Despite its slackening industry, the common perception of West Bengal as a backward state has little substance when one looks at the facts. Most of us are conditioned to view economic development in terms of industrialisation. While industrialisation is essential for economic transformation, it is not as if economic growth is not possible without it. The sectoral structure of India's gross domestic product (GDP) and its slow transformation makes a good...

Mamata Banerjee today asked the government to withdraw its decision to decontrol oil prices, the demand coming on a day arch-rival Left announced a weeklong protest from early next month over the petrol price hike. Both spoke of the burden on the masses as the bitter enemies rehearsed for poll battles ahead: in Bengal, where Mamata is looking to topple the Marxists, and in Kerala, where the ruling Left is on...

The government is seriously considering minority foreign stake in food retail in the wake of the spurt in food prices. “FDI in (food) retail will lead to demand-driven farming and that can result in clusterised high-growth farming,” food processing minister Subodh Kant Sahay told the The Telegraph. Cabinet secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar is believed to have gone even further — reportedly endorsing a proposal of the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP)...

The Right to Information (RTI) Act and activists who pursued the Adarsh case as early as 2008 are emerging victorious in the battle over the cooperative housing society. The RTI Act was instrumental in not only revealing the names of the 103 approved members of the controversial society, but also in bringing to light the links between politicians and various officials, including those in the government, military and defence estates...

The Trinamul Congress, an ally of the Congress-led UPA government, has decided to hit the streets from tomorrow to protest the rise in prices of petrol and other commodities. The Trinamul announcement today came minutes after CPM labour arm Citu declared a three-hour state-wide public transport strike from 12 noon to 3pm tomorrow to protest the fuel price hike. A Citu protest rally will also be held in Esplanade at 1pm...