The government is divided over allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand and foodgrain retailing. While the Ministry of Finance is opposed to any change in the existing retail FDI policy, the Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Ministries, along with the Planning Commission, are open to the proposal mooted by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. At present, FDI in these areas of retailing is banned. The finance ministry’s position gains significance in...
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India's Games of Shame by Mitu Sengupta
Delhi is an anxious city this monsoon season, struggling to meet an onerous deadline. Preparations continue at a feverish pace for the 19th Commonwealth Games (CWG), which will bear down on the Indian metropolis October 3-14, along with some 8,500 athletes from the 71 states and territories that were once part of the British Empire. Around-the-clock construction and spells of heavy monsoon rain have turned Delhi into a swirl of mud...
More »As Games Begin, India Hopes to Save Its Pride by Jim Yardley
When India won its bid for the 2010 Commonwealth Games seven years ago, the event instantly became an emblem of national prestige. But as the country prepares to open the games on Sunday evening, an opportunity to burnish its global image has instead become a national embarrassment. The litany of problems plaguing the games — collapsed footbridges, filthy dorms, cartoonish corruption — have not only made headlines around the world....
More »India's Bitter Choice: Water for Steel or Food? by Abhishek Shanker
Global steel giants ArcelorMittal (MT) and Posco are leading $80 billion in planned spending in India, an investment that would vault the country ahead of Japan as the second-biggest steelmaker. There's one hurdle: India's farmers and their water supply. The farmers refuse to move from irrigated land in three states that hold more than half of India's reserves of iron ore, a key material used in the making of steel....
More »‘Don’t blame it on RTE... implement it well’ by Meghna Sharma
Remember those days when we woke up at five in the morning to revise the history chapters while longing to go back to bed for some time more. That was the 1990s; today, students don’t have to worry much about examinations thanks to the new policies under RTE. According to the RTE's 'no- fail' policy, students cannot be detained in Std I to VIII. The move was made to ease the...
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