Articles by Zia Haq
‘Destitutes’ to benefit from tweaked food security bill
The government will redraft the food security bill on the recommendations of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to widen its reach, particularly among special populations. Some original provisions that had been pared down are back on the menu. Zia Haq reports. Widening the scope
Updated on Mar 21, 2013 04:41 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zia Haq, New Delhi
Cash crunch hits fertiliser import
India is tiding over a fertiliser shortage, triggered partly by a cash crunch at the government’s end, a person familiar with the development told HT, requesting anonymity.
UPA govt begins spadework for Muslim quota
The UPA government is firming up plans to give reservation in jobs and education to underprivileged Muslims at the national level, a move likely to shore up the ruling Congress' support base among the 150-million community ahead of the 2014 polls.
'Farmers forced to sell produce cheap'
Indian households are paying the highest prices for food in a decade, but farmers producing them sell for just a fraction of the final price, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said on Friday. Zia Haq reports.
Food security plan is bad economics: Pawar
Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said implementing the food security plan could involve great financial risks.
Pawar pushes for sugar and onion export, Thomas differs
Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has made a fresh move for easing restrictions on sugar and onion export, even as Union food minister KV Thomas appears reluctant, fearing an adverse impact on domestic prices in the festive season.
Updated on Oct 18, 2011 11:36 PM IST
Hindustan Times | , New Delhi
Saubhadra Chatterji and Zia HaqIndia’s N-plan failsafe: Minister
India is basing its nuclear programme on the most recent technologies available, which makes it failsafe, minister of state in the Prime Minister’s office, V. Narayanasamy, has said.
India to help Myanmar in rice cultivation
Myanmar president Thein Sein on Saturday said he looked to India for his country’s food security, a comment that signals a big opening for India in a neighbour that has long relied on Beijing.
PM seeks church help to quell anti-nuke protests
To overcome resistance to nuclear power, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has sought help from unlikely quarters: the church.
Thomas sticks to sugar output stand, Pawar differs
Food minister KV Thomas on Monday said he could allow millers to export more sugar, but that decision is likely to be based on his ministry’s estimates of production, rather than that of the manufacturers or farm minister Sharad Pawar’s.
Protein shake up
Protein-rich foods are replacing basic bread-and-butter in the nation’s dietary demands — the inability of farms to keep up is one of the reasons why Indians pay a high price for food. Zia Haq reports. Feeling the pinch
Food law to be new poverty benchmark
A fresh set of multi-dimensional indicators - not the official poverty line - will be used to identify 46% of all Indians who will make up a 'priority' class for highly subsidised food entitlements, food minister KV Thomas has said. Zia Haq reports. The number game
'Pollution from Europe drying up monsoon'
India's monsoon-the lifeblood of Asia's third-largest economy-is drying up because of air pollution over European countries, according to a new study in the journal Science, findings which have been treated with caution by the Indian Met department. A study by Princeton University
'Heretical' Ahmadiyya sect raises Muslim hackles
They proudly claim to be Muslims but are laughed off by mainstream Islam as "fakes". The dispute goes beyond mere ridicule. From Pakistan to Indonesia, the Ahmadiyyas are often killed for believing in their own line of subordinate prophets after Mohammed. Now, as they try to assert themselves in India, the sect's very birthplace, a conflict looks likely.
Arab Spring shapes new Islamic orders
Some Arab countries are following up their march towards democracy with a far more vital debate: what kind of Islam to have. Zia Haq writes.
Updated on Sep 27, 2011 12:30 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Zia Haq, Casablanca
Reforms, open society keeps uprising off in Morocco
As the evening chergui, a mild Atlantic breeze, blows across the squeaky clean Moroccan capital, the city's hip young crowds are out on the tidy streets, cafes and parks. There's no sign of an Arab spring here. Nor is one being expected. Zia Haq writes.
Updated on Sep 25, 2011 11:21 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zia Haq, Rabat
No respite from high food prices till 2012
Food prices are likely to remain high this year despite a better-than-expected monsoon, staying closer to the double-digit zone until mid-2012, economists say. Zia Haq reports. Inflation triggers
India to update quake profile, assess threats
India will undertake an assortment of geological missions to update the country's earthquake profile. One of these will, for the first time, mark out highly localised vulnerable municipal zones within major north Indian cities, like Delhi. Zia Haq reports. Shock and awe: for a safer India
Updated on Sep 09, 2011 02:24 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Zia Haq, New Delhi
To push productivity, PM steps on science gas
Taking a leaf out of his predecessor Rajiv Gandhi's penchant for science, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is working on a national plan to make India a scientific powerhouse in 10 years. Zia Haq reports.
Govt set to curb onion exports
Markets could run low on onions again, prompting the government to consider taking a key monetary step to curb exports and check domestic prices from spiralling. Zia Haq reports. Upsetting the budget
Small cities foot huge food bills
Prices of some food items have been climbing higher in smaller cities compared to bigger ones, and Mumbai residents pay some of the highest food prices in the country, five-year data from the government's Price Monitoring Cell show.
$10 mn Monsanto research grant for Indian staples
Global seeds company Monsanto has announced grants worth $10 million (Rs 46 crore) to enable Indian scientists to search for productivity breakthroughs in wheat and rice under the Monsanto Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Programme, the biggest such private funding of farm research in the country.
Updated on Aug 25, 2011 11:35 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zia Haq, New Delhi
Gong sounded here, Indians abroad hear
Thousands squatting on Delhi's Ramlila Ground, calling for a tough law to check corruption, are being joined by Indians in major American and European cities. Zia Haq reports.
Updated on Aug 25, 2011 12:04 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Zia Haq, New Delhi
Muslims spurn Team Anna
Anti-corruption leader Anna Hazare sent his closest aides — Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal — to reach out to some prominent Muslims for support, but the two emissaries only faced a barrage of pointed questions from a “circumspect” community. Zia Haq reports.
Boardroom-style strategies behind blockbuster success
On stage, a steadfast Anna Hazare lies firm and unfazed, occasionally waving to the crowds. Backstage, military precision goes into preparing for another day of what has been an iconic protest-cum-carnival. Zia Haq reports.
Anti-Anna voices grow louder
Voices against Anna Hazare, so far inaudible in the course of his high-decibel campaign, are getting louder. Zia Haq reports.
GM crops to N-plants, all protest roads lead to Ramlila
At ground zero of Anna Hazare's protest, hooters sell for Rs 5, headgears for Rs 15 and tricolour festoons for Rs 10. The right to dissent comes free.
Updated on Aug 21, 2011 12:32 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Zia Haq, New Delhi