TODAY, India is considered around the world as a rapidly developing country posting economic growth rates of around 8-9 percent consistently over the last several years. Along with China, which is much further ahead, India is seen as a powerhouse of the global economy in the decades to come and already it is home to a very large number of dollar billionaires, perhaps the largest such number in Asia. In...

Only 400,000 jobs a year were generated during UPA-1, compared with 12 million annually during the NDA’s tenure Key economic data released by the government on Friday shows that the first stint of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) generated a mere 400,000 jobs a year, compared with 12 million jobs annually during the tenure of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). During the period 2004-05 to...

-The Hindu   Blocks not actually within the biodiversity-rich region, he says Stage-I forest clearance granted to three blocks in the region Ramesh over-ruled advice of his own Forest Advisory Committee to grant approval The bastion of Hasdeo-Arand has finally been broken. One year after saying that the coalfields of this heavily-forested, mineral rich region of Chhattisgarh would never be open to miners, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has finally granted a stage-I forest clearance to...

Karnataka has among the worst track records in the country in meeting the rights of tribal communities, the latest figures with the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs reveal. Recently, the State Government opposed Unesco's nomination of the Western Ghats as a heritage site on the grounds that tribal rights could be violated, and that forest dwelling communities could even face eviction. However, Karnataka features at the bottom of the ranking of States...

-The Hindu   Amid the intensifying protests against land acquisition by South Korean company Posco in Jagatsinghpur, Orissa, the resistance got some praise during a debate on “The Posco Betrayal”, which was held here on Sunday. Sharing his experiences of being part of the Independent Investigation Committee that reviewed POSCO clearances, general secretary of the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) V. Suresh criticised the Orissa Government, Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh...