-The Telegraph New Delhi: The cumulative value of cash, liquor and other bribes to voters seized by the Election Commission during the Karnataka Assembly polls is Rs 150 crore. The seizure had been Rs 193.29 crore in Uttar Pradesh in 2017 and Rs 130.99 in Tamil Nadu in 2016. Director-general (expenditure) Dilip Sharma said 136 expenditure observers, 1,557 flying squads and 2,181 static surveillance teams with GPS-enabled vehicles had been deployed in Karnataka. The...
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Smoke in the woods -Sharachchandra Lele
-The Hindu The draft Forest Policy re-emphasises production forestry, raising many ecological and social concerns Government policy documents are statements of goals, priorities and strategies. If old strategies have failed or circumstances have changed, they should be revised. Given that our Forest Policy was last revised in 1988, changes are perhaps overdue. The new draft Forest Policy 2018, however, ignores the lessons from this period and returns to the state-managed forestry of...
More »Goa's iron ore reserves may exhaust within ten years, opine expert
-PTI Being a strategic mineral resource, indigenous production can save the much-needed foreign exchange, in which laterites can play a significant role, like bauxite, which is mined from south Goa. Panaji (Goa): Iron ore reserves in Goa may exhaust in another 10 years and if there are too many companies involved in mining and the pace of excavation is high, the stocks may not even last for five years, an expert said...
More »Pranab Bardhan, professor of graduate school in the department of economics at the University of California (Berkeley), interviewed by Devadeep Purohit (The Telegraph)
-The Telegraph The Left in Bengal had often criticised him whenever he red-flagged excessive local tyranny, and spoke about the industrial decline in Bengal. The incumbent ruling party may make tall claims about changes in Bengal since the Trinamul government came to power but he has been candid enough to suggest that he hasn't seen much change either in industrial expansion or in investment in infrastructure. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has...
More »National Mineral Policy Review - A Golden Chance for Change -Rahul Basu
-TheWire.in While illegal mining is worrying, what is little understood is the enormous loot that is taking place legally. Mineral owners sometimes receive less than 5% of the value of minerals. The three iron ore scams in Karnataka, Goa and Odisha have some things in common. There were widespread and diverse breaches of the constitution, laws, rules and regulations. The environment was badly damaged. The minerals were being exhausted. Enormous corruption was...
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