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Looking beyond ‘Chindia’s’ common cause on climate


The joint statement on climate change at the end of PM Modi’s recent tour of China has expectedly created considerable hype. Darryl D’Monte takes a balanced view of its import and the real challenges for India in the face of global climate politics.




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When schools and parents clash


Lack of open communication between parents and school authorities is diminishing trust and respect between them. This in turn has caused many unfortunate incidents that could have been avoided, reports Puja Awasthi.




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Amid Golf’s Decline, Towns Must Decide What to Do With the Land

As golf declines in popularity, communities across the country are struggling with how to best redevelop the land that’s left behind. WSJ visited the Tucson suburb of Oro Valley where the town is trying to figure out what to do with its municipal course.




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Why Clothing Sizes Are Broken and What Startups Are Doing to Fix the Problem

Clothing sizes are broken and as shopping has shifted online, the problem has worsened. WSJ retail reporter Suzanne Kapner breaks down the issue and explains what startups are doing to solve it. Photo: oonal/Getty Images




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The Electric-Vehicle Road Test

Dozens of new electric-vehicle models are expected to arrive at dealerships in the next few years. We followed eight Wall Street Journal reporters in four countries to see if they, and the world, are ready to make the switch.




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Global Leaders on Workplace Diversity and Inclusion

Global business leaders discuss why diversity and inclusion are important in the workplace—and what they do to make these issues a priority. The Wall Street Journal spoke to them at the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.




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WSJ's Financial Inclusion Challenge Winner: Hope Credit Union

The Wall Street Journal's first Financial Inclusion Challenge in the U.S. concluded with three finalists facing a panel of judges to answer questions about the impact and sustainability of their work. Hope Credit Union, based in Jackson, Miss., received the evening's top honors for its efforts to provide banking services in underserved regions of the American South. Video/Photo: Clara Ritger for The Wall Street Journal




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Uber Brings Motorcycle Hailing Service to Indonesia

Uber Technologies Inc. this week brought its motorcycle-taxi hailing service to Indonesia, where it will face strong competition from similar apps as startups battle for users in Southeast Asia's biggest economy.




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'BJP rout was clearly the swansong of Advani'

'The BJP ran a miserable campaign and the Third Front, happily, was clueless. It also showed the disutility of a negative campaign where the BJP could not proffer any viable policy alternatives to Congress,' says Professor Sumit Ganguly.




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Class of 2020 Job Seekers May Be ‘Walking Into a Hurricane’

At the beginning of the year, college seniors were preparing to enter the strongest job market in decades. Now, as more than 25 million people have filed for unemployment, they face a newly competitive search. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images




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Now, link your Aadhaar number to EPIC for cleaner voter lists


The Election Commission of India is introducing The National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPA) with a view to eliminating duplication and erroneous deletions in electoral rolls across the country. Chinmayi Shalya reports.




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India's black agenda in a climate change era


In January, the Ratan Tata-chaired Investment Commission green-lighted coal-to-liquids (CTL) technology for India and the goverment appears eager to develop policy to promote CTL. But beyond the pressing demands for energy security and new investment lies a starker reality less seen by the public, notes Sunita Dubey.




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Nuclear safety: A poor record


Although as yet in India, there has not been a severe accident leading to core meltdown or large radiation exposures to the public, on measures of occupational exposure to workers, and compliance with standards for accident prevention, Indian nuclear plants perform poorly, writes Ashwin Kumar.




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What ails nuclear safety?


In-depth field studies in nuclear power plants worldwide have shown that they have common features that are essential for reliable operation. DAE's operations do not exhibit these characteristics. Instead, secrecy invoked in the name of national interest is the norm, leading to avoidable risks, writes Ashwin Kumar.




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A club for change


US-based environmental group Sierra Club has decided to encourage organisations in India that promote green livelihoods. Can this civil society initiative help the country cut down on its carbon emissions? Darryl D'Monte reports.




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Doors open for familiar nuclear worries


As the nuclear world appears poised to pry open a vast market for power plants and arms in India, Darryl D'Monte reports voices from a corner of the world that was witness to an earlier, Soviet-era nuclear rush.




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Gas clouds over the government


But for the dispute between the Ambani brothers, the many errors and inactions of the government would not have come to the public's notice, writes Ashok Sreenivas.




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Need to strengthen climate diplomacy


India is well on its way to a low-carbon economic future, but its global image suffers because we lack the public discourse to bolster our argument, unlike China and the Western countries, writes Darryl D'Monte.




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Nuclear Liability Bill: Who bears the brunt?


The nuclear liability bill by capping the liability arising out of a nuclear incident appears to be an effort to protect the nuclear industry at the cost of the fundamental rights of the citizens writes Mathew Prasad Idiculla.




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A miner's shortcut to green clearance goes awry


A Jindal group-Government of Tamilnadu firm attempted to get forest clearance for mining in the Eastern Ghats forests of TN. Both the Ministry of Environment and a Supreme Court monitoring committee rejected clearance. Kanchi Kohli has more.




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The nuclear black swan


A nuclear disaster is such a complex event with wide consequences that it would be better to stop ourselves from going down a path that might lead to a catastrophe, however unlikely it may be, writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.




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Weakening the enviro-clearance process


The recent simplifications to the Central environmental clearance process may endup pushing peoples’ participation and transparency to fringes, says Sunita Dubey.




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What's 'inclusive' about the Budget?


