Ahead of its battle with dalit czarina Mayawati, the Congress-led Centre has made it mandatory for all central bodies to make at least 4% of their annual purchases from Small Scale Industries owned by dalits and tribals. The decision, a leg up for developing entrepreneurship among SCs/STs, came as part of the new public procurement policy cleared by the Union Cabinet on Tuesday which mandates Union ministries/PSUs to make 20% of...

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against the June 26, 2010, Orissa High Court decision to refrain from acting on a PIL drawing attention to the multi-crore coal mining scam in the state. The PIL, filed by Cuttack-based lawyer and activist Nishikanta Mishra, had demanded a probe by an independent agency, such as the CBI, into the scam involving high-ranking bureaucrats and politicians in Orissa. The scam, the petition...

-The Indian Express   Cities in India and China drowned in a sea of automobiles are experiencing maximum health issues, like "acute" as well as "chronic" respiratory problems and lung cancers, due to air pollution, a UN body has said. The rising population of SUVs (sports utility vehicles), cars and two-wheelers in Indian cities, where it is a status symbol for middle classes to posses the latest automobiles, is having a deadly impact...

Ankaji Bhai Gangar, a 49-year-old subsistence farmer, stood in line in this remote village until, for the first time in his life, he squinted into the soft glow of a computer screen. His name, year of birth and address were recorded. A worker guided Mr. Gangar’s rough fingers to the glowing green surface of a scanner to record his fingerprints. He peered into an iris scanner shaped like binoculars that...

A host of steel-manufacturing units are keen to set up plants in Karnataka, and all want captive mines. SOUTH KOREA'S Posco is not the only steel-maker keen to do business in Karnataka. The State's estimated 9,000 million tonnes of good-quality iron ore reserves, which is the second largest in India, the State government's assurances on a smooth land acquisition process, the availability of water and the promise of speedy regulatory clearances...