Chinese officials have welcomed this week's scheduled meeting between the Prime Ministers of India and China in Rio de Janeiro as an opportunity to strike common ground with India, with both countries facing “similar pressure” on a host of contentious global issues. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of Wednesday's Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, where India,...

-Outlook Anyone with internet access can get an education—from the best in their fields The Supreme Court last week allowed online counselling for admission to undergraduate courses in medical colleges. Under the scheme, students applying for all-India seats in medical colleges would be able to receive counselling in choosing their colleges online. While this is but a small development, for just a section of seats in medical colleges across India, coming...

The ASCI report says there is ample evidence of “market dominance” in specific media markets, but the government has ignored the report for three years. A ministry official tells PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA that it is unlikely to be implemented. A report prepared by an independent institution recommending imposition of cross-media ownership restrictions recently entered the public domain nearly three years after it was submitted,  following a rebuke to the government by...

CHENNAI: Government officials in Tamil Nadu can now sit in their air-conditioned offices and keep tabs on clogged up water bodies and channels in remote villages using satellite technology. Criticized by many for corruption and inefficiency, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has been given a scientific make-over in the state with GIS (geographic information system) mapping being used to organize the works as well as to...

-The Indian Express   Rich countries must stop lecturing developing countries and accelerate their own efforts to cut emissions There is no shortage of people telling India what to do on low-carbon growth, but there is a shortage of understanding of what India is doing. Even the UNDP in its recent Asia Pacific Human Development Report urges emerging economies like India to do more for climate change. If one appreciates what India’s emissions are...