The union cabinet is expected to decide on India's stance at the UN climate conference in Durban with environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan suggesting to adopt a hardline approach and shun flexi-approach of her predecessor Jairam Ramesh. In a cabinet note circulated, the environment ministry has sought reiteration of India's stance in 2010 that says no to a legally-binding climate treaty, demands a second commitment period of Kyoto Protocol, ensures climate...

With climate change already claiming human victims, the world must get an agreement out of the UN conference in South Africa The United Nations' annual climate summit descended on Durban, South Africa, this week, but not in time to prevent the tragic death of Qodeni Ximba. The 17 year-old was one of 10 people killed in Durban Sunday, the night before the UN conference opened. Torrential rains pummelled the seaside city...

At a time when the government and regulators are emphasizing inclusion and increase in credit delivery to those without access to formal sources of finance, private sector banks are found to have low credit-deposit ratios in rural areas as compared to public sector counterparts. In a recent interaction at the state-level bankers committee (SLBC) meeting, in which Reserve Bank of India governor D Subbarao was present, bankers brought this to the...

In the winter of 2009, Vilam Singh, a young tribal farmer from Chhattisgarh's Kawardha district, applied for 100 rupee-a-day work under MNREGA, the rural job scheme.  One year later, the same below-the-poverty line farmer bought land worth 3.36 crore rupees in another district, Janjgir Champa.  What explains the sudden turn of fortune?  "He did not turn rich overnight. He was simply roped in to act as a front by a power company that...

-The Business Standard   Vimla Devi is a committed anganwadi worker (AWW) in a remote village in Uttar Pradesh, the most populated state of India. Anganwadi is a village level institution under Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), one of the most talked about flagship programmes of the Indian Government. She is also the weakest link in a critical programme, which is underfunded, says Shantanu Gupta in the first of field-data reports, the...