-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Gujarat government has turned down an RTI query seeking details of the wealth of the chief minister and the council of ministers claiming it is not in the "larger public interest". The move is in sharp contrast to that of the Union government which has made facts related to assets and liabilities of its council of ministers public since 2011 and Supreme Court judges who...

-The Telegraph In her recent book, Green Wars, the environmental journalist Bahar Dutt, writes: "The editor of a leading media house, everytime I pitched a green story, would invariably complain: ‘Environmentalism is stalling growth; all I am interested in is double-digit growth for this country.'" The idea that environmental protection and economic progress are at odds is widely held among India's elite. It is shared by newspaper editors, economists, businessmen, and, not...

-Down to Earth NDA-ruled Centre tells Uttarakhand to computerise Public Distribution System first; Congress-ruled state cries foul The Central government has told Uttarakhand government that allocation of food grains to it under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) will be considered only on successful completion of computerisation of the state's public distribution system (PDS) and satisfactory arrangements for delivery of food grains at the doorsteps of beneficiaries. The letter dated August 4, a...

-The Times of India BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh government sat on summons by a New York court for seven months, allowing it to deliver a deathblow to Bhopal gas victims, months before the 30th anniversary of the tragedy. The US court, on Thursday, ruled that Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) cannot be sued for contamination from toxic waste in its abandoned chemical plant in Bhopal. The legal suit was pending with the federal district...

-The Business Standard States need to create alternative marketing structures for farm produce since middlemen also provide vital services that are otherwise unavailable to the farmer   One of the issues often raised in the context of high food inflation is the pressing need to change the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC), the marketing boards established by state governments. The earlier United Progressive Alliance government had asked the Congress-ruled states to remove fruit...