Why is India's most socially developed state - and one of the developing world's most advanced regions - an economic laggard? This question about Kerala, known all over the world for its lush landscapes, sun-drenched beaches and idyllic backwaters, has been a subject of intense debate among economists and social scientists. Kerala defies all stereotypes of a "socially backward" Indian state - swathes of people living in abject poverty, men outnumbering...

Kabul (Reuters): Dozens of Indian labourers have been forced to take refuge in a Sikh temple in Kabul after job agents who promised lucrative jobs in the unstable capital disappeared, leaving the men penniless and without passports. Billions of dollars in western military contracts have turned Afghanistan — long a source of refugees fleeing chronic conflict — into an unlikely magnet for migrant workers willing to risk their lives for a...

The impact of the global financial downturn has been felt keenly in the Middle Eastern emirate of Dubai - and that in turn is affecting the remote Indian village of Akhopur in the state of Bihar, from where Amarnath Tewary reports. In August 2008, Bharat Bhushan Tiwari - from Akhopur village in eastern Indian Bihar - took a loan of 71,000 rupees ($1,500) from a village moneylender to pay a...

The collapse of the Dubai dream is not without any implications; it may be an indication that the travails of finance capitalism are not over. GLOBAL capitalism is in a phase in which it must deal with the fruits of the overextension during the previous boom, and there is no doubt that this is going to be painful. The financial crisis in the United States and some other developed countries...

Real estate may be the epicentre of Dubai’s debt crisis, but it is the Indian commodity trade that will feel its aftershocks for months to come. Two reasons make Dubai important to Indian companies. One, Dubai is the hub of most-traded commodities, from pearls, gold and diamonds to tea, cotton, basmati and sugar. Crucially, it is gateway to west Asia. All the top players in the region, especially Gulf Cooperation...