The government's understanding of an 'inclusive' Budget is simply that it ought to be the provider of welfare for the lower income groups. The evidence so far suggests that this is an attempt doomed from the start, since the government is not very good at administering such programmes. Ashwin Mahesh says that there are better options.




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Those brooms may not be enough to clean our waste!


The success of ‘spot fixes’ and other initiatives by independent resident-collectives or organisations in cleaning up urban spaces and dumping spots has been noteworthy, but a long-term plan for solving waste issues in Indian cities needs more. Pooja Ramamurthi explains.




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Infusing sensuality into a Tagore classic


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.




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The policy has no clothes


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




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Tales of the excluded


The recent judicial pronouncement criminalising homosexuality has created quite a furore, but in reality those with limited or no interaction with people of alternative sexual orientation have only a vague idea of their continuous struggle and challenges. Pushpa Achanta brings us two poignant narratives.




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'Middle class' palaces


Who is buying the new homes that are mushrooming in every city? What income group does this class belong to, and how does their affluent consumption compare to the national average, or to home-buyers elsewhere in the world. Darryl D'Monte finds some of the answers at a session with a human geographer.




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Beyond the Clemenceau's recall


The recall of the decommissioned French warship Clemenceau back to France in the wave of protests worldwide opens a great opportunity for India to clean its ship breaking yard in Alang, and improve conditions for its workers. A thorough assessment of facilities at Alang is much needed, notes Ramesh Menon.




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Reviving the cotton-to-cloth chain


The introduction of centralised spinning mills in British times reduced the economic benefit that farmers and weavers could obtain. But now it is being asked, can decentralised cloth-making revive old livelihoods? Surekha Sule reports.




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PPPs: Tall claims, but little evidence


The many arguments offered in support of Public Private Partnerships don't stand up to close examination. The private sector is not more efficient than its public counterpart, nor is cheap money accessible to it as readily, write Shripad Dharmadhikary and Gaurav Dwivedi.




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Meet on quality of growth and inclusive development


A conference on September 14-16 this year at New Delhi will bring together political decision makers, representatives from entrepreneurial associations and corporate partners, and civil society to discuss growth in Asia. It is backed by Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the Planning Commission of India.




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Oxford study validates Indian environmentalist claims


The findings of a recent study by scholars at the University of Oxford point to the adverse outcomes and poor economic returns associated with large dam projects. Amruta Pradhan summarises the findings and shows how they have been consistently borne out by empirical observations in Maharashtra.




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A sudden cloud over Maharashtra’s nutritional progress


Data from the recently released DLHF Survey shows disheartening figures for nutritional indicators, when compared to the last national level survey. Shambhu Ghatak delves deeper into the state’s nutrition records and also tracks where others stand.




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The nuclear numbers game


India claims that Pakistan is stockpiling more nuclear weapons than it needs for minimum deterrence. But this could just turn out to be an excuse for it to do likewise, writes Firdaus Ahmed.




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Will Modi relook at ‘massive’ retaliation in India’s nuclear doctrine?


Regardless of how it is interpreted, India’s doctrinal promise of ‘massive nuclear retaliation’ in the event of nuclear first use by the enemy would be more than strategically flawed. At a time when India is now poised to review its doctrine afresh, Firdaus Ahmed digs deeper.




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World War II redux in the nuclear age


A mega Indian Army exercise aimed at sharpening Army's deep strike capabilities in enemy territory concluded last month in Rajasthan. Firdaus Ahmed analyses why having the strike capabilities in this nuclear age might be a mixed blessing.




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The hovering nuclear clouds


Is India shifting its nuclear strategy in a new direction? Firdaus Ahmed analyses what that would mean.




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The myth of a nuclear peace


The  two-front war remark made by the Indian Army Chief recently makes Firdaus Ahmed question the usage of nuclear weapons in case of such a war.




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Are India’s nuclear weapons in safe hands?


Firdaus Ahmed ponders if India’s nuclear weapons are in safer hands or not.




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What nuclear weapons have done to us


Pokhran-II  happened on May 1998, Firdaus Ahmed writes if nuclear weapons have made us more secure in these last twenty years.




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Clearing the view


The Supreme Court's order on the removal of tinted films from vehicles is being implemented across the country, amidst complaints from the public. Navya P K reports.




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A bumpy road ahead for electric vehicles


While they represent an important technology option in an environmentally-challenged world, large scale adoption of electric vehicles aided by government policy might remain a pipe dream till cost structures become more competitive. Shiva Prasad Susarla explains.




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Will banning older vehicles clean the air in Delhi?


Is modernisation of transport the sole answer to air pollution problems in Delhi? In view of the NGT's proposed ban on older vehicles in Delhi, Sarath Guttikunda draws attention to several problems that need to be addressed for cleaner air in the NCR.




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Clearance revoked, but you can still have the forest land!


A CAG audit report finds that despite the revocation of clearance for forest land diverted to a public sector power company, the land continues to be used by them. Himanshu Upadhyaya details this and other findings, which show thegloomy picture of forest governance in West Bengal.




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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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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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Elections : Disclosures now Mandatory


Jayprakash Narayan on the recent SC judgement that reinstated mandatory discloures from election candidates.




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The Lokpal cycle


After several visits to Parliament the Lokpal Bill is once again before the nation's legislators. Pradeep K Baisakh traces the lineage and condition of the legislation that could curb corruption in public offices.




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Divided by - and in - class


What is education for, and what is the State's obligation to support it financially? As the Central Advisory Board of Education reviews the legislation introduced in Parliament by the NDA government, Satlaj Dighe provides a snapshot of the direction of public education policy today.