UPA's move may come three years late

It began as an idea that had more to do with filling up the coffers of state governments than tackling the actual concerns of climate change. Coal-rich states, which are witnessing private power producers line up for a piece of action, began flexing their muscles by demanding an environmental cess on power exported outside the state.

Al Gore is no longer known just as the former vp of the US. He's been creating waves as a campaigner for preventing global warming, a mission that won him the latest Nobel peace prize along with our own R K Pachauri, chairman of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. On a recent visit to India Gore launched the India Chapter of his ngo 'The Climate Project' along with Pachauri.

The pavements are choked with hawkers and the air is toxic

Despite the loan waiver proposal for farmers, Jhe latter still face a shortage of agricultural credit

The Indian automobile industry is on its way towards a cleaner and more energy-efficient future, so what if it is being driven by the government to do so. With the stringent Bharat Stage IV emission norms expected to kick in by the first half of 2010, the ministry of power has now decided to accord energy (read fuel) efficiency ratings to all automobiles manufactured in India.

Subodh Kant Sahai is a man known to have donned different hats. In charge of the ministry for food processing industries, he believes that the industry's growth is remarkable and real. In conversation with Justin Thomas, he speaks about how the sector would be a focus and the effects it will cast on rural India.

What are the major infrastructure initiatives of your ministry?

Finance minister P. Chidambaram has been observed to be in unusually relaxed and mellow moods, as he worked towards the fifth budget of the upa government, and his seventh overall. Talking to Anupam Goswami, he explains the reasons for confidence in the state of the economy:

The announcement times with the entry of power players

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had a few cryptic announcements to make, while unfurling Budget 2008-09. And one of them was the decision to set up a coal regulator. Though he did not spell it out, the Centre's proposal is timed with the entry of the private players in the coal sector.

More measures to incentivise investments in agriculture are required to be taken, to ensure sustainability of returns in this sector