TWO noteworthy reports were brought out by the Karnataka Evaluation Authority, an official body working under the Karnataka state government, recently. One evaluates the impact of mid-day meal schemes in Karnataka and (while finding that the scheme was working well in the state) reports that for an alarming number (approximately 2.1 lakh) of children covered by the study, the school lunch was their first meal of the day; for some of them, it was also their only meal.

THESE columns have covered many issues of environmental damage and systematic dilution or dismantling of environmental regulations in India under the present dispensation at the behest of corporate interests, all spuriously in the name of “development.” The question raised through these cases has been, not the hackneyed one of, do we want development or environmental conservation, but the fundamental one of, when the environment is damaged irrecoverably, when it can no longer sustain natural life or livelihoods of people dependent upon it, can this still be called “development?”About a fort

1. Sorbhog - Manoranjan Talugdar2. Rangia - Dr Bhagaban Dev MishraManoranjan Talugdar is a member of the State Secretariat, while Bhagaban Dev Mishra is a popular medical doctor in Rangia

THE Texas grid failure impacted millions with no electricity and no heating in sub-zero temperatures for days. It has not only caused scores of deaths and injuries, but also economic havoc in the state. Even after two weeks of the blackouts, life is far from normal as the citizens deal with frozen and burst pipes, denying people access to safe water and causing extensive damages to the houses.

TILL the year 1969, all thebanks except State Bank of India and its subsidiaries were in the private hands. During this period more than 500 private banks collapsed due to bankruptcy with the result the people lost their considerable portion of their money deposited in these banks.  Remaining banks were in the hands of a few corporates who used the banks’ funds for the improvement of their own business.  These banks did nothing either to improve the economy of the nation or to improve the standard of living of the common people.