Sparsh

1- Barefoot - The other side of life Harsh Mander -: Can anyone really live on Rs. 26 a day, the income of the officially poor in rural India? Two youngsters try it out. 2- Powerhouse on your plate! - Easily accessible and affordable, millets are making a comeback to Indian kitchens, says Shonali Muthalaly. 3- The everyday embrace of inequality :The institution of paid domestic labour produces cleanliness, meals and childcare, but it also produces and reproduces an unequal home and society. 4- Salman Rushdie & India's new theocracy :-India's secular state is in a state of slow-motion collapse. The contours of a new theocratic dystopia are already evident. 5- BCCI: Billionaires Control Cricket in India by P. SAINATH 6- 42 per cent of Indian children are underweight - Hunger and Malnutrition (HUNGaMA) report by the Naandi Foundation – were described by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a “national shame” at a release function here on Tuesday. 7- The complex co...

1- Accessing Institutional Finance: A Demand Side Story for Rural India Under the Reserve Bank of India’s “financial inclusion” campaign, the provision of institutional finance has been progressing at differential rates across the country. However, when we pair administrative banking data on availability of bank branches in a state with the All India Debt and Investment Survey (2002-03) capturing both institutional and non-institutional borrowing by households, we find that states with the most access to institutional finance, or supply, are not necessarily the ones with the most demand for finance. Looking at household level data within each state we identify determinants of institutional borrowing, and some of the strongest predictors for accessing institutional finance. A number of empirical regularities emerge in terms of the importance of having assets like land for borrowing, which undermines the basic philosophy of financial inclusion. 2- Crop Insurance in India : Scope...

1- Why Pandits aren't returning to roots ? : The Pandits, though, will tell you another story: of murders and village loudspeakers issuing threats. Jagmohan is rarely the central figure that Kashmiri Muslim makes him out to be. 2- Will Pakistanis put their national interest first? by Harini Calamur :If there is any country in the world that is a poster child for dictatorship, it is Pakistan. Over the last two and half decades at least, Pakistan seems to have been more stable and more prosperous under its military dictators than its “democratically” elected leaders. 3- Islamic Banking System: Threats and Opportunities --- The Islamic banking system is an important component of Islamic finance. Islamic finance has unique features because its foundation is laid on the principles and rules of Islamic law (sharia), which states that everything is owned by Allah and man has only been permitted to use it. 4- The predicament of the Islamic Republic by Hamid Dabashi. Green Movement...

The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) on Wednesday approved the environmental release of Bt brinjal. Several studies on Bt crops in particular and GM crops in general show that there are many potential health hazards in foods bio-engineered in this manner. [ Briefing Paper ] Dr Pushpa Bhargava, a renowned molecular biologist and founder director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB)was instructed by the Supreme Court of India to look into the method of approval of GM crops into India, is asking. Dr Bhargava examined the current procedures adopted by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) and was shocked to note that this Committee was approving applications based upon trials conducted by the seed companies. He has called for a moratorium on the entire approval process. [ Source ] Kamalakar Duvvuru voices out following fact for wake up call . Subsidies given by Developed Nations: "Despite preaching the “benefits” of “free” trade in agricultu...

I have never written anything for the sake of publicity or public lobbying in this blog. Today, I am breaking this rule. Please read all the posts (atleast this news article only ) of this blog for the awareness campaign run by a single man against the whole system. It is a fight to ensure most basic right of existence of an individual: Right of food. Core area of the discussion here is about food, agriculture and hunger. Ground Realities : by Devinder Sharma

With 'Lyrics of life ' , A blog devoted to the poetry only is started by me. I will try to transfer all of mine favorite poems from my blog into this to give it more space and voice. And for reading purpose, here comes a good post. 1- If Lahore is Pak’s soul, and Islamabad its mind, then Karachi—in all its scrappy glory—is Pakistan’s guts. I consider Pakistanis as our brothers whose fate is inter twisted with us. Taliban has grown so much that even journalist fear to venture in SWAT valley. Journalists don’t talk about fear much. It goes against the grain of the culture; the lone wolf, the impassive observer, the tough guy in tough places telling tough truths. Are they slave of our own public images? Then change your perspective by reading e-magazine by Pulitzer center on crisis reporting. ' Killing Fields ' film is must watch for everyone who wants to witness the cruelty of genocide and war. #The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper journalism...