At BANCON (annual bankers' conference) 2011 in Chennai, financial institutions explored avenues for greater participation in agriculture and rural development. There are a few areas in need of additional attention and investment. Green Revolution technologies are scale-neutral but not resource-neutral. Inputs are needed for output; therefore market-purchased inputs become important in providing soil and plant healthcare for higher yields. Social scientists point out that small and marginal farmers will be excluded...

-The Hindu   As the head of the largest trade union federation, Sharan Burrow represents the face of the worker at the high-tables of the world. Ms Burrow is the general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which represents 175 million workers in 153 countries. Ahead of this week's G20 Summit in Cannes, Ms. Burrow has, in meetings with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European leaders, warned of the...

Why is it that the Anna Hazare-led movement against corruption does not seek to have the Lokpal cover NGOs, corporate houses and the corporate media? Gautam Navlakha (gnavlakha@gmail.com) is a member of the People’s Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi.   It would be churlish to dismiss “Team Anna’s” mass mobilisation which is an assertion of our collective right to protest. This is especially so in view of the fact that after having waited...

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today reached out to India’s civil society and sought to be in sync with the restive public mood worldwide. Singh warmly appreciated “Anna Hazareji’s movement”, condemning the physical attacks on Team Anna members in recent days, sympathised with the sentiments of the Occupy Wall Street protests and praised the role of the judiciary as central to India’s democracy. In a wide-ranging interaction with journalists on his flight home...

To top bureaucrats, wards of Ministers The Patna High Court has ordered the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority to reply immediately to petitions alleging preferential allocation of prime government land at sub-par rates to top-ranking bureaucrats and wards of Ministers in the Nitish Kumar government. A Division Bench of the Court comprising Justices T. Meena Kumari and Vikas Jain directed the Authority to answer the petitions filed by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)...