An amber light is flashing on the proposed Jaitapur nuclear power plant with the project expected to proceed only after apprehensions raised by the Japanese tsunami in the public mind have been thoroughly assuaged. The widely televised and reported struggle of Japan's nuclear establishment in containing overheating nuclear cores at the Fukushima power plant have rung alarm bells in India with environment minister Jairam Ramesh calling for more reviews and the...

Food inflation, hovering in the double digits, may play spoilsport to India’s ability to continue its rapid economic growth. It is truly troubling that food still consumes half of the expenditure of the average Indian household. No wonder a sharp spike in onion prices has the potential to upset the political calculus of social stability. India’s biggest challenge still remains ensuring food and nutritional security to its masses. Notwithstanding the nation’s...

The Hindu report creates a storm; Opposition wants Manmohan to deny the charge or quit Government survives “on the strength of a political sin” Yechury: gross moral de-generation and crass political opportunism Proceedings in both Houses of Parliament were marred on Thursday by repeated adjournments and uproar as a united Opposition demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh following fresh disclosures alleging bribing of MPs during the July 2008 confidence vote, which...

The ongoing nuclear incidents involving the Fukushima reactor in earthquake/tsunami affected Japan has posed serious questions already to the nuclear industry in India as well. Prabir Purkayastha writes. As I write these lines, it appears that Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant is moving towards a core meltdown as it has lost control of the cooling system. An explosion has blown the wall of one of the buildings there and radioactive iodine and...

Politicians admit breaking election law: ‘yes, that's the great thing about democracy' Politicians and their aides in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh admitted to violating election law to influence voters in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls through payments in the form of cash, goods, or services, according to a revealing cable sent to the State Department by Frederick J. Kaplan, Acting Principal Officer of the U.S. Consulate-General in Chennai. In...