Ramesh announces Rs 990 crore for women empowerment
Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has announced an offer of Rs 990 crore to the Women and Child Development Ministry for its women empowerment programmes in gram panchayats. In his words, ‘We can start with the most backward Naxal-affected districts or districts where
NTPC 6th largest CO2 emitter among top 40 power-producing companies globally
India’s state-owned NTPC Ltd ranks as the world’s sixth-largest polluter among 40 large power-generating companies, according to Centre for Global Development (CGD), a Washington-based think-tank. Four Chinese companies are among the top polluters, followed by a South African company at the fifth place.The
Will Anyone Join Your Revolution?
Margaret Mead once said, ‘The only person who likes change is a wet baby’, to which Hunter Lovins added ‘and the baby squalls all the way through the process.’ So change is never easy, especially on the big issues of sustainability. In thinking
Green, non-toxic toys are set to emerge as a parallel industry
The 6th Toy Biz International (June 30-July 2, 2012) at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, has brought ‘green toys’ into sharp focus with buyers as well as general visitors showing relatively more interest in them. India’s biggest B2B toy expo had more than 2,000
Is their CSR misleading? Coca-Cola and Pepsi India offices await answers from the US!
‘Are your corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes misleading? ‘ was the straight question that CauseBecause asked Coca-Cola and Pepsi a day after a PLoS Medicine article pointed fingers at beverage makers saying their CSR is another one of their tactics to gain public
Rio+20: The world is worse than what it was; the summit remains the same
Since 1992, when the last Rio summit happened, the average temperature across the globe has gone up by half a degree; the pollution levels have climbed up by 15 per cent; natural disasters have affected over 4.4 billion people; and primary forest areas
Watching the watchers
Lack of cooperation on supervision of sovereign credit raters is undermining Rio+20’s pursuit of new sustainable development goals… When Cyprus announced in June 2012 that it was edging closer to being the latest Eurozone country to seek bailout money, the fragile nature of
First time in the world, CSR is included in an enactment
Come Monsoon session, the 56-year-old Companies Bill incorporating social responsibility obligations on corporate houses will be rewritten. Although the government, amid stiff resistance from the corporate world, is not making the CSR obligation compulsory, it is putting a moral obligation on companies to
Prepare to pay Environment Cess in Maharashtra
Maharashtra’s environment department is preparing a proposal to levy tax on environment polluters. The proposal, say sources, is almost ready and will soon be tabled before the state cabinet. As per the proposal, any activity that affects the environment, like stone-crushing, mining, vehicular
Social audit of welfare schemes not taken seriously, says Jairam Ramesh
In an interaction with media representatives in Imphal, capital of Manipur, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh turned the spotlight on state governments for failing to implement social audits of key welfare schemes, several of these with an outlay of millions of dollars. In