Need for an overhaul
Scientific research and organisation must be completely re oriented to a more balanced development of the planet.
Search Results
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A primitive trend practised the world over
The ancient Greeks and Romans attached a high social premium to males and resorted to strange ways of determining the sex of the unborn child.
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Global ills won't find a cure in the market
THERE is more to health policy than just policy for the health sector. But the World Development Report 1993 clearly shows the mandarins -- read health experts -- of the World Bank have trivialised
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Let the drylands bloom
By maintaining terrestrial forestation to improve the soils, drylands can be saved from being further degraded
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Third World energy in terms of US policy
AN INDICATOR of a society's level of development is the quantity and quality of the energy it consumes. This is made clear by the wide disparity in per capita energy consumption in industrialised and
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Putting an end to commercialisation
WHEN I first visited the Alaknanda valley in the 1960s, there were few footprints on the path leading to the Hemkund-Lokpal shrine and the Valley of Flowers and nature was resplendent in all its
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Give more power to local bodies
IT IS indeed unfortunate that the two Constitutional amendment bills to strengthen Panchayati Raj institutions and urban municipalities have received little public attention. Political
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Villagers one up on government in greening project
The balding hills of Jadhera panchayat in Himachal Pradesh are regaining their vegetation, thanks to an unusual village chief
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A bit of iodine in my salt
A nation stands divided over the government s proposal to lift the ban on non iodised salt
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Tracing truth
The Sherlock Holmeses of today have moved from the familiar confines of Baker Street to the esoteric climes of biological labs
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Water out of stone
A lift irrigation system helps tribals in Gujarat fight the tyranny of the seasons
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Population prompts progress
The experience of a Kenyan community contradicts a traditional theory that population and development are inversely proportional
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Developing diversity
Isn t a good fillip to growth also cultural in nature?
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Obese exposure
Detecting the body's fat deposits
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Board trouble
A new report severely castigates the functioning of India s pollution control boards
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Mother and nature...both?
STUDIES on the interrelationships between gender, poverty and environmental change in rural India remain a grey area, tackled by very few economists, a notable exception being Bina Agarwal.
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How old is the universe?
...or how young?
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Loan waiver: Cheer without fear
Holding down inflation and interest rates, energising the production function, pushing investments, saving livelihoods, and raising incomes and consumption became the principal objectives of the Budget. The waiver of farm loans is a means to the accomplishment of these goals. G. Ramachandran First things ought to come first. There is an exaggerated view that the waiver of farm loans is senseless and indefensible. The waiver has been criticised on the grounds that it would vitiate the credit culture and exacerbate moral hazard in banking. The critics have no such views when commercial and industrial loans remain unpaid or are waived and written off. The waiver of farm loans is a wholly sensible and defensible decision. The waiver at its worst estimate is expected to cost the exchequer a big sum of Rs 60,000 crore. But it will most likely trigger an increase in gross domestic product (GDP) of over Rs 3,72,000 crore over the next three years. The exchequer will earn at least Rs 44,000 crore if the tax-to-GDP ratio is 12 per cent. The nominal net loss could at worst be Rs 16,000 crore. But there may be no loss at all. The loss could turn into a sizeable profit. There are three reasons for this optimism. First, the loss to the exchequer would be lower when the other robust stimuli to growth act upon the economy. Second, the waiver would break the logjam in the fallow farmlands. It will put crops back on cultivable lands that have remained fallow. A spurt in output will kill inflation. Third, lower inflation will keep interest rates low. Nonperforming assets of banks will rebound smartly. Therefore, law-abiding taxpayers and conscientious borrowers that repay loans have nothing to fear. Smartly managerial The Finance Minister has acquired a reputation for smart and conscientious fiscal management since 2006. He has managed India's fat fixed costs of running government pragmatically. He has outrun the beastly costs by taking a managerial view of tax revenues. He has stimulated tax inflows by lowering the unit excise duty rates. He has raised the threshold of the service tax. The raising of the personal tax threshold level and the slabs expands incomes that can be allocated to consumption. It expands the size of the indirect tax market as a result. Yet, it ensures that the good times of ordinary people will continue. The cut in excise duties applicable to many consumption goods and consumer durables deserves special attention. Compliant and conscientious The boost to consumption may appear scandalous. But the Finance Minister has stayed steadfastly on course to meet the requirements of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBMA). Ernst & Young, a global accounting confirm, has aptly commented that India has
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Local breeds first
Strategies need to be worked out and implemented immediately if India is to benefit from animal conservation
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A better option
Asian policymakers need to invest in environmental infrastructure to arrest ecodegradation