News Snippets

>> UNESCO has declared Peru’s Scissor Dance as an intangible cultural heritage.

Will seeds bill make it this time?

IT HAS been drafted several times in the past six years. The Union agriculture ministry is confident the seeds bill will make it through Parliament this winter session. But opposition parties, and some MPs from the ruling Congress Party, are getting ready to corner the ministry over legislation.

Enable the poor

Economists who study poverty are broadly of two types.

Mobilisation immobilised

Squeezed between the Naxalites and the police, NGOs abandon community mobilisation

Hunt on for toxins in toys

AN 11-MEMBER committee, formed by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), is set to begin screening of toys made in India and abroad for toxicity.

Attention, environment minister

Letter triggers action  

The seven-second meet

I have often been to the Sunderbans islands on assignments. Despite obsessing over seeing a tiger on each trip, I have never really had the opportunity. Imagine my excitement when the forest department of West Bengal, seeking volunteers for the tiger census 2010, wrote to the non-profit I work for.

One cheer for politics

It is 9.30 am. The M block main park in Sundarnagri in New Delhi is gearing up for a meeting. Two men carry a microphone and speaker into it. While they fix the gadgets into place, two men enter on a bike, with a bag of rugs intended for seating people on the ground.

Court moots congestion tax for Delhi

In future, car owners in Delhi may have to shell out money for passing through congested areas of the city. This follows a judgement of the Delhi High Court directing the city authorities to consider all options to clear road congestion. This may include deterrent measures like levying congestion fees on private cars passing through crowded areas.

Farmers foil water tariff hike, for now

On January  21, the Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority tried to get the public to agree to its formula of fixing bulk water supply tariff at a meeting in Pune. Farmers and non-profits walked out of the meeting saying the approach paper on fixing the tariff favours industries over farmers and ignores the principle of equity.