How to make money and prevent climate change in the process!

An intriguing headline in the metro page of HT today caught my eye - "Climate change on priority list, civic body plans fund". The article quotes the Mayor Kanwar Sen: "Currently in the MCD budget, there are hardly any funds earmarked for dealing with climate change, an issue that needs due priority. We are planning to get a separate head for funds for this purpose". What is on Sen's mind? Environment friendly projects that earn carbon credits, it seems, and restoring Yamuna to its "original healthy state" with Korean help.

Games Village to be underwritten by public finances

The "public - private partnership" defined for building the commonwealth games village has entered a new phase with the DDA forced to underwrite the cost of construction in order to get the facility completed in time (see this news item).The private builder - EMMAR MGF - could simply wring his hands and say that he did not have enough money.I had written about the partnership in Sept 2008 here

Climate change and Himalayan dams

A new UN report on water resources carries alarming warnings about the impact of global warming on Himalayan rivers. Unmindful of the possible consequences, over 450 hydropower projects are being planned in the Himalayas. Read the full story..

The law on election expenses

Originally, laws limiting election expenses were framed with the view that curbing election expenses was essential to keep the process fair. Over the years, the laws have been changed to allow unbridled expenses and neither the UPA nor the NDA wants to disturb this comfortable arrangement. Read On..

Negative voting and the law

It is election summer, and the leaders of the major political parties are busy nominating candidates whose most important qualification will be the ability to take advantage of the local caste or community arithmetic in their respective constituencies. In these pre-election games, neither those who do the everyday work of parties nor those who vote them in and out of power have anything to do with selecting candidates. Naturally, then, one is led to ask - on Election Day, should the voter have the choice to reject all candidates - by selecting a 'None of the above' option on the electronic voting machines - if he finds them all unsuitable? Read On..

SEZ's - Failed Economic Policy

The lack of economic activity in most SEZs leads to the suspicion that many were incapable of attracting economic production units in the first place. The rush to 'denotify' them only reinforces this view. SEZs: engine derailed?

The Global Economic Crisis and Indian Agriculture

The current crisis has some striking similarities with the fallout in India of the Great Depression of 1929-1933. Indian farmers were pushed deep into debt, and the overall economy suffered. Patterns from the past