another face of the indian state.
Monthly Archives: April 2012
while i was out bobbing in the bottle green waters of lakshadweep’s lagoons — see previous post — this story on the uidai came out. Barely six months ago, UIDAI was under siege-not just from civil society activists, but also from other parts of the government. The home ministry, one of whose arms was undertaking […]
am just back from a polymesmeric holiday in lakshadweep, an archipelago of coral islands off india’s west coast. learnt how to swim. kayaked. dived. saw turtles, dolphins, morays and more. and had my head turned inside out by the intricacy of coral ecosystems. am now back convinced that i need to read about coral reefs, […]
A committee of MPs has questioned the budget’s endorsement of the Aadhaar project despite the panel’s rejection of a draft law which sought to give it legal backing. The 31-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, chaired by former finance minister Yashwant Sinha, has asked the government to explain the proposed increase in budgetary allocations to […]
In February, the latest instalment of a little environmental kabuki played out when the Forest Survey of India (FSI) released its biennial report card of forests. It declared India’s forests were in fine fettle, with a net addition of 1,128 sq km, or 0.16%, in the last two years. At 692,000 sq km, forests covered […]
and now, another update on how india’s journey towards fertiliser cash transfers is unfolding. see it here. some thoughts on this, though. this january, ET had reported that companies, wholesalers and retailers alike were nervous about the fertiliser ministry’s plans to reroute subsidy from companies to retailers. You can read about that, with context and […]