It is clear that people across the country are driven by strong environment values. Therefore, without having a policy process that channelises their perceptions and crystallises them in policy statements, it is not possible to sequence and prioritise our environmental problems, says Videh Upadhyay.

"There is a strong question mark about the possibility of ... providing potable drinking water to all villages by 2004”, warned the Comptroller and Auditor General in 2002. Himanshu Upadhyaya on how the CAG foretold correctly.

The Planning Commission is urging higher Central funding of large irrigation projects, but the Finance Minister promised more decentralised water management. What's going on? Meanwhile, Himanshu Upadhyaya thumbs through a CAG report and finds that these projects don't lack money - what they really need is accountability.

In major finding, the Comptroller and Auditor General reported to Parliament earlier this year that a key objective of the SEZ policy, -- augmenting real exports -- has not only been defeated, but the policy had further resulted in revenue losses of hundreds of crores of rupees. Himanshu Upadhyaya has more.

The CERC is mandated with balancing the interests of power generation companies and their consumers. But it appears that its new regulations are heavily skewed against the latter. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports.

The States of India account for about 55 per cent of the combined expenditure of the Union and the States, but the Centre now collects two-thirds of the combined tax revenues. Kannan Kasturi details this imbalance.

The Chawla Committee backs away from recent efforts to create a market for water rights. Still, it doesn't go far enough in recognising the importance of citizens' involvement. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports.

Sikkim leads the nation in per-student expenditure by quite some distance, but bureaucratic hurdles to progress common elsewhere are to be found here too. Himanshu Upadhyaya reports.

It is a sign of trouble when experienced players sit out and fly-by-night-type operators take control. In the case of public infrastructure, this is exactly what is happening. We should ask why, writes Sunita Narain.

Taking a 360-degree view of the Union Budget 2013, Shankar Jaganathan points out that despite 'inclusive and sustainable development' being a stated goal, the emphasis has primarily been on growth and finances.

The claims of the second phase of the Bharat Nirman campaign, glorifying the achievements of the UPA in various sectors, ring hollow when one looks at the crises afflicting the economy. Shambhu Ghatak discusses this in the light of findings of the CAG's financial audit of the Union Government Accounts.

The flouting of scheme guidelines in the NREGS implementation in Uttar Pradesh shows how the programme is still locked in top-down planning. Himanshu Upadhyaya reports on the various findings of the performance audit of the scheme.

Is brazen unaccountability a national disease in our country, asks Himanshu Upadhyaya as he reads through yet another performance review by the CAG of India, this time of its own performance in carrying out auditing functions.

A report published by Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) on the institution of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), its auditing and reporting process falls short in many aspects, writes Himanshu Upadhyaya.

The Shillong Chamber Choir follows Neil Nongkynrih, a concert pianist, as he strives to find a balance between his music and the purpose of his life: to look after under-privileged children. Shoma Chatterji reviews the film.

Nigel Akkara, once a criminal and a prisoner, decided to turn his life around, helped by the culture therapy program of Alakananda Roy. Shoma Chatterji reports.

On a fragile island spread across 150 kms at the border of India and Bangladesh, thousands of people lead precarious lives at the mercy of the River Ganga. Shoma Chatterji reviews Char - The No Man's Island, a film depicting the tragic realities of their existence.

Filmmaker Q's reinterpretation of Rabindranath Tagore's Tasher Desh is a bold experiment, not only in format but also content, as it seeks to layer the classic satire with unprecedented connotations of sexuality and gender issues. Shoma A Chatterji reviews the film.

Even in regions touted as India’s food bowl, Rs 3000 a month is all that a farmer earns for his family! Devinder Sharma crunches data from CACP to highlight the grave crisis in the agrarian economy.

Well-known experts presented `Water: More Nutrition Per Drop' at the April 20 meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in New York. Sudhirendar Sharma reviews the report and its considerations of the Indian situation.

Farmers' suicides will end only when we are willing to confront the real villain - the misplaced faith in industrial farming, says Devinder Sharma.

Suman Sahai comments on the recently released report of Task Force on Biotechnology policy.

At a conference on the eve of the 2005-06 Budget, Planning Commission vice chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said he is advocating redistribution of farm subsidies into road construction and improving land use. Devinder Sharma warns that Ahluwalia continues to bank upon the World Bank's flawed understanding.

Much of the agrarian crisis is the result of unwanted and cost-intensive technologies that have been forced on the farmers. Scientists were unknowingly trying to promote the commercial interests of the seed, tractor and the pesticides industry. And we don't need to repeat this error, says Devinder Sharma.

The government's stance towards biotechnology shows such disregard for the public interest that even its own Expert Committee is not privy to the proposed new policy. Suman Sahai protests the reckless endorsement of vested interests while many other stakeholders are kept in the dark.

A two-day seminar held recently in Mumbai brought together policy makers, bureaucrats, social workers, farmers, journalists, activists and researchers. Scrutinising farm policy in depth, they said that policy had failed to address some of the main challenges, reports Aparna Pallavi.

The policy that reportedly favoured Indian consumers at the cost of farmers has come back to bite the consumers with a vengeance. And with the US and Europe embracing biofuels, things could get even worse, writes Kannan Kasturi.

