Articles
Mar 29 2007
OPINION/SECURITY
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This summer, at a border near you
The United Stated-led Global War on Terror is all set to come up to India's doorstep this summer, with Pakistan's move from being a 'frontline state' to becoming a theatre of war. For India, a reflexive anti-Pakistani stance or a fashionable pro-American one are not the only choices, writes Firdaus Ahmed.
Mar 28 2007
OPINION/GOVERNMENT
What's 'inclusive' about the Budget?
OPINION/GOVERNMENT : What's 'inclusive' about the Budget?
The government's understanding of an 'inclusive' Budget is simply that it ought to be the provider of welfare for the lower income groups. The evidence so far suggests that this is an attempt doomed from the start, since the government is not very good at administering such programmes. Ashwin Mahesh says that there are better options.
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Mar 27 2007
GOVERNANCE/ENVIRONMENT
Kerala re-assessing the environment
GOVERNANCE/ENVIRONMENT : Kerala re-assessing the environment
An expert working group established to create a roadmap for the state's new independent Department of Environment has made recommendations to strengthen environmental conservation and protection. A number of state agencies, especially the Pollution Control Board, have come in for strong criticism. P N Venugopal reports.
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Mar 25 2007
ACCESS TO HEALTH
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Claiming the right to health care
India is notorious for its abysmal health services leading to very high infant and maternal mortality rates. Ila Pathak provides a glimpse of how much effort it takes to get official health functionaries to perform their assigned duties with a minimal degree of seriousness.
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Mar 24 2007
PRS LEGISLATIVE BRIEF
Sarkar-approved contributions only
PRS LEGISLATIVE BRIEF : Sarkar-approved contributions only
In the name of internal security, the Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Bill would add to the government's already long list of rules applicable to voluntary organisations, even as it ignores the fact that they receive less than one per cent of the foreign funds flowing into the country. Priya Narayan Parker presents a legislative brief.
Mar 23 2007
ENVIRONMENT
India's black agenda in a climate change era
ENVIRONMENT : India's black agenda in a climate change era
In January, the Ratan Tata-chaired Investment Commission green-lighted coal-to-liquids (CTL) technology for India and the goverment appears eager to develop policy to promote CTL. But beyond the pressing demands for energy security and new investment lies a starker reality less seen by the public, notes Sunita Dubey.
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Mar 22 2007
AIR POLLUTION
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Brown cloud, or brown man's cloud?
Extensive air pollution over Asia has drawn considerable attention from the global atmospheric science community. In India, as in other Asian countries, the government as well as scientists are wary of motivated criticism, but still have much to do to put the environment in order, writes Darryl D'Monte.
Mar 21 2007
ECONOMY
Jobs, skills, shortages and future-proofing
ECONOMY : Jobs, skills, shortages and future-proofing

India has only 5,100 Industrial Training Institutes and 1,745 polytechnics compared to 5,00,000 similar institutes in China. The USA boasts of 1500 trade training programmes compared to India's 171. A national conference in Delhi this February recommended measures to bridge the yawning gap between growth and jobs, reports Varupi Jain.
Mar 20 2007
SOCIETY/CINEMA
From spirited festival to drab conference
SOCIETY/CINEMA : From spirited festival to drab conference
When this social communication event hit Kolkata in 2002, the entire ambience spilled over with empathy and a deep understanding for films – documentary, fiction and docu-fiction – made on or about the marginalised and the oppressed. Very little of all that was in the air during the 2007 version, writes Shoma Chatterji.
Mar 19 2007
RAIN HARVESTING
'Water deposit' revives open wells
RAIN HARVESTING : 'Water deposit' revives open wells
Thanks to voluntary water harvesting measures by a few, as well as legislation-led RWH by the others, many of Chennai's open wells have sprung back to life. The bountiful rains of 2005 showed that where conservation efforts are in place, even a single season's rainfall can largely restore water security. Shree Padre reports.
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Mar 18 2007
FEMALE INFANTICIDE
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Think of the mother
Even the most calculating and hard-hearted woman will not be indifferent to what happens to the child she has birthed. This is the reason that female infanticide remains a phenomenon restricted to only a few areas while sex selective abortions are rampant, writes Kalpana Sharma.
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Mar 17 2007
COMMUNISM AND HISTORY
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Holding the centre
In 1947, as now, Indian democracy was being challenged and threatened from radicals of Left and Right. Back then, in the late Forties, the Centre held. The RSS was forced to agree to abide by the Constitution, and the communists were forced overground. But will the Centre hold now, asks Ramachandra Guha.
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Mar 17 2007
COMMUNISM AND HISTORY
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Pronounced guilty
Indian communists are often chastized for not supporting the Quit India movement of 1942. But a far greater crime of which they were guilty is little talked about nowadays. This took place six years later, when the Communist Party of India fomented an insurrection to strangle the infant Indian state at birth, writes Ramachandra Guha.
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Mar 16 2007
PUBLIC HEALTH
Goa's health care challenges
PUBLIC HEALTH : Goa's health care challenges

Recent data on health indicators suggest that while health care in Goa remains far ahead of the national average, there are many cracks in the system. Indeed, on many counts the state appears to be losing the ground gained earlier, even as new challenges loom. Rupa Chinai reports.
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Mar 15 2007
OPINION/WTO DOHA ROUND
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Under pressure, India makes U-turn
At a two-day international seminar on "Saving Doha and delivering on development" that concluded at New Delhi on 13 March, India's Commerce Minister Kamal Nath provided ample evidence of India's willingness to go along with the rich and industrialised countries. The writing is on the wall, says Devinder Sharma.
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Mar 14 2007
AGRICULTURE
Burdman's farmers are faring better
AGRICULTURE : Burdman's farmers are faring better
The West Bengal government remains under a cloud due to violence over its industrialisation plans, but in other areas, its procurement and off-farm processing support for farmers has helped them far more than Maharashtra's approach to its own farmers. Jaideep Hardikar visited Burdman district.
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Mar 13 2007
EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE
Wages of meddling
EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE : Wages of meddling
By and large, poorer and badly-run states like Bihar and Orissa have seen higher inflation resulting from the NREGA windfall, while in the better-off states with less money flowing in through the scheme, inflation is much lower. Clearly, meddling in markets will show up in ways that are not necessarily all good, writes Sunil Jain.
Mar 12 2007
VIDARBHA AND WATER
Hope in the season of hopelessness
VIDARBHA AND WATER : Hope in the season of hopelessness
"This is the first year I sowed wheat on an acre of land because of availability of water in the bund along my farm," informs a three-acre farmer Vasanta Kolhe in Hatgaon village, Yavatmal district, Maharashtra. His income will see a little improvement this year, thanks to a bund that students built. Jaideep Hardikar reports.
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Mar 11 2007
OPINION / BUDGET
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Growth ideology of the cancer cell
In that the trend of falling state investment in sector after sector continues, this budget does not break with neo-liberalism. Instead, it just dolls it up. India is still on a path damaging and dangerous to the poor. The UPA has learned nothing and forgotten everything, writes P Sainath.
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Mar 09 2007
ENVIRONMENT REGULATION
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A faint new wind at NEAA
Despite rejecting yet another appeal brought before it, the newly reconstituted Environment Appellate Authority accepts that the rules for environment clearances and project monitoring must be strengthened. Kanchi Kohli reports that this may mark a welcome new direction for the organisation.
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