A fast growing economy is a thirsty economy and India is no exception—with the country’s water supply already under great strain, India must reassess its consumption to meet escalating demands for water to produce food and energy. Business-as-usual water practices cannot remain the same in India as the economy and its demand for freshwater grows over the coming decades. With an astounding 75% of freshwater already used for agriculture in India,...

Editorial space being sold daily: Nayar Favours abolition of contract system “Newspapers becoming pro-establishment” Former Member of Parliament and veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar on Tuesday called for the setting up of a press commission to go into issues such as “paid news.” Noting that the last time a press commission was set up was in 1977, he said it was time for a fresh one in the light of developments over the past three...

The famous carpet belt of Bhadohi-Mirzapur had been freed from child labour, claimed minister of state for textiles Panabaka Lakshmi and textile secretary Rita Menon. They were in the city on Friday to take part in the inaugural function of the four-day India Carpet Expo, being organised in the premises of the Sampurnanand Sanskrit University. In a chat with reporters, the minister said no child labour was engaged in the carpet...

Total primary education programme for school dropouts in 15-50 age group Education and Cultural Affairs Minister M.A. Baby on Sunday launched a new informal literacy programme which he claimed would gather momentum to become a mass movement in line with the highly successful ‘literacy movement' of the past. The initiative, ‘Athulyam', is a total primary education programme which has a series of linked schemes that aim to re-educate primary school dropouts. The first...

With an eye on projected 2.5 per cent annual growth in the job sector, the government is in the process of giving final touches to a national policy to accelerate employment growth. The draft of the proposed National Employment Policy is likely to be placed before the Cabinet soon for its approval. In a statement, the Labour and Employment Ministry said the draft note has already been prepared. It was...