Blogs

Preserve the Environment for Long-term Growth

Environmentalists are seen as obstructing economic growth by putting roadblocks in the path of infrastructure projects. Tribal rights are invoked against mining. Preservation of Yamuna riverbed is invoked against constructions for the Commonwealth Games. The pilgrim’s right to worship is invoked against hydropower projects. Environmentalists are thus seen as an impediment to raising the standards of living of the people. This perception is due to misinformation supplied by the shortsighted leaders of our country. They do not appreciate that destruction of environment will beget us short-term economic growth but long-term economic collapse too....
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Wednesday,17 June, 2009 | Hits: 91

Changing security matrix

Information security is undergoing a critical transformation. Traditionally viewed as a necessary evil, or worse, a hindrance to business advancement, now, more than ever, it is critical that security strategy aligns to business priorities and enables innovation. While the economic downturn will certainly drive security teams to focus on finding operational efficiencies, it’s important to note that efficiencies alone will not be sufficient to get us out of the crisis. Political and business experts agree that business innovation is key to the return of global economic stability. Information security has a critical role to play in the drive towards innovation. ...
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Wednesday,17 June, 2009 | Hits: 58

Climate conflicts

Climate negotiations can succeed only if developed countries stop weaseling out of their historical culpability. The Bonn climate talks ended last Friday with little to show by way of results. However, the deadline for agreement is December 2009 and in such negotiations, at this stage, we consider it progress if countries agree on what they disagree about. This seems to have happened and differences were consolidated into a form that allows the negotiation to move forward. ...
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Wednesday,17 June, 2009 | Hits: 111

Environment: some thoughts for the new Minister

Environmental concerns have tended to be segmented, focussing on one theme at a time. It is necessary to ensure a holistic view encompassing all the themes and the vital nature-wildlife-human inter-relationships.Jairam Ramesh, the new Minister of State with Independent Charge for Environment and Forests, must have drawn up his own agenda for action. May one submit the following additions to his list, if they are not already there?...
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Wednesday,17 June, 2009 | Hits: 67

Bringing more transparency to clinical trials

Two years after the Clinical Trial Registry — India was started, the Drugs Controller General of India has now made it mandatory to register trials. All trials initiated after June 15 will have to comply with this requirement. ...
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Wednesday,17 June, 2009 | Hits: 69

The politics of climate change: Charity begins at home

Scientists are in the process of reviewing their predictions across the globe and say climate change is accelerating at an alarming and much faster pace than previously expected. They issue warnings that say we humans must move forward quickly to ink a global deal and secure it in time to avoid a human catastrophe. ...
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Wednesday,17 June, 2009 | Hits: 127

CLIMATE CHANGE REPORT: RAINFALL TO BE MORE UNPREDICTABLE AND EXTREME

The extent of the impact of global climate change on monsoon-though a phenomenon restricted to the Indian sub-continent-could be massive, said Mansoon Wager, a report published by NGO Greenpeace recently....
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Wednesday,17 June, 2009 | Hits: 69

Is it possible to avoid a doomsday scenario?

The global South has a simple argument: that industrialized countries have in the process of their development for the past two countries sent up most of the greenhouse gases that are in the atmosphere and are causing the problem of climate change in general and global warming in particular. Another round of climate negotiations ended inconclusively in Bonn very recently. The race to work out a post-Kyoto agreement at Copenhagen next year is getting frenetic, as indeed it has to with the planet tipping in the balance.The hallowed science journal Nature has shone the spotlight on the magnitude of the problem of climate change. A report published by it says at the current rate, carbon emissions will have touched 190 gigatonnes by 2029. The problem is that to pre-empt the catastrophic fallout of rise in temperature of two degree Centigrade globally, we should cap carbon emissions to 190 gigatonnes by 2050....
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Tuesday,16 June, 2009 | Hits: 83

Scared silly about global warming

Worrying excessively about global warming means that we worry less about other things.An unbelievable one-third of our children believe that they don’t have a future because of scary global warming stories.It is time we demanded that the media stop scaring us and our kids silly. The continuous presentation of scary stories about global warming in the popular media makes us unnecessarily frightened. Even worse, it terrifies our kids.Al Gore famously depicted how a sea-level rise of 20 feet (six metres) would almost completely flood Florida, New York, Holland, Bangladesh and Shanghai, even though the UN estimates that sea levels will rise 20 times less than that, and do no such thing. When confronted with these exaggerations, some of us say that they are for a good cause, and surely there is no harm done if the result is that we focus even more on tackling climate change. A similar argument was used when George W Bush's administration overstated the terror threat from Saddam Hussein's Iraq. ...
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Tuesday,16 June, 2009 | Hits: 69

"Should environmental approvals be speeded up?"

There is little doubt the process needs quickening, but project affected-persons have to be heard, even encouraged to present their point of view cogently. Shubhendu AmitabhSenior President, Corporate Affairs& Business Development The Aditya Birla Group ‘Instead of protecting the environment, these clearances have become a handle with which businesses are harassed’If your business ever happens to apply for an environmental clearance for any project, you would need lots of blessings from the highest and the lowest in the chain of command. And, if someone hasn’t got a nagging NGO and a rudderless lawyer on his payroll to delay the project clearance, you need to fall on all fours to express gratitude.Ironically, even if you have all or most of the enablers and no competitive roadblocks, you will still need luck on your side. And all this when it is mandatory for the government to settle a case for environmental clearance in not more than 210 days! ...
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Tuesday,16 June, 2009 | Hits: 127