Reports

Vedanta must be the best in the business when it comes to when it comes to managing the media. Either they are successfully able to block news from trickling out, or they can control what appears in the media. Quite often it is a combination of the two. It is, therefore, hardly surprising that reports of a recent toxic waste leak from Vedanta Aluminium Ltd’s Lanjigarh alumina refinery into a nearby river made no headlines in major news outlets in India. The Vedanta-Cairn deal, however, has been...

His misty eyes and weather-beaten face belie his age. As Mushtaq slouches back against the wall, he listens to us with a resigned look writ large on his gnarled visage. He gives the impression that we are engaged in a futile discussion. A second look at him, and you will wonder whether he’s just waiting for the ordeal to tide over. He probably is. He, today, does not have a life. He has not a livelihood worth the name. Mushtaq was once an artisan who worked with furs; today he is just another...

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has recommended the closure of 23 public sector undertakings in Maharashtra. Describing these as non-working companies, the CAG in its latest report on the state tabled in the Maharashtra Assembly stated that since no purpose may be served by keeping these units in existence, the state government needs to expedite closing down of these non-working PSUs. Of these 23 PSUs, three have already commenced the liquidation process. In case of ten others...

Compared to the 2G scam, the amount of this is probably nothing; but this has graver significance. A new report tells us that the subsidy on diesel has been aggressively exploited by the telecom sector, resulting in an annual loss of around Rs 2600 crore to the state exchequer. The Greenpeace report, Dirty Talking – A case for telecom to shift from diesel to renewable builds, on the previous industry and government research which show that at current growth rates, the sector would require 26...

It’s difficult for a journalist visiting Kashmir to return without meeting her. For, hers is one face of resilience in the 22-year Kashmir conflict. The unlettered Parveena Ahangar has been the voice of families left traumatised and bereaved in this protracted unrest. Her placid face masks the ordeal she has herself endured. But as chairperson of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), she leads from the front – she does not give up hope. Ahangar’s tryst with Indian authorities...

The ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in New Delhi is known to introduce regulations on the sly, but this one comes across as sinister. The new Information Technology Rules Act 2011 seeks to regulate Web content that is deemed to be “disparaging,” “harassing,” “blasphemous” or “hateful.” The Department of Information Technology (DIT) can now block any website that displays disparaging content based on a list of criteria defined by the new rules. Any official or private citizen...

In all 102 MLAs i.e. 35 per cent (out of 293 analysed) in the new West Bengal Assembly have pending criminal cases as per their own declarations. Seventy-five MLAs out of these 102 analysed have declared serious IPC charges like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and theft against them. All major parties have MLAs with pending criminal cases. The Trinamool Congress has 69 MLAs out of 183 analysed (38 per cent), the Congress has 17 out of 42 (41 per cent) and CPI(M) has seven out of 40 (18 per...

Now before we rush out to buy that Mother’s Day card or put up a nice-sounding status message on Facebook, here’s something that ought to have a sobering effect on us. India, reveals the State of the World’s Mothers 2011 released Saturday, ranks 75th among 79 less developed countries in terms of the importance that the country gives to its women and mothers. The Index also tells us a lot, by default, about what the Congress-led government in New Delhi has been doing for women and mothers – India...

Four out of five female sex workers in India have joined the profession voluntarily; they were not forced or sold into it. Prostitution is just one among several livelihood options available to women from poor backgrounds, says a new survey. The ‘First pan-India survey of sex workers’, conducted by Pune University researchers Rohini Sahni and V Kalyan Shankar, found that 79.4 per cent of sex workers (both those who entered the profession directly as well as those with prior experience in other...

Sometime last week, the Calcutta High Court passed a judgment that went unnoticed in the news space. The court held that using the word “Darjeeling” was not the sole prerogative of the Tea Board. It ruled that the ITC Sonar hotel in Kolkata was free to carry on with its Darjeeling Lounge. The ruling is certainly all about corporates and intellectual property laws and rights. The judgment, which was first reported by the prolific Spicy IP blog, draws the line till which one can push the...