Reports

When controversies erupted over the TenderSURE project of the Karnataka government that sought to re-engineer major roads of Bangalore, most of those were dismissed as conspiracy theories of activists or simply as fertile imagination of habitual detractors of "developmental" projects. A set of documents, procured individually under provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, however indicate that most allegations against the state government—right from the decision to undertake such a...

The KG gas controversy now has some numbers to go by—the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) of India has pegged "excess cost recovery" at $1,547.85 million (Rs 9307.22 crore). The numbers have been mentioned in a chapter of the CAG report that looked at Union government (civil) compliance issues for the financial year ending March 2015. This chapter pertained to the ministry of petroleum and natural gas; the report was released on Tuesday August 2. The statements made in the report, albeit...

The problem with buzzwords is that they invariably whip up such a mindless frenzy and needless hype that people often forget what was it that had resulted in the creation of that buzzword in the first place. That's what is increasingly happening with "sustainability". Critics argue that so mired are companies with the "ends" in mind that the "means" are not being adequately kept track of. Many forget that sustainability is not an end in itself, but the means towards an end: a better world that...

Threats of consumer backlash and criticism from unions and the media have sensitised many Western companies to pay greater attention to how their Bangladesh suppliers operate. But that's only a starting point, as many have been aseerting. So, what next? This subject has been explored by Motoko Aizawa and Salil Tripathi of the Institute of Human Rights and Business (IHRB) in a paper titled 'Beyond Rana Plaza: Next steps for the global garment industry and Bangladeshi manufacturers' in Business...

When research is narrowed down to specifics, they often narrate an interesting story. So it was with a recent study that looked at the current status of denim imports into the European Union (EU). The findings are clear: it is Bangladesh that emerges as the front-runner, though it does not yet have a stranglehold over the European market; and India is nowhere to be seen among the top exporters. And China, like everywhere else, has been on a steady decline. The findings of the said study 'Les...

On Wednesday last, many news establishments diligently reproduced a press release announcing Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) as the first Indian company to partner with the Global Goals Campaign that aims to reach seven billion people in seven days with news of the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. Among other things, this campaign seeks to tackle climate change for everyone by 2030. What went unnoticed, however, was that this news came just a few days after RIL figured miserably in...

Textile manufacturers, the obvious target audience of textile machinery manufacturers, have a lot to say – from the brands they use and prefer to the problems they face during the production process. And they have their own set of solutions and suggestions on how machinery manufacturers can make life easier for them. Most are plausible and can be implemented. On issues that machines face There are a number of issues that cropped up when Fibre2Fashion spoke to textile manufacturers. Ravi S Jalan...

Shipments in most of the textile machinery segments experienced worldwide declines in the last year. The deliveries of new short-staple spindles dropped 15 per cent from 2013 to 2014. Shipped long-staple spindles and open-end rotors increased by 70 per cent and 2.6 per cent respectively, and the number of shipped draw-texturing spindles grew by around 12 per cent. Shipments of both shuttle-less looms and new large circular knitting machines also fell by 14 per cent and 22 per cent year-on-year...

Earlier this month, the world's largest PR firm Edelman ended its decade-long relationship with the world's largest oil lobby, the American Petroleum Institute (API). A welcome step, and high time too, as climate change activists would likely assert. API's contracts with Edelman had been big; so massive that it amounted to 10 per cent of the PR firm's revenues. Its Blue Advertising subsidiary helped API run commercials that promoted the idea that oil and gas were plentiful, and were viable too...

The forests scene the world over is depressing, quite depressing indeed. The ones plundering forests are not complying with international benchmarks, and the impunity with which the ravaging of forests is under way will leave one frustrated and in utter despair. There are as few as 250 companies across countries that are engaged in this unfettered loot, and the ones from India come a cropper when it comes to performance. The Global Canopy Programme (GCP), which evaluates and ranks 500...