The FDI in retail debate has apparently fully traversed the realm of reason and for it seems to have degenerated into name-calling. I had intimation of this when a diplomat who meets me from time to time asked me if I was being put up, for a price, by Indian corporate interests to stymie the entry of the big western firms like Wal-Mart and Carrefour? I can well imagine the...

US-based multinational Dow Chemicals has declined to share its wholly owned subsidiary Union Carbide Corporation's alleged past residuary liability towards compensating 1984 Bhopal tragedy victims and refused to submit to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of India, which is dealing with the Union government's plea for an additional Rs 7,844 crore to the gas victims. The UCC also took a stand similar to Dow Chemicals in not submitting to the...

Northern Assam's Lakhimpur district administration on Thursday halted the movement of an Over Dimensional Consignment (ODC) trailer carrying equipment for the 2000 mega watt lower Subonsiri hydro-electric power project under construction at Gerukamukh in Arunachal Pradesh after 4000 anti-big dam protesters blocked National Highway 52 to prevent the trailer from proceeding to the site. The protesters under the banner of the All-Assam Students Union (AASU), the All Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra...

-The Telegraph   Dispur today said it was open to hold discussions with the anti-dam activists, a section of whom began a fresh agitation in Lakhimpur town this morning when a vehicle carrying machinery for the Subansiri hydel power project tried to proceed towards the project site in Dhemaji. Protests began when a truck carrying a “big machine” for the project left Thelamara in Sonitpur district yesterday morning and reached Lakhimpur town around...

-BBC   India's PM Manmohan Singh has defended the decision to open up the retail market to global supermarket chains, saying it will be good for both "farmers and the common man". Mr Singh was reacting to opposition demands to reverse the decision to allow 51% foreign ownership of multi-brand retail stores. Opposition politicians say the move will damage India's small retailers. Parliament has been in uproar and was forced to adjourn again on Wednesday. 'Better...