-The Telegraph Ahmedabad, Aug. 25: A chain of farmer suicides in Saurashtra and the Congress’s initiatives to reach out to affected families appear to have put the Narendra Modi regime on the backfoot ahead of the Gujarat elections. Twelve farmers have died in the drought-hit region in the past month. But the government is still in denial mode, claiming the “deaths are not related to crop failure” and that more farmers commit...
More »SEARCH RESULT
The Assam tangle -Samudra Gupta Kashyap
-The Indian Express A little over 11 years ago, when the Congress defeated the Asom Gana Parishad and Tarun Gogoi took over as chief minister of Assam, people had their doubts. Would this man who had spent most of his political career since 1971 as a Lok Sabha member be able to run this state? The state, with its unique tangle of ethnicity and politics, has, after all, always been a...
More »Rural land may be classified to protect farm interest-Amiti Sen
-The Economic Times The rural development ministry has drawn up an ambitious plan to demarcate rural land depending on its use to ensure that fertile agricultural land is not used for industrial purpose. An inter-ministerial group that will include experts from the national remote sensing agency and the town and country planning organisation will work out a feasibility plan. "While passing by huge tracts of fields full of crops it is not unusual...
More »Gujarat Congress promises 100 yard plots, soft loans for rural poor
-The Business Standard The Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) on Wednesday announced that it would provide 100 yard plots to landless and homeless families in rural areas of the state, if the party was voted to power during the assembly elections to be held in December this year. This announcement is part of the Congress's poll campaign 'Gujarat Praja Vikas Darshan 2012'. GPCC president Arjun Modhvadia said claimed that the Narendra Modi...
More »Reforms, competition in distribution and end to coal monopoly only antidotes to power failures-Arvind Panagariya
-The Economic Times The power failure in India on July 30-31 was big news in US media. When the radio and TV stations began calling with the question whether this spelt the end to India's claims to global-power status, my first reaction was to remind them that a similar failure of the grid in 2003 had drowned the entire Northeast and Midwest in the US and Ontario in Canada into darkness. But,...
More »