The Niira Radia tapes have firmly put  the spotlight of adverse attention on politics and the media. But surprisingly, the loudest voice of protest—which is also a claim of innocence and a warning that the focus on the mud-smeared keeps attention off the real beasts in the 2G story—has come from India Inc. Ratan Tata, head of the Tata group and Radia’s foremost client, calls the leaked tapes “unauthorised” and...

The liquor baron and Rajya Sabha member from the state, Vijay Mallya, on Tuesday came out in support of tribals in Biligiri Ranga Hills who are in danger of being displaced due to the plan to declare the area as a tiger reserve. Speaking on the sidelines of the International Film Festival of India, in Panaji, he said that the tribals were guarding the tigers from poaching and other dangers. “If...

There is less than two weeks left for the Winter session of Parliament to conclude, but little business has been done so far. Both houses of Parliament have been adjourned since the session begun three weeks ago. It seems that the entire Winter session could be lost if the logjam between the government and Opposition persists. The only business that has been transacted in the last two days is the passage of...

The Radia tapes reveal the networks and routers, the source codes and malware that bind the corporate and political establishments in India. As squeamish schoolchildren know only too well, dissection is a messy business. Some instinctively turn away, others become nauseous or scared. Not everyone can stomach first hand the inner workings of an organic system. Ten days ago, a scalpel — in the form of a set of 104 intercepted...

The indiscriminate use of fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides over the years has led to deterioration of soil quality and crop productivity in India. According to a study conducted by the central soil water conservation research and training institute (CSWCRTI), Dehra Dun, about 1 millimetre of top soil is lost every year due to erosion. This leads to a total soil loss of 5,334 million tonnes annually, at an average rate...