-The Times of India Get ready to shell out more for your train journey and several other services provided by the government — from parcels to patents. Pawan Kumar Bansal, the new railway minister, on Monday hinted at an increase in passenger fares with a caveat that it was not meant to earn a profit for the state-run transporter. "Fares will not be increased for the sake of increasing fare. If fare...
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Driving the wrong way on road safety -G Ananthakrishnan
-The Hindu India’s roads are deadlier than ever. The high rates of death and disability expose the lack of an organised system of traffic management and safety. Road safety is no one’s responsibility. It is time to make someone accountable. On the final day of this year’s ‘puja’ season in Chennai, a particular roadside temple near the iconic Central Railway Station had the long annual line of vehicles — vans, tempos, taxis,...
More »Rail Tariff Authority to take call on fare hike -K Balchand
-The Hindu Union Railway Minister C.P. Joshi has announced the decision to constitute a Rail Tariff Authority, based on which the next hike in passenger fares and freight rates will be effected. The Tariff Authority is an attempt at insulating the Railways from various hikes being effected by the government, including on fuel price, which officials regard as having made the operation of the Railways in the current situation unviable. Addressing the Economic...
More »The real questions from Kudankulam -Rahul Siddharthan
-The Hindu In an atmosphere of mistrust of the government, only an independent safety regulatory mechanism can counter the scaremongering against civilian nuclear power I work at an institution funded by the Department of Atomic Energy (which, however, does no nuclear research: the DAE funds a wide variety of institutions and areas in science). About a year ago, I had an e-mail from a journalist who wondered why scientists (including colleagues at...
More »Mamata bans IPS officer’s book critical of her Muslim policy
-The Indian Express The Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal has banned controversial IPS officer Nazrul Islam’s book, Musalmander Ki Karaniya (What Muslims Should Do), in which he has highlighted the alleged plight of Muslims in the state and the “double standard” of the present government in “improving” their condition. The book, which was released a month ago, has been published by Kolkata-based publisher Mitra and Ghosh. On Saturday, officials from the Enforcement...
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