Can India halve its malnutrition rate by 2015 – which is a stated Millennium Development Goal (MDG)? Highly unlikely, would be the answer in the current scenario. Unless: The recognition of malnutrition as a critical area jumps out of policy documents, research notes and thunderous speeches. The public distribution system (PDS) is turned on its…
‘We should develop the capacity of making the right choices of environment-friendly technology. There is a need of synergy between research and product development,’ said Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways CP Joshi while addressing the ‘International Seminar on Reducing Carbon Footprint in Road Construction’ on February 18, in Delhi. ‘For sustainable development, we…
In India, there are roughly 800 million poor people going by the World Bank definition of $2 a day; that is 150 million households and an estimated credit need of Rs 240,000 crore (Rs 2,400 billion). In India, 600 million people do not purchase any form of energy (including wood or coal), while 400 million…
‘We should have partnership between environment ministry and ONGC. If we get partnership with five PSUs like ONGC, we will get a part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) budget for spending on good afforestation activities, particularly in wetland and mangrove areas,’ said Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. Ramesh made this statement while launching Harit-Moksha, a…
The Ethics Committee, headed by former Union Minister Manikrao Gavit, will meet Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh to discuss the letter that Ramesh wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari. Kumar and Ansari had referred the matter to the Ethics Committee. In his letter, Ramesh had complained that various members…
Attending a meeting with the Standing Committee on Law and Personnel, which is scrutinizing a bill to provide protection to those who help in unveiling corrupt practices, a group of NGOs demanded more security for whistleblowers and also asked for extension of the Right to Information Act to the private sector. The standing committee assured…
World Bank officials are evaluating various infrastructure projects in Mumbai and also met several senior officials to thoroughly understand the ‘sustainable development’ initiatives of the state government. Inger Anderson, vice president for sustainable development at World Bank (WB), along with Hubert Nove-Josserand, operations advisor for India with WB, met senior officials and planners at the…
On February 11, 2011, Nestlé made a call for global nominations for the 2012 Nestlé prize in Creating Shared Value (CSV). Launched in 2009, the prize – financial support of more than US$480,000 – is awarded in alternate years to an innovation or a project that has shown outstanding promise in improving access to, or…
Leading dailies of the country on February 10 reported that the new Companies Bill would probably make it mandatory for companies to spend two per cent of their profits towards CSR. For corporate India, this is a surprise development from the office of corporate affairs minister Murli Deora, who has just joined office. Earlier, when…
Talking-and-thinking points from the report ‘Sustainable and inclusive innovation – strategies for tomorrow’s world’ by CII-ITC CESD – part 2 So, what is the best strategy to go about doing ‘sustainable and inclusive innovations’, or SI2? There are six areas of strategic intervention, as discussed here. High asset use High asset use or high throughput…
