May 25th, 2007
With the increasing political instability in the Arab world and the galloping oil prices, there has been increasing emphasis on biofuels to meet the growing energy needs of the world. Even the Bush administration., a key supporter of Big Oil wants to move towards an era of bio fuels and energy Independence.
However, a new U.N [...]
May 24th, 2007
Professor Ila Patnaik has a fine post on the public distribution system.
In 2003-04, 14.07 million tonnes of subsidized grain was issued to the 16 large states for delivery to BPL families. Only 5.93 million tonnes was delivered to BPL families. A whopping 8.14 million tonnes of subsidized foodgrain did not reach the poor. In states [...]
May 8th, 2007
Two recent government decisions draw attention to the muddled thinking that has characterized health policy in India. One, the government has decided to open seven new ‘’AIIMS’’( All India Institute of Medical Sciences) in different parts of the country. Second, it has made one-year rural service mandatory for medical graduates as a pre-requisite [...]
May 7th, 2007
Shahidul Mullah has not even heard of global warming. He has no electricity or telephone or any of other modern comforts being blamed for global warming. But he lives in coastal Bangladesh, and he and others like him would bear brunt of global warming.
Thanks to climate change, however, Shahidul’s life is being derailed. Serious [...]
May 6th, 2007
The state owned oil companied subsidize the domestic gas cylinders while commercial users have to pay the full market price. Since the price differential is substantial, there is large scale diversion of gas cylinders meant for domestic use to the commercial sector. The government has now decided to install RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Devices) [...]