Although India possesses only five per cent of the world's land, it happens to be a superpower of biodiversity. This wealth wasn't created by our multi-chinned businessmen or emaciated farmers but by sheer accidents of geology and evolution. Yet, conservationists struggling to protect this wealth are often accused of thwarting national progress. How true is this accusation?
The ambitious Food Security Bill may look at being more inclusive-------------
Every Morsel Counts
The alternative version
Jean Dreze, Economist
1. Food security guarantee will have to come from the Centre
2. Does not want to freeze number of BPL families at any inflexible level
3. Wants clear criteria to determine BPL and APL categories, but not with an aim to exclude anyone
Newspapers recently carried an artist's vivid imaging of a collision of Earth and Mars that is supposed to take place some three billion years from now. As I was pondering over the image of the two planets melting into each other, I was reminded of a conversation
Swine Flu Primer
What is H1N1? It's a virus which has gene segments from the swine, avian and human flu virus. Scientists have christened it influenza-a (h1n1) virus, commonly known as swine flu.
What's A Pandemic? An epidemic of infectious disease that spreads through human populations across a large region. On June 11, the who declared h1n1 a pandemic.
Talking Cash
* Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar: Self-employment through a mix of subsidy and bank credit.
* NREGS: Wages deposited in bank/post office according to employment days. Indira Awas: Rs 35,000 given in cash instalments to build a house.
* Janani Swasth: Cash to mother on discharge from hospital post-delivery.
The country may be facing dire wildlife conservation crises on several fronts, but it turns out that its apex conservation board, chaired by no less than the prime minister, has little time to even meet. Few of its decisions are implemented on the ground anyway. This has prompted many of its members to call for a complete overhaul of its functioning.
* The Planning Commission estimates the urban poor at some 80 million
* Figure for the rural poor is 120 million
* Over 98 million people migrate from rural to urban centres
* The 42nd Indian Labour Conference recommended a scheme for tackling urban unemployment
Roads, as much as any form of geological life, are inevitably subject to wear and tear. Just six years ago, the Delhi-Jaipur highway symbolised India's aspiration to join the league of developed nations with smooth grey runways that made cruising at over 100 km or more a reality.
