Bihar has a refreshing new motif: girls in uniform on shiny new cycles, confident and assured, simply because they go to school. A little over three years ago, the Bihar government launched the Mukhyamantri Balika Cycle Yojana—the chief minister’s cycle scheme for girls. The plan entitled girls in class IX and X to a free cycle from the state or Rs2,000 to buy one—mirroring a scheme started by Tamil Nadu, but...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Total Matching Records found : 1923
Ban not the answer to illegal mining, says Handique by Sujay Mehdudia
Days after Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh lauded the Karnataka government for imposing a ban on iron ore export, Union Mines Minister B.K. Handique came down strongly on the State government for failing to get its act together on checking illegal mining. In a harshly worded letter to Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, Mr. Handique stated that banning iron ore export was not the right approach. Rather, it was a “sad...
More »Food Security In Crisis Soon by Rashme Seghal
Agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan has warned that India’s food security is being steadily imperilled by the sharp decline in agricultural growth. Speaking on the Ministry of Earth Sciences Foundation Day Lecture 2010, Dr Swaminathan warned that in 2005-6, the agricultural growth was 5.2 per cent of GDP but according to Planning Commission statistics, it has dipped to 0.2 per cent in 2009-10. This would decline with a projected two degree temperature rise...
More »Inflation: A nation forced to go on distress diet by Rukmini Shrinivasan
After nearly 15 straight months of double-digit food inflation, the government announced on Thursday that food inflation had dipped to 9.67% for the week that ended on July 17. That's small consolation for most Indians, particularly the poor, who have seen a relentless assault on their food budgets that has resulted in essential items being dropped from the menu, giving rise to a whole new enforced "austerity diet". Since no...
More »Prices soar, 61,000 tonnes of foodgrain rot by Nitin Sethi
The government admitted to the empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on food and prices that 61,000 tonnes of foodgrain had rotted in its granaries as it was kept with poor protection for too long. The EGoM headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee was ascertaining the status of overflowing stocks in Food Corporation of India godowns. Sources said Haryana and Punjab were unable to protect or sell the 15.5 million tonnes...
More »
