The new draft National Water Policy (NWP) circulated by the Ministry of Water Resources to water experts suggests that the government is poised to withdraw from its responsibilities of water service delivery, and that multinational corporations and financial institutions might have too big a say in water allocation and policy. At first glance, it appears as if the policy takes a holistic approach to water resources management, with a clear recognition...

-ANI Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday announced new rules for the telecom sector in which he said that the government has decided to de-link granting of fuTure telecom licences from spectrum allocation. Addressing a news conference here, Sibal said all license henceforth will be unified and added that there will be a cap on spectrum capacity in case of mergers and acquisitions which in Turn requires surrendering excess capacity. Sibal said...

The irrationality and waste in energy subsidies in India has been a perennial theme in analysis of the Indian economy and in reform prescriptions. Progress has, however, Turned out to be elusive in the face of ground realities and feasible politics.  The power ministry, after struggling for over a decade through repeated exhortations, had the satisfaction of getting a resolution in a Chief Ministers Conference in 2001 that free supply of...

Discovery of a deadly form of TB in a Mumbai hospital  underscores mismanagement In December last, when doctors at Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai raised the alarm over a deadly form of tuberculosis, the Union health ministry was quick to refute the claim. In its press release on January 17, the ministry said the term “totally drug resistant TB” is “misleading”; it is neither recognised by the national programme for TB control...

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday snubbed Google India and Facebook India for their request to treat the case against them for hosting “objectionable contents” only as a “private complaint”, not requiring the government to intervene. The court observed that the case could not be considered only as a private dispute between the complainant and the websites, which have moved the HC against the summoning order by a Delhi magisterial...