-The Economic Times The much-awaited Food Security Bill, which is being vetted by Parliamentary Standing Committee, may see some changes before being cleared. "The committee may go for universalising the distribution of grains to cover wider range of population," ministry sources said. According to the original bill, the government is planning to make foodgrain available at low prices only to 'certain' targeted sections, that is, the below-poverty line population dividing the...
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Full steam ahead by TS Subramanian
The agitation against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant can be seen as a case of activism gone berserk. The high-octane drama against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) in Tamil Nadu has wound down. The seven-month-long agitation led by the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) at Idinthakarai village in Tirunelveli district, demanding the closure of the ready-to-be commissioned project, ended on March 27 when S.P. Udayakumar, PMANE convener, called off...
More »Ramaswamy R Iyer, former Secretary, Union Ministry of Water Resources interviewed by V Venkatesan
Ramaswamy R. Iyer, former Secretary, Union Ministry of Water Resources, has been a consistent critic of the idea of interlinking rivers (ILR). In this interview, he shares his concerns about the Supreme Court's judgment directing the government to implement the project, and explains why it is deeply flawed. Excerpts In your article in “The Hindu”, you have claimed that the government's stand on the project is ambiguous. The amicus curiae has,...
More »A Two-tier System by Sukanta Chaudhuri
When the fledgling Indian government drafted its higher education policy after Independence, it formed two separate tiers for teaching and research: colleges and universities in one, exclusive research establishments in the other. The intention was of the noblest, to deploy our best talent exclusively to create an indigenous knowledge pool; in particular, to provide research input for the nation’s development. Sixty years down the line, the outcome has patently failed those...
More »CBI files first chargesheet in NRHM case
-The Hindustan Times The CBI filed the first chargesheet in the multi-crore National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam on Tuesday. According to the chargesheet, five former UP government officials — among others — have misappropriated Rs 13.4 crore, 68% of the NRHM funds meant to upgrade 134 district hospitals in Uttar Pradesh. The officials were working with the state Construction & design Services (C&DS), a unit of the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam. Among...
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