It's little after 8.oo in the morning as we (BT photographer Debashish Paul and i) drive down the bumpy roads (that often degenerate into dirt tracks) bisecting picturesque tea gardens. We get the whiff of tea leaves (the most crucial second flush

No wonder, the index of industrial production (iip) is on a roller-coaster. The 9 per cent gdp growth targets may well remain just that

MANY HISTORIANS NOW CLAIM THAT LT IS AN APOCRYPHAL STORY, BUT the myth endures. Confronted with a shortage of bread among the peasantry over 200 years ago, French Queen Marie Antoinette reportedly said: "If they have no bread, then let them eat cake." Faced with global food shortages, modern day rulers cannot afford to be so callous and cavalier.

Call it brand affinity. Kolkata-based Turtle, the men

International laws: Even as 1987 Montreal Protocol laid down rules to banish ozone depleting substances (ODS), several of the substitutes that came into use were GHGs. These were covered under the Climate Change Convention. The Kyoto Protocol included six GHGs and committed developed countries to mandatory emission reduction targets of these gases.

Cotton's resurgence signals the path ahead for meeting rising food demand. Adoption of simple farm technologies too can fetch higher yields.

Rising food prices across the world are generating a great deal of heat and dust. Some of that high-decibel debate about food versus fuel and end of an era when food prices were declining, has found its way into India as well.

POLA IS THE HARVEST FESTI-val in Maharashtra. On this day every August, farmers in the agricultural belts of the state bathe their buffaloes, paint their horns and parade them around their villages. As the villagers of Bhadumri (in western Vidarbha) were busy sprucing up their cattle in August 2006, 35-year-old Anil Shende, a marginal farmer, staggered out of his two-room mud hut and collapsed.

Jain Irrigation Systems is the second-largest drip irrigation company in the world and one of the largest suppliers of ducting to telcos globally. Now, it's eyeing revenues of $1 billion, krishna gopalan

US vice presidents have never really been known for the depth of their intellects. But Al Gore, former Vice President of the us, is an exception. He is passionate about the fight against climate change, and his address at the India Today Conclave in Delhi recently highlighted both the dangers and the opportunities that these present.