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Will The NYT bat against Washington apples in India?


A recent editorial in The New York Times rightly recognises the flaws of a growth model driven by lower trade barriers. But Devinder Sharma wonders if the American daily will take a stand and extend its arguments to champion the cause of all nations, including India.




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Hydropower in the land of Gross National Happiness


The immense untapped potential of hydropower generation in Bhutan has led to several major projects in the offing, with varying degrees of Indian involvement. However, Shripad Dharmadhikary finds a steady rise in voices questioning their impact on the Himalayan environment.




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Is lower inflation here to stay?


Most measures of inflation over the last couple of months point to an encouraging downward movement in price indices; Shambhu Ghatak deconstructs these measures and quotes observations of the RBI to show why it may still be premature to take low inflation for granted.




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Can FDI really spur ‘Make in India’?


The government’s thrust on ‘ease of doing business’ and ‘Make in India’ rests significantly on the premise of attracting foreign capital into manufacturing. Kannan Kasturi tracks data on FDI inflows to see whether it indicates true potential to boost the sector and job creation.




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Trade rules and what they eclipse


The ruling by the World Trade Organisation (WTO)’s dispute settlement body (DSB) in a complaint filed by USA against elements of India’s solar mission is again in the news. Shalini Bhutani helps to piece together the sequence of events and points out how the global trade architecture keeps domestic laws and policies under intense scrutiny.




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A gruel-ing season


P Sainath reports on the serious problem of rural hunger in Andhra Pradesh, and the politics of free lunches.
Part II : Hi-tech, low nutrition




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Hi-tech, low nutrition


P Sainath reports on the serious problem of rural hunger in Andhra Pradesh, and the politics of free lunches.
Part I : A gruel-ing season




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The Tower of Gabble


P Sainath makes the case for sustainable rhetoric.




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The feel good factory


The India Shining advertisement campaign is a government-media joint venture, says P Sainath.




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The millions who cannot vote


By having elections at a time when people are forced to migrate in search of work, we are simply excluding an ever-growing number of citizens from the vote, says P Sainath.




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Mass media versus mass reality


The media have decided that 70 per cent of the population does not make news. The electorate has decided otherwise. P Sainath contrasts expectations before the elections with actual outcomes, and finds plenty that should have been always evident.




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Andhra's electoral earthquake


P Sainath on the fault lines in Andhra that led to the ouster of the Chandrababu Naidu led Telugu Desam Party.




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Pick your favourite millionaire


Even allowing for under-valuation, many candidates are worth crores officially. P Sainath looks through election candidates' disclosures in Andhra Pradesh.




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Sinking borewells, rising debt


P Sainath.




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Chandrababu: Image and reality


On most indicators, Chandrababu Naidu ran the worst performing state in the south of India for nearly 10 years. Yet the more damage he did, the more his media standing grew, says P Sainath.




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Little panchayat, percentage raj


In Andhra Pradesh, the Naidu government's Janmabhoomi model of development gutted the panchayats and curbed local democracy. Hence, the panchayats have proved totally ineffective during the agrarian crisis, reports P Sainath.




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Anatomy of a health disaster


P Sainath.




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How the better half dies - II


Suicides amongst their own numbers are not the only way women farmers are hit by the ongoing crisis. Suicides by their husbands leave many in a predatory world. P Sainath continues his series on farmer suicides in Andhra.




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How the better half dies


As farming floundered, many families came to the towns. The men sought work as auto drivers or daily wage labour. Often without success. In this struggle against poverty, the stress on their wives was enormous. P Sainath continues his series on farmer suicides in Andhra.




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Andhra farmers lose crores in insurance


The ongoing agrarian crisis has had a telling impact, causing the lapse of insurance policies of farmers. P Sainath reports.




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Renew lapsed farmers' insurance policies


Calls for the renewal of hundreds of thousands of lapsed insurance policies have begun, reports P Sainath.




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Hope dies slowly in Wayanad


Many plantations have shut down, throwing thousands out of work. The once-numerous Tamil migrant labourers are far fewer today, and out-migration of local labour is the new trend. P Sainath finds the off-screen agrarian crisis is very dramatic too, and has emptied the audiences for big screens in the region.




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Coffee sails globally, sinks locally


This is coffee territory, yet you cannot get the local brew in any restaurant here. Drop in at the Coffee Board in Kalpetta to enquire why this is so - and they offer you a cup of tea. P Sainath continues his series on the agrarian crisis in Kerala's Wayanad region.




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The unbearable lightness of seeing


The elite wants a society geared to deal with rare disasters but shows no urgency at all when it comes to the destruction of the livelihoods of millions by policy and human agency. P Sainath turns our consciences towards Mumbai's demolitions of tens of thousands of the homes of slum-dwellers.




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Spice of life carries whiff of death


Imports of pepper from Sri Lanka, including large quantities that are simply routed through that country but not actually produced there, have devastated farmers in Wayanad, home of the world's best pepper. P Sainath continues his series on the agrarian crisis in this region.




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Weddings on hold as prices crash


"It is time for my daughter to get married but where's the money? We ran a teashop for a long time. That folded as people had no more to spend." P Sainath finds that as the agrarian crisis has deepened in Wayanad, many people are now simply unable to afford weddings.




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BHEL: The turtle and the hare-brained


Going back on its promise made in the Common Minimum Programme, the UPA government has put Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. on the carving table, allegedly to fund health and education. But the proceeds from the proposed sale of equity in BHEL are a fraction of what could be raised by different, less repulsive means, says P Sainath.




