By stubbornly overruling the National Advisory Council, the government risks defeating its purpose as a body that speaks for the poor and the disadvantaged. HAS the Manmohan Singh government begun to regard the National Advisory Council (NAC) as an adversary who should be undermined? Going by their exchanges on key issues such as food security, wages under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), and the implementation of the Scheduled Tribes...

More than 10,000 tribals in the area covering 15 villages along the Andhra-Orissa border held peace rallies on Friday seeking kidnapped collector Vineel Krishna's release. Though no bandh call was given, normal life was paralysed in tribal-dominated areas on both sides of Andhra-Orissa border as schools, colleges, offices and shops remained closed for the second day in a protest against the kidnapping. Hundreds of tribals in the Balimela reservoir area staged a...

Amidst hue and cry over micro-finance institutions (MFIs) charging the rural poor exorbitant interest rates, Reserve Bank of India norms continue to allow these entities a free hand in determining their charges. The banks lending to MFIs too continue to have full discretion in fixing their rate of interest. RBI has issued a latest master circular reiterating its earlier stand on micro-credit on February 14. Master circulars are like ready-reckoners on...

I was awakened early one morning recently by someone who said he was enormously enjoying my on-going debate on economic growth in India. I was very pleased that I had given someone some joy, but I also wondered what on earth he could be talking about, since I have not been involved in any such debate. As it happens, I am getting a steady stream of telephone calls and electronic...

They want State Government to exempt their farm produce from duty A group of Punjab-based farmers on Monday said they are going to grow pulses and oilseeds on 5,000 hectares of land in Ethiopia and import their farm produce to India. “We will start cultivating 5,000 hectares of land in Ethiopia from September this year and plan to cultivate pulses, oilseeds, sugarcane and maize which are always in short supply (in India),”...