Business

Vedanta must be the best in the business when it comes to when it comes to managing the media. Either they are successfully able to block news from trickling out, or they can control what appears in the media. Quite often it is a combination of the two. It is, therefore, hardly surprising that reports of a recent toxic waste leak from Vedanta Aluminium Ltd’s Lanjigarh alumina refinery into a nearby river made no headlines in major news outlets in India. The Vedanta-Cairn deal, however, has been...

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has recommended the closure of 23 public sector undertakings in Maharashtra. Describing these as non-working companies, the CAG in its latest report on the state tabled in the Maharashtra Assembly stated that since no purpose may be served by keeping these units in existence, the state government needs to expedite closing down of these non-working PSUs. Of these 23 PSUs, three have already commenced the liquidation process. In case of ten others...

If you look at the above picture, you might find it heart-wrenching. You may feel pity for the child. You would even think what crime the child might have committed to deserve this. But that pity could well turn into anger if you were told that it is the current dispensation in Delhi which is, to a considerable extent, responsible for the plight of the child. For, it is the Congress-led regime which has been callous to the perils of a pesticide called endosulfan and has done all within its mite...

Sometime last week, the Calcutta High Court passed a judgment that went unnoticed in the news space. The court held that using the word “Darjeeling” was not the sole prerogative of the Tea Board. It ruled that the ITC Sonar hotel in Kolkata was free to carry on with its Darjeeling Lounge. The ruling is certainly all about corporates and intellectual property laws and rights. The judgment, which was first reported by the prolific Spicy IP blog, draws the line till which one can push the...

Swan. Zebra. Tiger. Parrot. Giraffe. Cheetah. No, one is not alluding to wildlife conservation of any kind. Nor, for that matter, is this article about a visit to the nearest zoo or a lesson in fauna. It is instead about the infamous second-generation (2G) telecommunications spectrum scam. Only, that these were prefixes used by promoters of companies to conjure up new players and participants in a frantic bid to bag lucrative telecom licences. That's the really 'wild' aspect of the issuance of...

Wage riots and workplace accidents in Bangladesh have not been making mainstream media headlines. The over-populated, under-fed country, should one be told, is caught in a vice-like grip. This stranglehold is all about the lust for fashion in the West over lives of labourers in a developing country. It is about robbing the poor to feed the rich. What Bangladesh has been witnessing for the last few weeks is a fallout of the global economic meltdown and the exigency of outsourcing, the two being...

Dow Chemical, chemical manufacturer Sasol North America and their contractors hired private investigators to spy on the environmental group Greenpeace, according to a lawsuit filed Monday. The 56-page lawsuit, filed by Greenpeace in federal district court in Washington, alleged that the companies and public relations firms Dezenhall Resources and Ketchum hired investigators who stole documents, tapped phones and hacked into computer networks between 1998 and 2000. "We believe it is every citizen...

Hollywood and Bollywood, two of the largest film industries in the world, agreed to strengthen their cooperation Wednesday with the signing of a historic agreement. As part of the pact signed Wednesday, Hollywood and Bollywood have agreed to “develop and strengthen motion picture production, distribution, technology, content protection and commercial cooperation.” The two industries also supported the creation of a Los Angeles-India Film Council to encourage Indian film production in Los Angeles...

Amazon will start paying publishers more when they sell magazines and newspapers on its Kindle reader. It will pay publishers 70 percent of the retail price - compared to the current 30 percent - for each magazine or newspaper sold at its store. "We are constantly working at improving the Kindle magazine and newspaper experience for both customers and publishers. Building on the recent introduction of Wi-Fi-enabled Kindles and the upcoming availability of newspapers and magazines on Kindle Apps...

Canadian universities will be funding a series of India-specific initiatives valued at over $4 million. These investments include the new Globalink Canada-India Graduate Fellowship. A statement issued by the Indian ministry for human resources announced today that eight Canadian universities would be providing graduate fellowships for top Indian students who wish to pursue a Masters or PhD in Canada. The Globalink Canada-India Graduate Fellowship Programme will provide 51 scholarship valued at...