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The class war in Gurgaon


The scenes from Gurgaon gave us more than just a picture of one labour protest, police brutality or corporate tyranny. It presented us a microcosm of the new and old Indias. Different rules and realities for different classes of society, says P Sainath.




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A much larger house on fire


About the time 50 Dalit houses were set ablaze in Gohana, the country marked 50 years of a law giving effect to the Constitution's abolition of untouchability. As if to rub it in, 25 more Dalit homes were torched the same week in Akola, Maharashtra, writes P Sainath.




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Falling farm incomes, growing inequities


When many households spend less than Rs.225 a month per person, you really need to think of how people live. On what it is that they live. What can you spend on if the most you can spend is, on average, Rs.8 a day? And if close to 80 per cent of what you spend is on food, clothing and footwear, what else could you possibly buy, asks P Sainath.




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Cry, the beloved countryside


The agrarian crisis in Vidarbha has spun almost out of control. Appeals for swift measures by many have fallen on deaf ears. The farm suicides are the tip of the huge crisis raging here, not its whole. They are, though, its most powerful symbol, writes P Sainath.




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The swelling 'register of deaths'


Maharashtra began by telling the NHRC there had been 140 suicides Statewide since 2001. It ended 2005 conceding a figure of 1,041. That is the fourth figure the same State has put out within months. For Vidarbha, it is decidedly not a happy new year, writes P Sainath.




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Creative solutions, sarkari-style


The many ways in which officials in a region gripped by crisis try to deal with it can be intriguing. Even entertaining. From advising farmers to plant crops in line with zodiac signs to suggesting they bear arms against moneylenders — it's all happening in Vidarbha, writes P Sainath.




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Look to helpline, land in jail


Those turning to the Government 'helpline' in Mahbubnagar, Andhra Pradesh, learn the hard way what happens when the little farmer of the countryside runs into the large apparatus of the state. P Sainath reports on a farmer's near-death brush with the government's promise of relief.




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Privatisation, come hell or high water


Converting water to a commercial good to be sold for profit invites disaster. Most of all for poor people whose already pathetic access to water will shrink swiftly, writes P Sainath.




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Will live ballots revive a dying economy?


In the long-time UDF bastion of Wayanad, the agrarian crisis has transformed things. All have been affected, writes P Sainath.




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Three weddings and a funeral


As farm suicides in Vidarbha cross the 500-mark in under a year, families are holding funerals and weddings at the same time. Sometimes, on the same day. In moving shows of solidarity, very poor villagers are pitching in to help conduct the marriages and funerals of down-and-out neighbours, writes P Sainath.




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Slowing down the suicides


There are several immediate steps both the Centre and the Maharashtra Government could take to ease the situation in Vidarbha. These would not solve the long-term crisis, but would surely slow down the farm suicides that continue to rise, writes P Sainath.




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Politics of packages, packaging of politics


Had there been a waiver of debt of up to just Rs.25,000, more than 80 per cent of Vidarbha's farmers would no longer have owed the banks money. People thought that waiver would come. It didn't, and the sense of being let down is great, writes P Sainath.




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A final note on credit


The announcement of fresh crop loans came late in the sowing season for Vidarbha. And, say the suicide notes of farmers, the talk at the top has not been matched by credit at the bottom. Meanwhile, the rain is adding to the devastation, writes P Sainath.




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What the heart does not feel, ...


After 15 years of a battering from hostile policies and governments, the world of the peasant has turned highly fragile. But the onus of changing is on the farmer. Not on those driving a cruel process and system, who have only contempt for ordinary folk, writes P Sainath.




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It's official: distress up, suicides apalling


The Maharashtra Government's findings now show us that over 75 per cent of all farm households in the Vidharbha region are in distress. The data also show that farm suicides were 25 times higher this year than in 2001. But conscious jugglery works to play down the numbers, writes P Sainath.




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Till the cows come home


The decision to give quality cows to poor farmers in Vidarbha has only harmed the beneficiaries, writes P Sainath.




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Shangri-La and sub-Saharan Africa


Sure, we have this crouching tiger economy. But life expectancy here is less than it is in Bolivia, Honduras or Tajikistan. Per capita GDP ranks below that of Nicaragua, Indonesia or Guatemala. And the inequality we so strongly pursue breeds its own mindset, writes P Sainath.




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No sugar coated pills for cotton farmers


This time three years ago, there were around 300 cotton procurement centres at work in Maharashtra. This year that number is 56. The farmers are being pushed towards private traders. And much lower prices, writes P Sainath.




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Elite activism: can't vote, can vet


The Beautiful People whose next-door neighbours never vote are back, teaching the masses - who do vote - how to go about it in the civic elections in Mumbai. This is the upper middle class trying to preen itself in the one process where they matter less, writes P Sainath.




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A forest road less travelled


Eleven young women in Maharashtra have chosen to become Foresters. These women Foresters are mostly from rural Maharashtra. From places such as Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, and Yavatmal and not from the big cities. P Sainath reports.




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And all the world's a stage


While theatre struggles to survive in the metros, it thrives in Vidharbha where it draws audiences of thousands for plays that go on through much of the night, writes P Sainath.




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When even Pax Romana seems gentler


Remember how keen so many of our national security experts were on sending our own troops into Iraq alongside those of the U.S.? Remember it was to have been such a good thing for India, asks P Sainath.




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Growth ideology of the cancer cell


In that the trend of falling state investment in sector after sector continues, this budget does not break with neo-liberalism. Instead, it just dolls it up. India is still on a path damaging and dangerous to the poor. The UPA has learned nothing and forgotten everything, writes P Sainath.