Estimated expenditure on farm and irrigation sectors is Rs. 17,857 crore The agricultural sector has been given prime place in the State Budget presented to the Legislative Assembly on Thursday by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who also holds the Finance portfolio. Mr. Yeddyurappa's focus on agriculture is reminiscent of the Union Budget presented by the first Janata Party Government of Morarji Desai in the post-Emergency era. The estimated expenditure on agriculture and irrigation...

After wrangling with the coal ministry over green concerns, the environment ministry has cleared eight more CIL projects that have been stalled for about a year. The development comes close on the heels of Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh softening his stance on "no go" status for coal blocks falling in environmentally sensitive areas during the meeting of a Group of Ministers (GoM) on Coal last week, where he assured that...

To many, ecology clearances coming in quick succession first for the 12-million-tonne steel project, including a captive power complex and a minor port that the South Korean Posco is diligently pursuing for close to six years and then for SAIL’s three mining leases at Chiria in Jharkhand appear as history bending revolutions. This is because the ministry of environment and forests, led by environment zealot Jairam Ramesh was till the...

Then Clive Lloyd took over the West Indies cricket team, he knew he was no Garfield Sobers. Lloyd focused on infusing discipline and strategy sessions with the team. "Both exceptional leaders, Sobers led by example, while Lloyd built a team. I suspect Jairam Ramesh is more like Sobers," an environment analyst sums up his assessment of the minister. The Sobers analogy crops up, in explicit and implicit ways, in any...

Continued poor performance of some key infrastructure sectors cause for concern As India is on the path of achieving 8.5 per cent economic growth, aiming to exceed the 9 per cent growth mark next fiscal, the biggest worrying factor that could derail this horse power of growth and play spoilsport in the “growth story” of the UPA II government is the poor state of infrastructure and its tardy pace of development...