admin

The UPA government is once again attempting to completely open up the retail sector to foreign direct investment including, possibly, 100 percent FDI in organized multi-brand retail or supermarket chains. The Department of Industrial Policy … Read more

THE horrific on-going disaster caused by oil spewing out from British Petroleum’s (BP) well in the Gulf of Mexico is going from bad to worse, showing little signs of abating. It is already by far … Read more

THE publication of a claim that scientists have created “life” from “four bottles of chemicals” in the American journal, Science, has attracted considerable attention. Reactions have been varied, with one commentator even hailing it as … Read more

THE climate crisis and efforts to tackle it have witnessed unprecedented mobilisation of popular movements, NGOs, think tanks, experts, intellectuals and activists, as was evident at the Climate Conference in Copenhagen last December. Of course, … Read more

THE near fatal radiation exposure in the Mayapuri scrap has led to hospitalisation of 11 people. The cause has now been identified as radioactive cobalt 60 sources that were mixed up in the scrap. What … Read more

THERE are three important events that have taken place recently on the nuclear issue. One of this is the restarting of the stalled START process of cutting down of nuclear weapons by the US and … Read more

Earlier articles in these columns have shown how the odd careless remark, a few errors in judgment, a lapse in scientific rigour and peer review procedures, as happened over the clearly erroneous prediction that Himalayan … Read more

“Yes we can”. This was the slogan that galvanised millions of Americans and voted Barack Obama into the White House in 2008. A rainbow coalition of Americans, representing the working people, people of colour, hispanics … Read more

IN the early 1960s, across Europe, doctors were confronted with a strange and distressing phenomenon. Hundreds of reports started pouring in about babies being born without arms and legs. They had flippers or fingers emerging … Read more

Subsidising Foreign Suppliers with Indian Money THE Congress led UPA seems to have now got second thoughts on the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, which they were scheduled to table in Lok Sabha on … Read more

THE Congress-led UPA government has placed the Nuclear Liability Bill as one of 36 legislations it wants the parliament to pass this session. This is one more chapter in the sorry saga of the India … Read more

FIVE years ago the Indian Patent Act was amended to provide for patenting of medicines. Thanks to the efforts of Left Parties in parliament, supported by several movements and groups in the “access to medicines” … Read more