Briefing

Seeds of biodiversity
A Paris-based agency comes to India with a large variety of traditional seeds and the message of seed conservation. IT was started ...

Seeds alien and Indian
KEYA ACHARYA KOKOPELLI distributes in Europe nearly 1,500 varieties of traditional, open-pollinated seeds collected from all over the ...

Towards trade wars
Protectionist moves by the United States increase friction among the world's major economies, and this is likely to cause greater acrimony in ...

Birth of a monopoly
The acquisition of the public sector Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited by the Reliance Group threatens to unleash a domineering ...

A law for water conservation
The Andhra Pradesh government brings forward legislation to regulate the exploitation of ground and surface water resources, but shortcomings ...

Neighbours and friends
R. KRISHNAKUMAR Its name is a tongue-twister - Izhavanthuruthy. But many parts of this panchayat, with its typically rural Malappuram ...

Women on the move
An emerging 'micro' movement involving mostly poor and vulnerable women is changing Kerala's entrepreneurial reputation. GOOD ...

Making micro-credit work
R. KRISHNAKUMAR NOWHERE has the potential of panchayat-coordinated women neighbourhood groups (NHGs) been demonstrated so well as in ...

The journey of a progressive economist
PRABHAT PATNAIK WITH his gentle and unhurried speech, his calm and composed mien, he looked more like a saint than the man of the world, ...

A Professor and a planner
Dr. I.S. Gulati, 1924-2002. LIKE thousands of people displaced from their homes in Pakistan during Partition, Iqbal Singh Gulati ...

The U.S. as a Hyperpower
The United States remains unmatched in history in its awe-inspiring military clout, economic might and political weight. But its unilateralism ...

Privatisation and primitive accumulation
A Tata-dominated board decides to use VSNL's cash reserves to invest in Tata Teleservices. Privatisation, in practice, thus becomes a means ...

War clouds
Those who ask the government to take strong measures to stop cross-border terrorism fail to appreciate the fact that we are facing an ...

Lessons from the FBI experience
An FBI official's indictment of the U.S. agency for negligence in converting information into intelligence that could have led to action to ...

Proof of connivance
THE National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) released on May 31 its findings and comments on the situation in Gujarat. In the process the ...

On the edge, still
Sporadic violence continues, tensions still run high and the communal forces remain emboldened, even as bomb explosions in public places create ...

A strike staunched
PRIME MINISTER Atal Behari Vajpayee's recent impatient outburst that India ought to have given a "befitting reply" to Pakistan ...

The military dynamics
The Indian military is evidently eager to seize the opportunity and "call Pakistan's bluff". A look at strategy and state of play.

A General's troubles
Faced with domestic and international criticism for his failure to keep his promise to deal firmly with the menace of terrorism, President Gen.

Active interventions
An alarmed international community advocates restraint and offers advice and help to defuse the escalating tensions. THE looming ...

Troubled waters
NAUNIDHI KAUR THE hardening of stands on the part of India and Pakistan has had an adverse impact on the annual Permanent Indus ...

The disarming pitch
Peacemakers are also arms sellers. Countries that have launched diplomatic offensives to avert a war between India and Pakistan are also ...

Missile manoeuvres
T.S. SUBRAMANIAN THE test-firing of three missiles - Ghauri, Ghaznavi and Abdali - by Pakistan on May 25, 26 and 28 - may not have ...

Missile match
India's threat perceptions are to be evaluated on the basis of increased evidence that Pakistan's indigenous missile efforts are now on an even ...

Making micro-credit work
R. KRISHNAKUMAR NOWHERE has the potential of panchayat-coordinated women neighbourhood groups (NHGs) been demonstrated so well as in ...

Kashmiris reject war in favour of democracy
The results of a major new survey by MORI. THE vast majority of Kashmiris oppose India and Pakistan going to war to find a permanent ...

A flawed move
The Delimitation Bill which has been passed in Parliament shows limited vision in seeking to effect a delimitation exercise on the basis of ...

Right-wing resurgence
The victory of right-wing candidate Alvaro Uribe in the Colombian presidential election spells trouble for the peace process in the country.

'A timely and prudent step by the LTTE'
A thaw has set in in the relationship between Muslims in Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after a meeting ...

Birth of a monopoly
The acquisition of the public sector Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited by the Reliance Group threatens to unleash a domineering ...

A law for water conservation
The Andhra Pradesh government brings forward legislation to regulate the exploitation of ground and surface water resources, but shortcomings ...

The journey of a progressive economist
PRABHAT PATNAIK WITH his gentle and unhurried speech, his calm and composed mien, he looked more like a saint than the man of the world, ...

A Professor and a planner
Dr. I.S. Gulati, 1924-2002. LIKE thousands of people displaced from their homes in Pakistan during Partition, Iqbal Singh Gulati ...

War clouds
Those who ask the government to take strong measures to stop cross-border terrorism fail to appreciate the fact that we are facing an ...

Proof of connivance
THE National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) released on May 31 its findings and comments on the situation in Gujarat. In the process the ...

On the edge, still
Sporadic violence continues, tensions still run high and the communal forces remain emboldened, even as bomb explosions in public places create ...

Orchestrated terror
Reports of fact-finding teams sent by organisations with a Left and secular outlook reveal credible evidence of official complicity in the ...

Pro-incumbency pointers
Ruling parties and coalitions make gains in a round of byelections across the country. SUKUMAR MURALIDHARAN T.S. SUBRAMANIAN A SLEW ...

A fractured verdict in Goa
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party fails to win a majority but manages to put together a coalition government. GOA, which was ...

A breach of trust
WHEN the Karnataka Police forcibly took away Nakkheeran reporter P. Sivasubramanian in November 2001, and both the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu ...

The voter's right to know
The Supreme Court directs the Election Commission to make information on candidates' criminal background, wealth and education available to the ...

Elusive consensus
As President K.R. Narayanan's term nears its end, conflicting perceptions and interests stand in the way of the major political parties and ...

The killing of Lone
The Islamist Right guns down Abdul Gani Lone, the moderate voice in the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, threatened by his rear-guard action to ...

Farmer power
In Haryana, protesting farmers face police repression after the Chautala government fails to keep its election promise of waiving their ...

Hell and high water
Close to a thousand people in 17 villages in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh face an uncertain future as submergence under the Maan dam project ...