The Times of India

What’s a mega-trend? Most new trends are marked by rival claims, with some claiming it’s a revolutionary breakthrough and others saying it is disastrous. But if a new trend grows so rapidly that it becomes commonplace and ceases to make […]

The drama last week when Russia cut off gas supplies to Ukraine holds lessons for the proposed gas pipelines to India from Iran and Turkmenistan, and for our entire energy strategy. Typically, Russia has supplied gas to neighbours (like Ukraine,

Noting can empower poor people more than a good education. So I welcomed the launch of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education For All) in 2001. This aims to have all children aged 6-14 in primary school by 2007 and in upper

Few readers know that India is the world’s second largest producer of aquaculture (fish and shellfish). Fishing was once dominated by ocean fisherfolk, but overfishing has led to virtual stagnation of the sea catch in the last decade. Meanwhile inland

The first green revolution has run its course. Cereal yields are rising very slowly, water tables are plunging, and agricultural growth now averages only 2% annually. However, optimists think a second green revolution is coming, spearheaded by the corporate sector

In search of energy security the Petroleum Minister has scoured the world for gas and oil deals, including stakes in oilfields abroad. Alas, such purchases could mean insecurity, not security. Many countries do not respect contracts, and India should reduce

When Finance Minister Chidambaram attended the annual IMF-World Bank meeting at the end of September, he had a minor scrap with the IMF Chief Economist, Raghuram Rajan, over record oil and gas prices. Rajan said that rising global demand, especially

The UN Committee on the oil-for-food scandal in Iraq, popularly called the Volcker Committee, has revealed that Iraq collected kickbacks on $ 64.2 billion of oil and $ 34.5 billion of “humanitarian imports”. The Indian media have focused on the

India’s decision to vote against Iran in the UN has brought protests from left parties and media. They say India is abandoning its independent foreign policy. I am amazed by the mendacity and hypocrisy of such talk. It implies that

Several reasons, some bogus and some real, have been advanced for the rise in prices of oil and gas since 2003. These include the Iraq war, constrained OPEC production, falling non-OPEC production, speculation by hedge funds, and China’s fast-rising consumption.