Research should find ‘frugal' solutions to food, energy problems Expressing concern that the expenditure on research and development in India has been “too low and stagnant,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday called upon industry to increase its contribution and stressed the need for enhanced public-private partnership (PPP) in science and technology. “It is in some way ironic that GE [General Electric] and Motorola have created world-class technology hubs in India, while...

-The Hindu The government on Monday proposed the setting up of a parliamentary panel to go into the issue of farmer suicides in the wake of contradictory figures emerging from the States and the Union Home Ministry's National Crime Records Bureau. The suggestion came after the government was cornered in the Rajya Sabha, during the reply to the debate on the agrarian crisis, leading to two quick adjournments and a walkout by...

-The Economic Times The Food Security Bill cleared by the Cabinet is likely to hurt the poor more than it helps them. India already has 54.7 million tonnes of rice and wheat lying as stocks with the Centre and the states, 29.7 million tonnes of grain in excess of the buffer stocking norm. Offtake of rice in the current fiscal year has been 74% of the allotment, and that of wheat,...

The Union rural development ministry has decided to ape Planning Commission's discussion with states for annual finances to send a stronger message about Centre's authorship on welfare schemes, a move aimed at addressing the longstanding gripe of Congress that states were cornering all the credit. The ministry has asked states to prepare for "annual plan discussion for RD schemes" from 2012, a consultation to finalise their budget for each scheme...

Dumps trickle into the rivers and occasionally collapse, flooding homes and fields with muddy water The reddish hills dot large tracts of the Goan landscape—mounds of waste soil and other debris that have been left behind after iron ore was dug out from some 95 mines. Accumulating since the 1960s, the dumps, as they are known, are estimated at 750 million tonnes (mt) and consist of top soil, mud and iron...