The idea of interlinking rivers is appealing because it is so grand, but this is also the reason it is nothing more than a distraction The Supreme Court recently issued a diktat to the central government about the scheme to interlink rivers. The directions are straightforward. The government shall set up a high-level committee of ministers and other representatives on interlinking of rivers; the committee shall meet “at least once in...

‘It has become a toothless organisation, which hasmade no difference to neglect of the river' Claiming that the National Ganga River Basin Authority has become a toothless organisation which has made no change to the government's neglect of the national river, three of its non-governmental members have submitted their resignations to the Prime Minister, chairperson of the body. “In three years of the NGRBA's existence, we have only had two meetings,” said...

Conservation measures have taken away the traditional livelihoods of nomadic tribes in Karnataka. AT a short distance from the world famous monuments at Hampi is the village of Hulihaidar in the fertile region of the “rice bowl of Karnataka” in Gangavathi taluk in Koppal district. Local residents say it was an important town in the Vijayanagara empire (1336-1646 C.E.) and the seat of a local lord. Today it is home to...

Nearly four years after the High Court mandated reservation of 10 per cent beds and 25 per cent out-patient facilities for the poor in private hospitals in Delhi, only some have complied with the order. As per figures provided by Delhi government in an RTI response to Newsline, none of the major hospitals were able to treat the mandated number of patients. The government received 91 complaints about refusal of treatment...

An independent study says some 250 thermal power projects that have got clearances may be meant just to grab land and water resources. THERE have been a growing number of headlines that speak of an energy crisis and the energy deficit in India in the last few years. The disparities in the demand-supply scenario, the increasing prospects of disruptions in the global supply of fuel and the consequent results of higher...