Two months ago, a media baron from Ahmedabad bought 240 bighas of land near Mahakali temple in Sitapur village, adjacent to Hansalpur where India's largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, plans to set up its biggest plant in the country.  The media baron paid Rs 12 lakh a bigha. On Tuesday, four days after the car project was announced, they sold the land for Rs 33 lakh a bigha.  From Sanand to...

-The United Nations   Environmental deterioration threatens to reverse recent progress in human development for the world’s poorest, warns a United Nations report released today, calling for urgent action to slow climate change, prevent further degradation and reduce inequalities.   The annual UN Human Development Report, this year entitled Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All, argues that human development is intricately linked to environmental sustainability, and that this in turn must be...

-PTI   Underlining the urgency to fight corruption in public life, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said it is the right time to move decisively in this direction. "Our efforts for rapid progress and development can have their full impact only if we curb corruption in public life and improve the processes of governance. I believe this is the right time to move decisively in this direction," Singh said addressing the two-day Conference...

DAP — the three-letter magic word which rules the life of most farmers. Some say it is not magic, but black magic, like a drug with a tantalising hold that just won’t let you go. DAP is short for Diammonium Phosphate (a commonly used fertiliser). Whether illiterate or not, farmers all over India know about DAP. And, currently, the biggest crisis that they are facing is the 100 per cent...

India’s new pharmaceutical policy seeks to bring at least 400 essential medicines—or 60% of the drugs sold in the country—under the government’s pricing control. The department of pharmaceuticals on Friday put out a draft policy, pending since 2005, after a committee prepared a list of essential medicines, laying down new rules governing drug pricing. Currently, the government controls the prices of only 34 essential medicines. The draft says the policy, to be finalized...