-The Times of India Missile man APJ Abdul Kalam's vision of bridging the urban-rural divide through a new scheme is set to take off, with the Planning Commission agreeing to allocate Rs 1,500 crore in the 12th five-year plan and the Centre likely to start 15 projects this year. The Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) would target development in 'census towns' by undertaking key activities like sanitation, water supply,...
More »SEARCH RESULT
RURAL URBAN DIVIDE: A TALE OF TWO INDIAS
A government report lends credence to the notion of “two Indias”, or the distinction between “India” and “Bharat” – a theme often debated in recent years. At a time when urban India is growing and policy makers have expressed clear preference for the trend, this report, by National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), brings India’s deep urban-rural divide into focus, showing disparities in scale and levels of expenditure and consumption and, equally...
More »Despite falling cost of solar power generation, it will survive on subsidies
-The Economic Times The April 28, 2012, issue of The Economist has a story on India's solar power and mentions Charanka village in Patan district, Gujarat. Solar energy can be converted into electricity, using photovoltaics, or can be converted into heat. (There are other technologies too, but those aren't important yet.) So far, solar thermal, or heating, in India has essentially meant solar cookers and water heaters, though it needn't stay that...
More »India’s worst motorist behaviour is in Bangalore-Saswati Mukherjee
BANGALORE: That the motorists in Bangalore don't seem to care for pedestrians has been a subject of intense debate for long. The debate has been set to rest by a New Delhi-based green group's report that statistically shows Bangalore's deficiency in this category. Among the seven Indian cities surveyed, Bangalore scores the lowest - a measly 30 out of 100 - in the 'motorist behaviour' category, one of the nine parameters...
More »Bihar paradox: Phones outnumber toilets
-IANS Nearly 56 percent of families in Bihar have a mobile or landline connection, but about 77 percent of the population lack toilets, says a census report, highLighting the paradoxes in the state which has taken big leaps in development but also lagged behind in key areas. "Till 2001, only 2.2 percent families were using any kind of telecom facility in Bihar, now over half of its population owns a phone, as...
More »