Ever since the Centre announced that it would collect data on various castes during the ongoing Census, the media has created a hue and cry saying that this would harm the nation and open a Pandora’s Box of caste conflicts. On the other hand, those who seek caste enumeration are of the view that this would clear the cobwebs and deliver proper data on other backward classes (OBCs) that will...

IN APRIL this year, the Supreme Court directed the Ministry of Environment and Forests to conduct a probe into French cement giant Lafarge’s limestone mines in Meghalaya. Lafarge was alleged to have been operating on forest land without proper clearance. Now it turns out the allegations against the Paris-headquartered multinational are graver. Bangladesh-based Lafarge Surma Cement Ltd — a joint venture between Lafarge Group and Spanish cement company Cementos Morlins —...

For LPG and kerosene subsidy, government has to make up from petrol, says Montek Singh Ahluwalia he government should use its money on building schools and hospitals than subsidising oil companies, which were making huge profits because of grant, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said. “The profits shown by the oil companies are largely due to subsidies. We are not supposed to be subsidising the oil companies ... we...

With global warming now becoming a permanent fixture in the Indian agriculture landscape, state governments and insurance firms are rushing to provide crop insurance for farmers. Take the case of Rajasthan, which is now looking at extending agri-insurance cover across its 33 districts this year compared to 26 last year. Ditto with Himachal Pradesh and Haryana which would run the Rashtriya Krishi Bima Yojana from this kharif onwards. The cover...

Young rag-pickers sifting through rubbish are a common image of India’s chronic poverty, but destitute children face new hazards picking apart old computers as part of the growing “e-waste” industry. Asif, aged seven, spends his days dismantling electronic equipment in a tiny, dimly-lit unit in east Delhi along with six other boys. “My work is to pick out these small black boxes,” he said, fingers deftly prising out integrated circuits from the...