Aruna Roy, the prominent political and social activist who spearheaded the campaign to institute the Right to Information Act in the 1990s, is an ardent critic of the anti-people and exclusionary policies of the first and the second United Progressive Alliance governments. A recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership in 2000, she heads the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathana (a trade union of workers and peasants) in Rajasamand, Rajasthan,...

ON May 31, when the government announces GDP numbers for 2009-10, for the first time, factories would contribute more to the national income than the country’s farmers, marking a significant shift in the structure of the India economy. That does not, however, diminish the importance of the farm, fisheries and the forest sector because of the disproportionately high percentage of people still engaged in these activities. Neither does it take...

Tamil Nadu has been highly successful in implementing the concept of Industrial Facilitation Council, which helps small units address the problem of payment default by their clients and get back their dues, according to G. Sundaramurthi, Industries Commissioner and Director of Industries and Commerce, Speaking to journalists here on Friday, he said that Tamil Nadu's achievements in implementing this concept were recognised nationally. In a recent meeting of Industry Ministers of...

The Andhra Pradesh government has fixed a target to provide compulsory 100 days employment to 3 million households through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) during the financial year 2010-11. Last year, only 1.4 million households were provided with 100-day work in the state. In all, the state is aiming to touch 6.2 million households during the year implying a spend of about Rs 7,000 crore, up 52...

Highlighting the fact that the tobacco industry often pays the lowest possible wages, keeping its workers in a cycle of poverty, debt and ill-health, a recent research study titled “At the crossroads of life and livelihood: The economics, poverty and working conditions of people employed in the tobacco industry in India” presents key evidence linking tobacco production and manufacturing with crucial issues of growing poverty and impeded development. The study recommends...