-The Economic Times The move to ease diversion of forest land for industrial use by the Prime Minister's Office faces further delay as the ministries of tribal affairs and environment want more time for consultations. A panel headed by principal secretary to the Prime Minister, Pulok Chatterjee, had decided to dilute the requirement of taking consent from the affected tribal population before diverting forest land. The committee, which submitted its report...

-The Economic Times A Committee of Secretaries (CoS) recommendation for a 10% increase in urea prices notwithstanding, the fertiliser ministry is in no mood to bite the bullet. The ministry has categorically said in a note that it opposes the recommendation and that there should be no price revision. The Cabinet has been deferring a price raise for the last six months due to the fertiliser ministry's opposition. The government has been...

-Tehelka Edited Excerpts From An Interview NOTED ECONOMIST and Columbia University Professor Jagdish Bhagwati’s pro-free trade stance is well-known. A friend of the Prime Minister and his batch mate from Cambridge University, Professor Bhagwati feels the UPA’s departure from the stagnation of the past few years is a welcome change, and lauds the decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail. In an interview to TEHELKA Business Editor Shaili Chopra, Bhagwati says more...

-Frontine Walmart’s disclosure that it spent huge amounts of money on lobbying in India and the allegation that it entered the retail sector through indirect means highlight the power of global capital in dictating the country’s policies. The world’s largest multi-brand retailer Walmart’s disclosure to the United States Senate that it had spent $25 million (Rs.135 crore) since 2008 on its various lobbying activities, which include enhancing access to the Indian...

-Bloomberg.com One of the most obscene moments after the death of the gang-rape victim in New Delhi was a tweet by Narendra Modi, the chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat, offering regret and condolences to the dead woman’s family. Modi, who has quelled restive minorities by allowing attackers to subject women to unspeakable horrors, has done more than any man to numb his prudish country to sexual violence. Yet he...