Toyota: letting India down
On May 18, 1999, the United Nations Environment Programme announced that it had elected Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan to the prestigious ranks of its Global 500 Roll of Honour for the company's
Search Results
-
-
United we stand
Responses to the Centre for Science and Environment s statement
-
Enron: a murky drama
"On Enron, a single message has been delivered: any or every deal will survive only on the strength of its merit and not on the capacity to corrupt us or that of threats by any super power,"
-
Policy for the environment kept under wraps
Secrecy, economics marks the new way forward
-
No progress
UNEP meet inconclusive
-
NDA, UPA in war of words over funding of dole for farmers
The discussion on the President's address got off to a confrontationist and bitter start in Lok Sabha on Monday with NDA and UPA benches repeatedly interrupting each other even as Leader of Opposition L K Advani called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to reveal how the mega loan waiver would be funded. Advani said while a relief package for farmers was welcome, it was incumbent on government to tell Parliament how it intended to compensate banks and cooperatives for the Rs 60,000 crore sop. "Will this be by way of bonds that will be redeemed later?' he asked. He also pointed out that rural distress had been aggravated by price rise. The Radhakrishnan report on indebtedness said that there were a range of factors that were adding to the farmers' burden. Many farmers who were facing a debt trap had borrowed heavily from private money lenders. He sought to link the waiver with the possibility of an early election and said "since last August there has been uncertainty' referring to Congress-Left brinksmanship over the India-US nuclear deal. He said an unstable government could not deliver. Advani was interrupted with Congress MPs questioning him on issues like the record on combatting terror and BJP's position on Telangana. The heckling seemed part of a pre-planned script. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's decision to sit on the last bench during the debate seemed to encourage her MPs who competed with one another in aggressively defending the party. The loan waiver issue also had an echo in Rajya Sabha with BJP and CPM charging the Centre with not addressing the real concerns of the poor. Participating in the discussion on the motion of thanks, Abhishek Singhvi (Congress) said the economy had grown by over 8% in the last four years. "But this gung-ho spirit has to be tempered' in the face of hard reality of 25% people still living below the poverty line.
-
PM: Waiver picks up unpaid distress bill
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today claimed the political credit for making a speech that not only led to a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) walkout from the Lok Sabha but earned him applause from the Left parties. Days after the government declared it hadn't given up on the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement despite the Left's staunch opposition to it, and Congress President Sonia Gandhi announcing at a party rally in Tripura that the government was not in power because of any favours shown by the Left, the political message of the PM's speech today was: opposition to the BJP was not the Left parties' prerogative. In his speech in reply to the President's address to the joint sitting of Parliament, Singh charged the Opposition with ruining the lives of farmers and giving in to terrorist pressures when it was in power until 2004. Rejecting Opposition charge that the farm loan waiver was announced with an eye on elections, Singh said it was a historic initiative to meet the "unpaid distress bill' left behind by the erstwhile NDA government. "Doubts have been raised about the resources required for this write-off,' he said, referring to questions raised by Leader of Opposition L K Advani and other members asking the government how it could provide the whopping Rs 60,000 crore towards waiver of bank loans to small and marginal farmers. "Let me remind the Leader of the Opposition that what we have done is nothing more than picking up the unpaid distress bill which the NDA government left behind,' Singh said. If bankruptcy is permissible form of business outcome in industry, what is irrational about this waiver, he asked. "It will allow a fresh flow of institutional credit to farmers. It will clean up banks' balance sheets. It will stimulate economic activity in rural areas,' he said. Singh assured the House that the debt relief will be a simple exercise which will be completed by June-end. "It will not be a long drawn affair,' he said. Singh named Opposition leader L K Advani in his speech, leading to a walkout by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies.
-
State to form agri commission
The minister for agriculture, Mr N. Raghuveera Reddy, said an Agriculture Regulatory Commission would be appointed to decide payment of bonus for various crops in the state. Speaking to newsmen here on Thursday, he said that the state government has decided to pay minimum support price and bonus for various crops. Mr Raghuveera Reddy said the Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, and he had studied various benefits being provided to farmers in China, Israel, America and other countries. The minister said the government has decided to directly pay bonus to farmers. He said subsidy and bonus would be directly credited to the bank accounts of farmers as was being done in other countries. The minister said the government would initiate a discussion on establishment of regulatory commission in Legislative Assembly and Council. After taking into consideration suggestions given by farmers unions, Opposition parties and experts, the government would take steps to help farmers, the minister added. He said a study was also being conducted to help tenant farmers, who were facing problems. The minister said for the first time in the country loans were being directly given to tenant farmers in the state. So far, loans were given to 75,000 tenant farmers in the state, he added. Mr Raghuveera Reddy said there were more tenant farmers in Prakasam district. He said 50,000 ideal farmers would be selected and 4,500 rythu sanghams would be formed in the state. The minister said specific plans would be formulated to strengthen agriculture from village-level. Mr Raghuveera Reddy said it was shameful for Telugu Desam (TD) leader N. Chandrababu Naidu to announce that he had a great plan to help farmers. The minister said that state farmers were unhappy with the statement of Mr Naidu, who during his nine-year-old rule had detested farmers. Mr Raghuveera Reddy said the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) leaders had resigned from their posts due to fear that they would lose their existence in Telangana. He said the Congress was ready to face by-elections in the seats vacated by the TRS leaders and the party would abide by the decision of the people.
-
Why a butterfly can destroy a behemoth
<h1><a class="l" href="http://www.google.co.in/url?q=http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/11/23/stories/2010112353020100.htm&sa=X&ei=e5_rTN6uKIK6vwPVibnZAQ&ved=0CDAQ-AsoAjAB&usg=AFQjCNGR6he6ZoBpwDyOKhgO3sT3vwsf8A" a="true">Navi Mumbai airport gets 'green' signal</a></h1> <p><em>- Business Line, 23 November 2010</em></p> <p> </p>
-
Where is the green party?
<div class="authors" style="margin-top: 5px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="" src="http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/media/iep/homepage/sn_blog.jpg"
-
People play key role in anti filaria project
A programme implemented in central Kerala shows how an illness can be controlled if the community is involved.
-
Economic goals set for scientists
Scientists in the West who have been flush with funds over the years are being shaken out of their smugness as taxpayers demand more tangible results from research efforts.
-
Village democracy, Mendha style
A nondescript Maria Gond village in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district, can offer a lesson to urbanites on how to run a functioning democracy.
-
Prosperity and Beyond
A quarter of a century ago, a jeep driver decided it was time to make a change. Ralegan Siddhi, made into a model village by Anna Hazare, faces challenges of a different kind today
-
Stockholm and Rio: Bigger, but was it better?
Stockholm wasn't as big as Rio, but I think it had a soul. I expect Rio's soul was there too, somewhere
-
Dam of defiance
The Chikkapaclasolagi barrage, on the River Krishna in Karnataka, is said to be the country's first "people's dam". But having built the barrage, the local farmers now face an even bigger challenge
-
Standing the test of drought
After the 1999 monsoon failed in several areas of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, there is a serious drought. Summer is a good four months away, and already there are reports of riots and deaths over water. But several villages are well equipped to face the w
-
Breach of trust
This is not a story about floods in Bihar. This is a story about how an entire society has been corrupted by money meant to build embankments for flood control. A lesson that poor environmental management, especially one which emphasises construction, le
-
The great nuke snobbery
France obstinately plans to ahead with nuclear testings in the South Pacific just after the NPT conference held by the Big 5
-
Life strife
A recent encyclical from the Pope bolsters resurgent anti abortionist "pro life" groups in the US