There was in fact a successful auction of spectrum — only it was not conducted by the government but by its corporate sector cronies who made a fortune on the deal. On one pronouncement of his, you have to agree with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. His is not a ‘lame-duck government.' Cooked goose seems the more appropriate soubriquet. However, not a single new scam worth over Rs. 1 lakh crore has...

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan wants it to be the new Singapore. State officials call it Urjanchal, land of energy. For sociologist Sakarama Somayaji, the enduring image from India’s emerging energy wonderland in Singrauli is the women who sell baskets of stones on the roadside. Individually or in groups, the women break stones, and sell them to passing trucks for R80-R90 a basket, a day’s labour. The women are...

Amidst hue and cry over micro-finance institutions (MFIs) charging the rural poor exorbitant interest rates, Reserve Bank of India norms continue to allow these entities a free hand in determining their charges. The banks lending to MFIs too continue to have full discretion in fixing their rate of interest. RBI has issued a latest master circular reiterating its earlier stand on micro-credit on February 14. Master circulars are like ready-reckoners on...

The state government has ruled out giving additional rehabilitation benefits to farmers who accepted compensation for their lands acquired for Karchana and Bara power projects in Allahabad district. In recent weeks, both places witnessed agitations by farmers which have brought work to a halt. Both projects have been allotted to the Jaypee Group. On Monday, Parliamentary Affairs minister Lalji Verma told the Assembly that the projects had been shelved for now. “The farmers...

The 50-year-old farmer knew from experience that his onion crop was doomed when torrential rains pounded his fields throughout September, a month when the Indian monsoon normally peters out. For lack of modern agricultural systems in this part of rural India, his land does not have adequate drainage trenches, and he has no safe, dry place to store onions. The farmer, Arun Namder Talele, said he lost 70 percent of...