L. Devasagayam moved into the tsunami resettlement quarters in the village of Idinthakarai on the coast in the far south of Tamil Nadu after his neighbourhood further south was destroyed in the 2004 calamity. But now, he worries that the colourful home that he gratefully accepted after that disaster could be his undoing. The reason for the fear confronts him when he steps out of his house. Clearly visible at a...

-Live Mint   The poor remain poor because they lack resources. And the formal finance sector does not want to lend them because they are too poor, costs are high and they hardly have anything to offer as collateral. That is, they are trapped in the vicious circle of poverty. This was so until the arrival of microfinance—successfully demonstrated by the Bangladesh model that the poor are “good” borrowers. It was held...

Real wages in the hinterland have stagnated despite zooming economy While the economy has zoomed along at an average of 7.2% of GDP in the last decade, real wages in the hinterland have stagnated. You would imagine that after a decade of impressive economic growth averaging around 7.2 per cent, rural populations would be beneficiaries to this story. However, wage patterns considered over the last ten years show that real wages (wages...

Why were two tribals and the Essar group framed by the Chhattisgarh police? Why are Soni Sori and Linga Kodopi being systematically silenced? This chilling story of one family reveals more about India's Naxal crisis than any official document can. AS I sit to write this, at 12.20 pm on 4 October 2011, an SMS pops up on my phone: “Soni Sori has been arrested by the Delhi Crime Branch.” The...

With activists and locals intensifying their agitation against the Koodankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said all safety precautions will be taken while executing the project but also stressed on its importance for the state given its growing power needs.   “The government fully shares the concerns of the people of the area and will take all steps to allay their fears. The government will...