PIPPHILINES
Calauit island, the island reserve legacy of Ferdinand Marcos, the former president of Philippines, has become a killing field for African wildlife. Animal species including eight species
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SOUTH ASIA
staple switch: The Sri Lankan government is now busy promoting the country's own staple food among its people. It feels that Sri Lankans are getting used to consuming large amounts of imported wheat
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Job growth statistics conceal agrarian crisis
Should we feel comfortable with the latest government claim that unemployment is coming down? The government says unemployment has come down due to growth. During the 2006-07 budget, finance minister
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The US learns that green laws make sense after all
Make no mistake, US President George W Bush’s office has conceded that green laws make sound economic sense. Although the White House reiterated what it states in a report released every year, greater significance is being attached to the review conducted
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EPA puts resources in cold storage
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is preparing to shut down its libraries, end public access to research materials and put into cold storage its collection of materials on the assumption
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Thirsty and dirty
City doesn t dig too deep for basics
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Anti activism law
The ultra conservative American Legislative Exchange Council is championing a new law that will endanger activists supporting environmental, animal and human rights. The council, trying to capitalise on existing public paranoia created by terrorism, has f
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Poison sellers past sins
Leading tobacco firm Philip Morris sought to downplay the well-established link between passive smoke and sudden infant death syndrome (sids) by influencing a scientist's research paper, according
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Mandatory reforms
<font face=arial size=3 color=#CE181E><b>•</b></font> Adopting modern accrual-based double entry accounting system with e-governance features such as GIS and MIS<br> <br> <font face=arial size=3 color=#CE181E><b>•</b></font> Reform of property tax with GIS<br>
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Mechanisation of mining operations still an idea in India
Safety the major casualty in mining
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Wooing the aam aadmi
Surely car owners who get cheap petrol and rich farmers who get free water and power can't be aam? With the general elections due next year, there are obvious pressures on the finance minister to provide goodies for the aam aadmi. There are calls to abandon, or at least postpone by a few years, the fiscal deficit ceilings prescribed by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, so that funds are not a constraint. (If most of us believe that many politicians are corrupt, they reciprocate by believing that the best way to get the vote is by bribing the voter.) Given the concern about the aam aadmi in the bleeding hearts of our political masters, I have often wondered who exactly this aam aadmi is
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Chidambaram cannot afford a harsh budget
Ashok Dasgupta Elections are due in many State Assemblies this year P. Chidambaram With Assembly polls due in a number of States during the year-end and the general elections in 2009, it is a foregone conclusion that the Union budget for the next fiscal, to be presented by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in three days from now, will not be a harsh one, even at worst. For the simple reason that over the last few weeks, the people's aspirations of deriving some benefits by way of budgetary goodies have been raised so high through statements by various functionaries of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and its coalition partners that anything not matching up to their expectations would perhaps be viewed as a great betrayal. And that's something that the ruling regime can ill afford, especially when the government is set to unveil its policy programmes and statement of accounts, the fifth and final in its current Lok Sabha term. In effect, the government will not only have to but also be seen as compensating the
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Economic Survey on SEZs
Acquisition of land for developing special economic zones (SEZs) is a major cause for concern, says the Economic Survey for 2007-08, which was released yesterday by Finance Minister P Chidambaram. The Finance Ministry presents the Economic Survey in Parliament every year, just before the Union Budget. It is the ministry's view on the economic development of the country in the year gone by, and the prospects for the year ahead. The survey has also expressed "apprehension' about the possible "misuse of the (SEZ) scheme and relocation of existing industries into SEZs'. It says the Board of Approval (BoA) headed by Commerce Secretary G K Pillai, which approves SEZ proposals, would not give a go-ahead to SEZs that "have carried out or propose to carry out compulsory acquisition of land
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PC budgets for early elections
Rs 60k-crore farm loan waiver, I-T exemption limit raised. P Chidambaram unveiled a Budget cleverly designed to win him many popularity contests. There were concessions on the income tax, reductions in customs and excise duties, and the mother of all farm loan waivers. While playing to multiple galleries, the finance minister also managed to reduce the fiscal deficit to lower than the target set under the fiscal responsibility law, and showed progress on the revenue deficit. Along the way, he designed his announcements so as to attack the twin problems confronting the economy: inflation (the excise and customs cuts will help lower prices) and falling consumer demand (lower tax rates for small cars and two-wheelers, and more money in people's pockets from the income tax concessions). Keeping in mind the Congressman's favoured
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Farm loan waiver to help small tea growers
KOLKATA: The finance minister's farm loan waiver will help 1.10 lakh small tea growers become more competitive. Small growers contribute 25% to the national tea production, which stood at 940 million kg in 2007. The Budget has also abolished cash transaction tax, which was a burden to the tea industry in particular. "Nearly 80% tea estate workers do not have bank accounts and have to be paid in cash. For the tea industry, which is yet to come out of a crisis, this tax was an added burden,' Ambootia group chairman Sanjay Bansal said. There are 3 million direct workers in the country's tea estates. The estates also provide indirect employment to some 1.5 million people. The wage bill of the industry is around Rs 80 crore. The payment to workers are made on weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis.
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Clean Cities: ET NOW Sets The Agenda | Save Our Cities | India Development Debate
1 billion people in India, or 100 million more than the number of voters we have in India, live in water scarcity! And this number is expected to go up to 5 billion by 2050. This is the appalling statistic
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Politics of punctuation
A comma gave rise to an argument over whether technology transfer should take place according to terms agreed upon at Rio or terms mutually agreed upon later
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The fight to save Moenjodaro
A worldwide initiative to save the ancient city is trying to lower the water table around it and bind back the Indus before it gets washed away
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Super panel proposed to promote research
The setting up of a national research body and reviving the cabinet committee on science and technology are among the steps the government is considering to promote a scientific temper in the country.
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In Focus
The current budget stalemate in the US has led to environmental management paying a heavy price as all major environment related programmes have been stalled indefinitely for want of clearance of