India finds itself bracketed with countries like Philippines and Cambodia, rated as the fourth most corrupt nation among 16 countries of the Asia Pacific region surveyed by leading Hong Kong-based business consultancy firm PERC. The Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd (PERC) rated India at 8.67 on a scale of zero to 10 with the high end being the worst case of corruption scenario and ahead of the Philippines (8.9 points),...
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Is Rajasthan Government Selling Farmers’ Interests? by Bharat Dogra
DEALS WITH MULTINATIONALS AND OTHER BIG AGRIBUSINESS COMPANIES A wide range of farmers’ organisations, Gandhian organisations, people’s movements and NGOs have united to oppose a series of disturbing agreements which the Rajasthan Government reached with various multinational and other agribusiness companies including Monsanto. These agreements, which greatly increase the control and influence of these companies over the agriculture sector in India’s biggest State (in terms of area), have proved so controversial...
More »Govt approves Rs 5,000 cr working capital loan for FCI
The government on Tuesday approved a short-term loan of Rs 5,000 crore for Food Corporation of India (FCI), which will help the organisation meet its working capital requirements this fiscal. The proposal was cleared in the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) held here. "The CCEA today approved a short-term loan of Rs 5,000 crore to the FCI for 2010-11," an official statement said. FCI, the nodal agency for...
More »Healthy lessons from Bihar by Shailvee Sharda
Rising from ashes, Bihar is India's new phoenix. Recently it impressed the World Bank resulting in an aid worth several hundred crores for development of the state. And it has a number of lessons for neighbouring UP. In 2002-03, when census data was notified, UP fared better than Bihar. But, now the tortoise (read Bihar) has metamorphosed to hare, leaving UP behind. Consider figures from the National Rural Health Mission. Number...
More »Towards a TB-free India by Ramya Kannan
Tuberculosis continues to be a major health problem in India. But the unveiling of a new test to diagnose TB and drug resistance on World Tuberculosis Day (March 24) brings some hope into a bleak scenario. Last Thursday, on World Tuberculosis Day, for the first time since the 1880s there was probably some justifiable cause for jubilation. After centuries of grappling with sputum smear microscopy, developed way back in the 1880s,...
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