Monthly Archives: February 2011
India Launches Major New Study For Valuation Of Its Natural Capital And Ecosystem Services
The MoEF has initiated a major new programme to value the immense wealth of natural resources and biodiversity in India. Collaborating with The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) study, the Ministry has begun the process of valuating its natural … Continue reading
Survey outlines reform agenda for accelerated growth
The Economic Survey 2010-11 has advised the government to carry out nearly a dozen reforms pertaining to various sectors of the economy and stressed that action in this regard would be necessary to achieve the 9 per cent GDP (gross … Continue reading
Survey Projects 9% Growth Next Fiscal
Barring inflation which continues to remain the government’s “priority” concern, the Economic Survey 2010-11 on Friday painted quite a rosy macroeconomic scenario projecting a robust GDP (gross domestic product) expansion of nine per cent (+/- 0.25%) next fiscal — reverting … Continue reading
The Road Map To The 2G Spectrum Scam
The ABC Of The 2G Scam
THE INCREDIBLY fast expansion of mobile telecommunications in India has been accompanied by a series of scandals that are a consequence of poor regulatory oversight and deliberate manipulation of policies to favour a select clutch of companies. The biggest and … Continue reading
New CRZ Notification: One Step Forward, And Two Back?
Even as the new CRZ notification grants fishing communities the right to redevelop the land on which they live, it lays open coastal lands for other forms of development which will adversely impact their livelihoods.
Rehabilitation Before Displacement
Although the 2007 National Policy for Rehabilitation and Resettlement lays down the principle of ‘minimising displacement’ there have been no visible attempts to implement it. The policy fails to examine the process of displacement, which is taken for granted. The … Continue reading
Paying The price for someone else’s Displacement
Rough estimates point to 60 million displaced persons and project-affected persons in India. That’s four times the estimated 15 million refugees exchanged between India and the two wings of Pakistan at the time of Partition. The majority of the development-displaced … Continue reading
Protection For The Rich; Free Play Of Market Forces For The Poor
The most striking aspect of the farming crisis in India is that its severity is directly proportionate to the degree of integration with international trade and global markets.
Five Years After SEZs: Chronicle Of Revenues Forgone
SEZs, touted as the silver bullet for India’s economic ambitions, appear to have lost their sheen as the Direct Tax Code threatens to withdraw the exemptions offered them. We have only just begun to realise how many thousands of crores … Continue reading