The country’s attention may be focused on an ever-increasing energy needs, but water is a much bigger issue, says a key policymaker in the government. “Water crisis is a more serious issue than energy crisis,” said Montek Singh Ahluwalia , deputy chairman of Planning commission, at the World Economic Forum on Sunday. Speaking at a session on ‘How will India avert a Water Crisis?’ Mr Ahluwalia said that that the government...

The 10,000 MW nuclear power plant that the NPCIL proposes to set up at Jaitapur, Maharashtra, with reactors from French company Areva, was on the agenda of the Union Environment Ministry's Expert Appraisal Committee meeting on Monday. According to some members, the committee plans to recommend a conditional environmental clearance for the plant. However, it is not clear what the final decision of the committee will be. It is then up...

Calls for “suitable directions” on paying statutory minimum wages A follow-up to NAC meeting, which felt there should be no deviation from statutory wages Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat Chief Ministers have also made a strong plea for minimum wages Sonia Gandhi has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging “suitable directions” on paying statutory minimum wages to workers employed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS). The November 11 letter is...

The term “bottom of the pyramid” (BOP), coined by the late C K Prahalad, became wildly attractive in the early noughties, in part because the concept, which suggests that it is possible and legit to make money from the poor, provided a leavening justification for the animal spirits of capitalism in poor countries like India and China with their growing list of Forbes billionaires. On the verge of the second decade...

More needs to be done to protect women from The Dangers of unsafe abortions, a United Nations official told a forum in Ghana that is examining the extent of the problem in Africa, where some 5.5 million unsafe abortions are performed annually. Thokozile Ruzvidzo, Director of the African Centre for Gender and Social Development at the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), said many commitments have been made regarding women’s health,...