Reports

The online travel audience in India is rising, according to comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world. It found that the number of visitors to travel sites increased 32 per cent in the past year to 18.5 million visitors as more Indians are turning to the web for their travel needs. “The online travel category continues to show strong growth in India,” Kedar Gavane, comScore Director for India said on Friday. “The convenience of booking trips and locating travel information online...

The Indian government has commissioned an in-depth study to estimate unaccounted income and wealth being held within and outside India. This study, engaging three institutions, aims to bring out the nature of activities that encourage money laundering and its ramifications on national security. The study has already been in progress since March this year, and is expected to be completed within a period of 18 months. The study, according to an official release, is being undertaken by the National...

The clearance of 40 projects by the National Board for Wildlife in a matter of three hours may or may not mean something. What's more interesting and actually of more environmental significance are the voices of reason that went unheard in the bargain. The first concerned the diversion of 7.2871 ha of forest land for construction of a ropeway from Bhavnath Taleti to Ambaji Temple in Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary by Usha Breco Ltd, Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The Chairman of the Standing Committee of the...

Both Brazil and India have a lot in common as economies of the future, BRIC experts would like to have us believe. But what they invariably fail to tell us is about the ruthless marginalising and exploitation of indigenous people that have been taking place in these two countries in the pursuit of growth. A community of Guarani Indians in Brazil, however, have decided that enough is enough and have retaken part of its ancestral land, having lived by the side of a highway for a year and a half...

The much-awaited launch of Until My Freedom Has Come - The New Intifada in Kashmir happened. The editor of the compilation, Sanjay Kak, had been warned by the publisher about people walking out of book launches quite early in the evening. That didn't happen on May 25, 2011. The Gulmohar hall at India Habitat Centre remained choc a bloc till the end. And that too with the book being already available in stores. That's what made the evening special. The recording I have here has been split into...

This ought to be slap on the face of the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government. American diplomats consider the Indian government "unwilling and unable" to "end the exploitation and victimisation" of the country’s 84 million tribal people. This will be difficult for the government to dismiss since these are revelations that have been made in the secret cables that have been released by The Hindu. The cables reveal that the American government feared this neglect "plays into the hands of Naxalites."...

India has been ranked 135th in the Global Peace Index 2011 released on Wednesday. India ranks below countries like Myanmar (133), Nepal (95) and Bangladesh (83). It, of course, is better placed than Pakistan (146), Russia (147), Afghanistan (150), Iraq (152) and Somalia (153). The GPI is one of the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness. It gauges ongoing domestic and international conflict, safety and security in society, and militarisation in 153 countries by taking into account 23...

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...