It would be grave folly to recoil from the N-option, our safest Nuclear Is Clear     The world needs cheap energy and, as of now, nuclear plants are the most efficient means to that end     Switching to fossil fuel sources will add to global warming. In extremis, the oceans could boil away.     The lesson from Fukushima is no worse than that tsunamis are a danger to everything in their path *** After the...

The Aditya Birla Group increased its contribution to political parties about fourfold to Rs 30.5 crore in 2009-10 while the Bharti Group cut it from Rs 17 crore to zero.  The two main national parties, Congress and BJP, received Rs 84 crore and Rs 82 crore, respectively, as contribution from all sources while a regional party like Sharad Pawar's NCP obtained only Rs 3 crore.  The 2009-10 numbers of companies making legal...

The Planning Commission has received a sweeping set of recommendations that proposes free health care and medicines for diverse needs to all Indian citizens, irrespective of economic means. Whether or to what extent the proposals — described as “even bigger” than the UPA’s blockbuster job scheme — will be accepted will depend on the political and executive leadership. If the government throws its weight behind the initiative, it will effectively mean...

An independent study says some 250 thermal power projects that have got clearances may be meant just to grab land and water resources. THERE have been a growing number of headlines that speak of an energy crisis and the energy deficit in India in the last few years. The disparities in the demand-supply scenario, the increasing prospects of disruptions in the global supply of fuel and the consequent results of higher...

-The Hindu   Revised pact with Switzerland will allow India to obtain banking information in specific cases: Finance Minister   Having impressed upon the G-20 nations the need to adopt automatic sharing of banking and tax-related information at the Paris Ministerial meeting last weekend, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday sought to highlight the “noteworthy” achievements and the progress made back home in unearthing unaccounted income. In his inaugural address at the ‘Economic Editors'...