About 54% Indians paid a bribe in the past year, according to a global survey by Transparency International (TI), which pegs the extent of corruption in India at levels comparable with Cambodia, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Senegal, Uganda and Liberia. TI’s Global Corruption Barometer survey, released on global anti-corruption day, measures public perception on corruption across the world. One metric asks respondents if they had paid a bribe during the past 12 months...

Halt ongoing negotiations, says open letterWith Prime Minister Manmohan Singh set to hold talks with his counterpart in Brussels on trade and economic issues, a broad civil society alliance on Thursday called on the European Commission and India to immediately halt the ongoing negotiations for an India-EU Free Trade Agreement.The India-EU summit on Friday is likely to give a political mandate for working towards the conclusion of the FTA in...

In an effort to break a deadlock in negotiations to save the planet from overheating, Union Minister of State Jairam Ramesh discarded overnight India’s policy of two years on global climate change.It’s a move that will likely win India international acclaim, but Ramesh must now prepare for fierce domestic criticism of his new stand that the country is willing to accept legally binding commitments in place of its oft-repeated policy...

The issues relating to the victims of endosulfan, sprayed in the plantations of Kasargod district in Kerala, have snowballed once again. “Earthworms emerged from the soil, and, subsequently, died. Then birds came to eat the earthworms and they died as well.”   “Some termites were killed in a cotton farm sprayed with endosulfan. A frog fed on the dead termites, and was immobilised a few minutes later. An owl which flew over...

The government today informed Parliament that the European Union (EU) has banned imports of honey from India on account of the presence of heavy metals in the consignments. The EU is the second largest destination for Indian honey exports after the US. India exports honey to over 60 nations. India’s honey exports totalled $32.39 million in 2008-09, a quarter of which went to the EU. “The EU has banned the export of...