-Live Mint The solutions to India’s growth problems require a more holistic approach Whether rightly or wrongly, there is a growing critique of India’s current development strategy: of a top-down, trickle-down theory that rides on an extraordinary growth momentum. They are disparate, but when the dots are connected they do present a coherent reminder that this strategy may not be the best and, worse, it is not sustainable. To a large extent this...

-Live Mint Decline came as labour productivity grew 7.6%; wage growth remains far below pre-crisis levels globally  India’s real wages fell 1% between 2008 and 2011, while labour productivity grew 7.6% in the same period, International Labour Organization (ILO) data showed on Friday, indicating that the benefits of the country’s economic growth didn’t translate into better pay for workers in the aftermath of the global economic crisis. In contrast, China’s real wage growth...

-Outlook Don’t blame globalization for inequality – but rather policies hijacked by a few Economic globalization in the sense of expansion of foreign trade and investment is, of course, somewhat anaemic, reflecting the impact of global recession, although still vigorous in the sense of continuous international transmission of technology, information, ideas and social media. But in the world of politics and policymaking a cold wind is blowing, dimming earlier enthusiasm for global...

-The Economic Times The Union Cabinet has okayed a new price-control formula for pharmaceuticals, which seeks to cap prices at the arithmetic average of all drugs with more than 1% market share in any therapeutic segment that is to be brought under price control. Given that the existing system of fixing prices of select drugs is on the basis of costs, which is rigid, intrusive and prone to manipulation as well,...

-The United Nations A reduction of more than 50 per cent in the rate of new HIV infections has been achieved across 25 low- and middle-income countries – more than half in Africa, the region most affected by HIV – according to a new United Nations report, which shows that unprecedented acceleration in the AIDS response is producing results. “The pace of progress is quickening – what used to take a decade...