In most countries, unemployment is a clean-cut, easily understandable — and identifiable — problem. In India, it’s not that simple. The complexity of our economy, the barbed-wire fence of Restrictions that surround our “organised” sector, the tendency towards seasonal work, and the networks of caste, clan and kinship that still govern employment in many parts make answering the simple question “How many of India’s workers are unemployed?” very difficult indeed. The labour ministry...

The microfinance bubble has burst. The AP government ordinance, the AP oppositionfs campaign asking borrowers not to repay and the sheer public hostility towards MFIs . all these have put the brakes on MFI activities for now. We need to rethink the role of MFIs in the rural economy . In order to do so, we must first grasp some of the myths on which the MFI sector has Rested...

While the Rest of Punjab has performed poorly under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Faridkot district is setting an example. As part of a project to clear all link roads of encroachments, the district will employ some 30,000 villagers under the MGNREGA. This scheme was kicked off on Tuesday at Ramoowala village by Deputy Commissioner Dr S Karuna Raju, who said, “the basis of this act is to...

The Cabinet on Wednesday decided to Restore the tribal land allegedly encroached by a windmill company at Attappady in Palakkad district. Those who fabricated documents for facilitating the encroachment would be prosecuted. The Cabinet also decided to institute a comprehensive Vigilance inquiry into the alleged involvement of officials of various departments in the alienation of the tribal land. Briefing the media on the Cabinet decisions, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said the inquiry...

Developing countries should act now to head off their own "obesity epidemic", says a global policy group. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says obesity levels are rising fast. In a report in the Lancet medical journal, it says low-income countries cannot cope with the health consequences of wide scale obesity. Rates in Brazil and South Africa already outstrip the OECD average. Increasing obesity in industrialised countries such as the UK and...