-The Economic Times The Supreme Court has asked the government to implement the ambitious interlinking of the rivers project in a time-bound manner to tackle drought and flood in various parts of the country. The court also appointed a high-powered committee for planning and implementation of the project.  A bench comprising Chief Justice SH Kapadia, Justice AK Patnaik and Justice Swatanter Kumar on Monday said the Centre and concerned state governments should...

Do agencies like the Ford Foundation push their own agenda through the NGOs they support? It’s often said, tongue in cheek, that India’s “shadow” government works out of the nondescript, low-slung buildings abutting the Lodhi Garden in Delhi. That’s partly hubris, but it also stems from being close to the centre of power. This rarefied zone houses powerful “cultural” institutions like the India International Centre, as well as a host...

Delivering the Setalvad Memorial Lecture, on April 16, Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia cautioned the judiciary against exceeding their judicial functions. His remarks are particularly relevant to the increasing tendency of judges of superior courts to issue directions to government, to correct and monitor government’s functions, and to even make policy decisions which are in the domain of government — as if there was no separation of functions between...

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar made a strong pitch for bringing to an end the policy of implementing Centrally-sponsored schemes in states, saying the Centre should confine itself to broad policy making. "You (Centre) develop policy and broad roadmap. Leave the decision on schemes for states. Stop Centrally-sponsored schemes. You give us task...you decide a target and help and monitor us but why going into minute details?," Kumar asked. Speaking at a...

Interlinking of Rivers has the potential to increase India's arable land by 35 million hectares (mha), Minister of State for Water Resources Vincent H. Pala said Tuesday. Harvesting flood waters to recharge of ground water would increase the availability by about 36 million cubic metres, he added. Speaking at the conference on water organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here, Pala said: 'India has to create an irrigation potential of more...