With a multitude of problems and the diversity of languages, the medium of instruction remains a topic of impassioned debate. Teaching in the mother tongue fuels pride, but English is here to stay. Fostering multilingualism in our schools, however, is far from smooth sailing. Deepa A reports.

The aftermath of the December 2004 tsunami saw an unprecedented outpouring of goodwill. But with the traditional panchayats in Nagapattinam's fishing hamlets controlling relief, single women and dalits were systematically exlcuded. Two and half years later, nothing has changed, reports S Gautham.

As parties firm up their candidates in various constituencies, several celebrity names - new and old - are doing the rounds yet again. Shoma Chatterji looks at a few examples from the years gone by to question what we may really expect from these star-turned-politicians.

Boregaon is a small village in Solapur district of Maharashtra where men have shunned the patriarchal mindset to support women’s political empowerment and gender equality, writes Suchismita Pai.

Dr C S Lakshmi, the eminent Tamil feminist writer, who writes under the pen name Ambai, has been a researcher in women’s studies for the last several decades, and is also the Founder Trustee of Sound & Picture Archives for Research on Women (SPARROW), that has undertaken several oral history projects. She speaks to Pratibha Umashankar about issues concerning women.

More and more people are considering cycling as an option for their daily commutes to work. Women's participation in this change, however, is still low, and a lot of barriers need to be overcome, writes Sathya Sankaran.

An India Together radio program featuring Professor Jagdeep Chhokar of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad on the new anti-criminalization rules for India's elections.

The entire weight of technical opinion has been to proceed with caution on the Interlinking of Rivers. An extract of Jairam Ramesh's speech in the Rajya Sabha debate on the working of Ministry of Water Resources on 20 April 2005.

The Government of India's draft community radio (CR) policy proposes to allow NGOs and other non-profit organisations to run low power radio stations with limited advertising. The policy is expected to go to the Cabinet for approval soon, but CR advocates and broadcasters are keeping their fingers crossed, notes Surekha Sule.

Humanity has collectively crossed the limits necessary for ecological sustainability. Ashish Kothari argues for a sustainable consumption line that would ensure individuals and communities do not partake of resources in a way that deprives others or endangers the environment further.

Our economic and political leaders do not have much faith in the free market, or in trickle-down economics, despite their apparent support for both, says Ashwin Mahesh.

World Bank funding of development projects in Andhra Pradesh is criticized by rights activists in the state who argue that conditions for the poor are worsening.

Among the traders at the crowded Crafts Bazaar in Secunderabad, the struggle for survival and economic security seems to be the only noticeable thing. But in some ways, their worries are those of ordinary merchants everywhere, thanks in part to Mahila Sanatkar. Safia Sircar reports.

The April 2005 deadline for a nationwide Value Added Tax regime is only months away. But what exactly is on the cards, and what will it achieve? Dinkar Ayilavarapu considers the rationale for the shift, and finds that many of the goals have been whittled away already.

Forced by the Supreme Court to make its research public, the agency that claimed to have conducted feasibility studies on interlinking rivers puts out an incomplete document. Sudhirendar Sharma notes, however, that the politics of this mega-project will keep it alive, despite such incompetence and disregard for regulations.

Despite notoriously variable and low earnings, close to 30% of the male population in Bilaspur's Chingrajpara slum are cycle-rickshaw pullers. Third in the SLUM DIARIES series, Ashima Sood cuts across boundaries to chronicle the forces impinging on the pullers' livelihoods.

In Bilaspur's Saturday vegetable market, loaders complain of interminable waits each day to receive payments as low as Rs 5 from traders and vendors. In this fourth article in our SLUM DIARIES series, Ashima Sood notes that a plethora of labour laws are being flouted, with Chhatisgarh's minimum wages schedule not helping.

Allocations in the annual budget are the real indicators of the government's priorities. It is by studying these that we can really judge how committed the administration is to the goals proclaimed publicly. Jacob John examines Budget 2005 and finds a yawning gap between promises made and the money approved to achieve them.

Even if activists and trade unions in India succeed in pushing up wage scales in the garment industry, manufacturers are likely to point out that with higher labour costs and hence billing, the high profit global retail buyers would shift their business to cheaper nations like Bangladesh or Indonesia. Is there a way out? Anuja Mirchandaney finds out more.

Minimum wage regulations continue to defy the very meaning of what the wage is for. The original premise - wages for people to live with minimum level of economic security, as well as dignity - is gone, its spirit lost in myriad variables that rise from states, sectors, bureaucracies and notifications. The India Together editorial.

As the state clamps its annual ban on trawl boats along the Kerala coast, an old battle rages again, pitting traditional fishermen against trawl-boat owners who view the occupation quite differently. Each side feels that positive intervention by the state is required. M Suchitra and P N Venugopal report.

Vocational training could play a key role in bridging the gap that keeps millions of workers in the unorganised economy away from a better future. The needs of informal sector workers are complex, and mere training for income-generation is seen to be insufficient, writes Varupi Jain.

A new policy framework for hydro-electric power seems to have given confidence to private corporations to enter the sector, with a large number of mega projects lined up. But the same policies raise critical questions in relation to equity and access, writes Shripad Dharmadhikary.