The Ficci-Yes Bank report on farm mechanisation couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. For one, since it suggests waiving of VAT and excise duty on farm machinery, this is the time the Budget exercise has just begun. More important, the study points out that, while the use of new devices in performing key farm operations is vital for doubling agricultural growth from the present 2 per cent, the...

Much like the tsunami waves that devastated many coastal areas five years ago, the closing weeks of 2009 saw an ill wind sweeping across many of our democratic institutions, highlighting that beneath the veneer of the nation’s aspirations towards great power status was a crumbling institutional core. To look at the fourth estate first. The preface to the Press Council of India’s “Norms of Journalistic Conduct” has a section that...

There is an alarming rise in sea level along the indian coast since 2004, said Shailesh Nayak, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences. Addressing the indian Science Congress session on ‘Weather, Climate and Environment,’ Nayak said the seal-level rise during 2004-08 along the indian coast was about 9 mm. The global average sea-level rise from 1961 to 2003 was 1.8 mm per year. The annual rate along the indian coast was...

Petty criminals who break into condom vending machines are causing concern among Aids and HIV-prevention activists in the indian city of Mumbai. Over 3,000 condom vending machines have been installed in the city as a part of an HIV Aids prevention programme. However, more than 500 of the machines have been damaged by petty criminals who break into them for fun, for small change or for free condoms. During the Hindu...

A revolution in small farm management is essential to revitalise the country’s agriculture sector, according to noted agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan. Corporate farming would be detrimental to India. Farming was the largest private sector enterprise in the country, and any bid to take away land from the farmer would be counter-productive. But a symbiotic relationship between farmers and industry, resulting in a win-win situation for both, would be good, he...