RAM KARUTURI, the world’s largest rose grower, calls it a situation that needs immediate intervention. Else, he is sure the rush of Indians to Africa will ebb to a trickle, which, in turn, could have serious implications as ethnic tensions with the locals are slowly, but steadily, rising in some parts of the continent. The hub of the crisis is Gambela, one of Ethiopia’s nine states, for long starved of investment....
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Jatropha Boom Yields Tough Lessons by Manipadma Jena
With a gas-guzzler of an economy, India had been spending tens of billions of dollars annually to import petroleum. And so its 2009 policy on biofuels mandated that by 2017, India would have enough biofuel production to cover at least 20 percent of the country’s oil consumption. The government has in fact been encouraging the cultivation of jatropha curcas for the past seven years, believing that would be the fastest way...
More »Q+A - India confronts land grabs in industry push by CJ Kuncheria
As India rapidly industrialises, the government and private firms are seeking large tracts of farm land to build factories, power plants and highways, sparking off violent protests by farmers and others. Here are some questions and answers on the issue: WHY IS LAND A BIG ISSUE? For many Indians, land is the only asset or social security that they possess and is a mark of social standing. Nearly 60 percent of India's 1.2...
More »Indian children still underweight – after 20 years of interventions by Jason Burke
Inefficiency, the global financial meltdown and rising food prices have conspired to reverse progress made on poverty and hunger Head out of Delhi, across the fetid Yamuna river, with the tourist sites behind you and the northern Indian plains in front of you. Go past the new, luxury flats built for the Commonwealth Games, turn right and follow the lines of the new metro and then plunge left, avoiding the chaotic...
More »CBI, IAS officer under CVC scanner for alleged corruption
The Central Vigilance Commission has advised prosecution proceedings against 17 officers, including an IAS, working in different government organisations for their alleged involvement in corruption. After conducting preliminary inquiries, the CVC has found that Sanjiv Kumar, a 1985-batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre, working with Ministry of Personnel, PG and Pensions and Bose Partha Sarathi, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Special Crime Branch, in Central Bureau of Investigation were allegedly involved in...
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