-The Economic Times With the coming of 'organised' multi-brand retail - whether through FDI or indigenous - can the kirana store owner create an effective response so that he competes successfully to retain his share of the consumer's growing shopping basket? And second, will he want to make the change? To answer the first question, let's recap what we know are the kirana's strengths. Successful kirana stores have great neighbourhood locations and...

-The Economic Times New discoveries of natural resources in several African countries - including Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, and Mozambique - raise an important question: will these windfalls be a blessing that brings prosperity and hope, or a political and economic curse, as has been the case in so many countries? On average, resource-rich countries have done even more poorly than countries without resources. They have grown more slowly, and with greater inequality...

-The Telegraph In the desert-like barrenness of brown around him, Suresh Mangsuli is growing grapes. As the rest of his drought-hit village thirsts for drinking water, he splashes his three acres of vines with over 10,000 litres a day. His huge farm pond is brimming, insured against seepage by a black polythene sheet stretched across its floor. Its water is pumped out to irrigate the vineyard through a network of drip pipes. Growing grapes...

-The Hindu House-hunting for a Muslim in Delhi can be a long and excruciating exercise….  I shudder even now when I think of the incident of my husband, a media relations executive, being called a terrorist. Five years ago, in Dwarka’s Sabka Ghar Apartments here in the Capital, we were not able to get our favourite news channels on cable TV. My husband had been calling the cablewallah without much success. One day...

At a recent meeting in Kolkata, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee threw up his hands for not being able to present a bold Budget because of coalition politics. Indeed, Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress, a coalition partner, has been a thorn in the side of the UPA. She enjoys a veto on nearly everything that the government wishes to do. If such are the compulsions of coalition politics, should we not...