Bank pricks FMs ballon
The World Bank has warned India of an impending economic crisis arising out of the precarious state of public finance. India's public finance situation now is worse than in 1991 when the country faced a severe external payments crisis, says the Bank in its first ever India Development Policy Review …
India can overtake China: report
India's democratic system and its newfound engagement with non-resident Indians can help catapult it into a higher growth trajectory than China in future. This is stated in a new report of the latest issue of the Foreign Policy Journal. In the article entitled "Can India overtake China?" the authors say …
Water scheme for parched villages
The Rajasthan Government has formulated a scheme worth Rs 5 crores to tide over the drinking water problem of a population of 17,000 in the hilly Gogunda region of Udaipur district. The ground water table in the area has registered an alarming decline during the past few years.
Firms Take A Plunge To Clean up Water System
Coimbatore, the textile city, is an entrepreneur-driven city. Water, which they perceive as a main issue, for which solutions would have to be found collectively by the people, corporate houses and NGOs. The city has come up with its own answer in the form of Project Siruthuli. The major water …
Will hill areas be downgraded?
It has been the gripe of those who were at the core of the agitation for a separate state that policies after its formation have been progressively in contradiction to the values that inspired the movement. Events since Uttaranchal's coming into being, too, seem to have borne out this contention, …
The birth of the blues
Scientists have identified a gene that may help explain why some people become depressed in response to the stresses of life and others skate by relatively unscathed. The gene, which comes in two forms, or alleles, can either protect people from depression or make them more vulnerable to it, researchers …
FICCI calls for review of new Companies Bill
Change, in any form, is not always welcome, especially if it is in a statute. The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2003, which proposes to liberalise, deregulate and simplify laws governing the corporate sector does not seem to have found favour with a section of India Inc. In fact, that section of …
Mahadayi river issue: Goa, Karnataka may meet in Aug
The Karnataka Minister for Water Resources, Mr H K Patil, informed the State Assembly that the Union Water Resources Ministry had assured that a meeting of Karnataka and Goa Governments would be convened during the first week of August to take a final decision on the long-awaited diversion of Mahadayi …
Officials forget their lessons in rainwater harvesting
The monsoon has been kind to the region so far, but lakhs of gallons of rain and storm water have been going waste. A large quantity of excess water, which ought to have passed on directly to recharge layers underground, has been going waste. Although the officials concerned are making …
UN action plan fails to improve poorest nations
The plight of the world's poorest countries has shown little improvement overall since a new United Nations plan of action was launched in Brussels in May 2001, the UN admitted. Presenting a report on implementation of the action plan to UN economic and social council meeting in Geneva, Anwarul Chowdhury, …
Uma attacks Digvijay on his decision to fine villages
The BJP's star campaigner for the upcoming Assembly election, Ms Uma Bharati, came out strongly against Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh's decision to levy a composite fine on villages where dalits were being prevented by OBCs and upper castes from taking possession of free land allotted to them by …
FICCI to hold meet on `development`
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Shriram Centre for Industrial Relations & Human Resources are jointly organising a two-day national seminar on 'Development as freedom - An Indian perspective' on July 31 to follow up on the suggestions made by Prof. Amartya Sen in …
President`s model for rural India
If President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam has his way, every village in India will have good roads, shopping malls, Internet connectivity and quality schools. Dr Kalam has devised a model called PURA(Providing Urban Opportunities in Rural areas) to strengthen village economy and stop the migration to cities.
The post-war Afghan economy
Over the last year, a strategy to reconstruct and revive the war-ravaged economy of Afghanistan has been put in place with the support and under the influence of international donors. The crucial role of the drought in worsening economic conditions is revealed by an FAO and World Food Programme estimate …
CMIE ups economic growth to 6.5%
India's stuttering economy is expected to make a good performance this year. A strong rebound in farming after a good monsoon will help the economy grow 6.5 per cent in the year to March 2004, up from 4.3 per cent the previous year, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) …
Expert warns of falling farm yields
Magsaysay awardee environmentalist Rajendra Singh, who is known for his water harvesting efforts in Rajasthan, has warned that the present water management policy has failed to check the depletion of water. This had led to increase in salinity and soil pollution.
Conservation via water literacy
The Earth Care Foundation has stated that in the new millennium, wars will be fought not over territory or border disputes, but over water. In order to promote
National snapshot
Here's hoping that UNDP's Human Development Report 2003 does not result in needless angst over India having fallen a couple of notches since last year. Yes, we figured in the 124th position in a list of 173 countries in HDR 2002 while this time we've come 127th in a list …
Cold Comfort
India slips down three notches in UNDP's Human Development Report We don't want to be compared with Pakistan, it's too infra-dig, we can't be compared to China, it's not a democracy, we can't be compared to Sri Lanka, it's too small. And Africa... it's a dark continent.So what if we …
