Concern for public health goes up in smoke India's leading cigarette manufacturer, ITC Ltd, made financial contributions of Rs. 6.78 crore in the last two years to all major political parties in the country, causing public health activists here to question the possible interference of tobacco companies “in the Central government's efforts to bring in tougher anti-tobacco laws in the country.” Figures disclosed by ITC Ltd — and released recently by activists...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Jairam NREG poser: ‘How many ditches will you dig?’-DK Singh
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has pointed out inherent flaws in the UPA’s flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and hinted at a re-look. In an interview to Yuvadesh, the online magazine of the Indian Youth Congress, Ramesh said: “Kitna mazdoori aap karoge? Kitna gaddha khodoge? Kitne talaab ka punarnirman karoge? Kitna vriksharopan karoge? To ek seema bhi hoti hai na (How much work will you do? How many...
More »With slowing growth, people are now questioning the long-term Indian story
-The New York Times India's coalition government just celebrated the third anniversary of its tenure with a self-congratulatory banquet that could not have been more poorly timed: India's currency, the rupee, is falling; investment is down; inflation is rising; and deficits are eating away at government coffers. While short-term growth has slowed but not ground to a halt, India's problems have dampened hopes that it, along with China and other non-Western economies,...
More »Chorus of unreason -TK Rajalakshmi
Political parties across the spectrum get into a tangle over an innocuous cartoon in a school textbook THE textbooks of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) are in the news again. This time, it is not history but political science textbooks that managed to get almost all Members of Parliament on their feet on an emotive issue and for reasons that defied logic. One day before the 60th...
More »Part rollback of petrol hike likely by end-May
-The Times of India Minutes after the Congress demanded relief from the steep hike in petrol price, state-run oil marketers on Thursday indicated they could reduce the price by the month-end if the rupee and international oil prices held steady. "Current trend indicates that prices can come down," IndianOil chairman R S Butola said. He was speaking just after Congress publicly asked for a reduction in the hike. "We are genuinely sensitive to...
More »