-Economic and Political Weekly The recent debate on the acceptability of foreign direct investment in the retail sector in India has been mostly political. It is necessary to look into the pros and cons of FDI in retail from a purely economic point of view. This article identifi es the safeguards that should be undertaken before allowing giant multinationals to function in the country. Abhirup Sarkar (abhirup@isical.ac.in) is with the Indian Statistical...

-The Hindu As I write this, there are protests going on all over Delhi, and in other parts of the country, against the gang-rape of a young woman on a moving bus a few days ago in the city. People are out there in large numbers — young, old, male, female, rich, poor — and they’re angry. They want the rapists to be caught, they want them to be taught a...

-The Business Standard The Bill will negatively impact new projects, with land acquisition cost going up by as much as 150%, say industry captains After the initial euphoria, leaders of India Inc are realising that the proposed Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill will not make their lives easier. Instead, it will negatively impact new projects, with land acquisition cost going up by as much as 150 per cent, making large projects...

-The Hindu The incorporation of the Aadhar number in the electoral rolls will help to minimise malpractices and enable more people to participate in elections Every October, the Election Commission begins the annual exercise of revising the electoral rolls with the following January 1 as the effective date. This October, there was another important news — the launching of Aadhar enabled service delivery in Dudu in Rajasthan. The EC and Aadhar can...

-The Indian Express FDI in retail will bring competition to non-tradable services, and make Indian firms globally competitive India removed barriers to trade in goods in the 1990s. Removing protection brought global competition and raised productivity. But introducing global competition in services is harder. In certain services that are tradable, like legal or financial services, the removal of trade barriers can introduce competition and increase productivity. But these often involve complicated and...