-The Times of India   Inequality in earnings has doubled in India over the last two decades, making it the worst performer on this count of all emerging economies. The top 10% of wage earners now make 12 times more than the bottom 10%, up from a ratio of six in the 1990s. Moreover, wages are not smoothly spread out even through the middle of the distribution. The top 10% of earners make...

Farmers are joining India Inc in mind, body and spirit. In a quiet revolution underway across the countryside, growers are setting up companies, replete with balance sheets, professional CEOs, board of directors, and income tax returns.  By pooling together the land and produce of their shareholders, these companies are signing lucrative deals with large retail chains, food companies and exporters keen to establish reliable supply chains. As many as 200 companies...

Compensation will be paid before land takeover The new relief, rehabilitation, and resettlement package drawn up for those providing land for development initiatives in the State has been armed with provisions for substantive compensation, due stakeholder participation, and a social impact assessment, wherever needed. The focus of the package, prepared by the Revenue Department, is on providing a reasonable compensation to project-affected persons (PAPs) and disbursing it before taking possession of the...

Five States did manage a significant decline in the average number of farm suicides between 2003 and 2010. However, more States have reported increases over the same period. The television story was genuine and sensitive. At least 90 farmers, it said, had committed suicide in two months in Andhra Pradesh. These were cotton growers. Actually, last year, Andhra farmers killed themselves at the rate of 210 each month on average, according...

-The Times of India   HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh and Member of Parliament Ashok Ganguly have appealed to Corporate India to come out strongly in support of a besieged government, which is overwhelmed by opposition to its proposal to open up foreign investment in retail.   The two senior business leaders are part of a group of 14 eminent citizens who came together to raise the issue of policy paralysis and later on the...