Brazil resort to open defecation. Nearly 60 percent of those defecating in the open live in India, the report said. “This h
The unusual political heat that the presidential election has generated this time around has made the country skip its silly season, a popular media jargon for high summer months when trivia makes headlines for the lack of interesting stuff. At the same time, it also exposed the soft belly of Indian politics. The Congress holding its cards tightly to its chest kept many on tenterho
Satyanarayan (‘Sam’) Gangaram Pitroda wears many hats: he is currently advisor to the prime minister on public information infrastructure and innovations (PIII) and chairman of the national innovation council. He has served as chairman of the national knowledge commission. He is also the founder of C-SAM, Inc. Among other things, he is also chairman of the India smart grid task
When Josh F Keenan, District Judge of the District Court of United States of America pronounced his verdict on June 26, 2012 in the case of Janki Bai Sahu, et al Vs Union Carbide Corporation and Warren Anderson rubbed salt to the injury of the victims of industrial disaster in India’s Baghdad, it was not at all surprising. The judge in question revealed his cruelty and insensitivity for t
A group of stray dogs a few paces away from the Punjab assembly house in Chandigarh on June 28 barked occasionally and feebly, oblivious of the fact that the debate that raged inside the house concerned them. While these canines had known the contempt the passing Rottweilers and Dobermans in fancy cars had for them, they would never have imagined the masters of these pedigree dogs would bring t
It’s that time of the year again (actually, it is always that time of the year but we don’t notice it). The time to select books that you are actually going to read rather than the ones you think you ought to read. For many years now I have planned to read Anna Karenina. It’s in my ‘To be read soon’ (or alternatively, ‘one of these days...’) boo
A latest report on children`s online behaviour and experience reveals worrisome results for internet-using Indian kids. According to the global study conducted by the software giant Microsoft, more than half - around 53 percent - of children in India have been bullied online. "More than five in 10 children surveyed (8 to 17 years of age) in India say they have experienced wha
Nothing seems to go right with the Coal India Limited (CIL). In the first week of April, the government issued a ‘presidential directive’ to force it to supply 80 percent of the coal required by various power companies to improve power generation. But that didn’t work, simply because CIL has failed to produce enough coal, frequently falling short of the targets. Now, the gover
Tension hung heavy in the air on April 19, Thursday. Sharp at 8.07 am, as a giant ball of fire leapt out of an ignited Agni V ballistic missile which left in the next lightning moment the launch pad for its 5000-km long journey, everyone felt relieved at the Wheeler Island off Odisha coast. But none as much as an unidentified open defecator in a nearby remote area of the Balasore district that
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has fined 11 cement companies to the tune of Rs 6,300 crore, that is, 50 percent of their net profits for 2009-10 and 2010-11, for violation of provisions of the Competition Act, 2002 which deals with anti-competitive agreements including cartels. These companies include ACC, Ambuja Cements, Ultratech Cements and JK Cements. The CCI pass
A motley crowd of waiting passengers on the dimly-lit platform number one of Bathinda junction, in south Punjab is a common sight. Every day the passengers wait for the Lalgarh-Jodhpur train, “cancer train” as they call it, which carries, on an average, 70 cancer patients daily to Bikaner in Rajasthan for cheap treatment and free medicines. The passengers of this train are s
It’s eight on clock and pitch dark in this medieval city. The monument of love on this new moon night looks like a ghost of its 364-year-old heritage: immersed in darkness, it is more like a white sheet spread on a bed of green. An apparition of the emperor, fabled for centuries now to have walked its lawns on countless such nights, must be piqued at this neglect and would be vindictive.
The Maoist are recruiting and indoctrinating children and had constituted children`s squads and associations as part of mass mobilisation, a UN report said. The annual report of the UN Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict, submitted to the Security Council last week, said information has been received on recruitment and use of children by Naxalites, particularly in Chhattisg
Professor Christopher Lingle, an American economist who now teaches at Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala, has two views on India. Whenever he is not here, he is an optimist about India, but he becomes a pessimist as soon as he lands here. An acclaimed authority on public finance in Asia, Lingle predicted the Asean financial crisis of the late 1990s. As
Filth and noise seem to be the two most distinct features of our urban life. We are already at the bottom on most parameters that determine development standards; all social indicators, or human development index as they call it, portray a dismal picture of the country. But our griminess takes the cake and it has only been increasing as city after city is literally going down the drain.
The Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry has prepared the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill 2011 which shall be placed during the monsoon session of parliament. In real estate, most consumer disputes hover around the disputes pertaining to the buyer and builder. The bill seems to recognise three key problems: 1) Most disputes are the result of the pr
It’s been over a week now that my domestic help one day decided not work for me. It came unexpected. Perhaps my questioning her on coming late one day did not go down well with her. After making her anger evident on the dishes she cleaned, scowling at me all the while, she just couldn’t take it anymore and stormed out of my house without a goodbye. Even though appalled at the half-m
On the face of it, petroleum minister S Jaipal Reddy’s proposal earlier this month to the finance minister to impose additional excise duty up to of Rs 2,55,000 on cars running on diesel to cut down on fuel subsidies seems logical. Diesel is subsidised, unlike petrol which was de-controlled in 2011. The under-recovery (or nominal loss to the oil marketing companies which are then compensa
Five north eastern states along with Himachal Pradesh have been rated as the most environmentally sustainable states in the country, according to the Environmental Sustainable Index 2011 released today by a city-based think tank. The report rates Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh in the top slots in its Environmental Sustainable Index 2011
But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. – Walt Whitman Times are cruel when we are traitors and do not know ourselves. No economist has said that. But it fits a description of Dr Manmohan Singh’s plight like nothing else. His weakness, which became his
