-The Times of India Six years ago, the Sachar Committee reportshowed that the Muslim community in India suffers from severe deprivations in education, employment, health services, public infrastructure, access to financial services leading to much higher poverty than other religious groups, somewhat like the condition of scheduled castes and tribes. The government responded by setting up a separate ministry for minority affairs, and launching several programs to provide benefits to the...

-Economic and Political Weekly The recent debate on the acceptability of foreign direct investment in the retail sector in India has been mostly political. It is necessary to look into the pros and cons of FDI in retail from a purely economic point of view. This article identifi es the safeguards that should be undertaken before allowing giant multinationals to function in the country. Abhirup Sarkar (abhirup@isical.ac.in) is with the Indian Statistical...

-Outlook Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today emphasised on the need to shift large surplus farmers to non-agriculture sector, saying per capita income of farmers would rise only when fewer people engage in farming. He also said farmers' income and agri-land yields need to be enhanced to meet the growing foodgrains demand in the coming years, building on the success of the 11th Plan. Addressing the 57th meeting of the National Development Council (NDC),...

-The Financial Express Mexico City: The world's happiest people aren't in Qatar, the richest country by most measures. They aren't in Japan, the nation with the highest life expectancy. Canada, with its chart-topping percentage of college graduates, doesn't make the top 10. A poll released yesterday of nearly 150,000 people around the world says seven of the world's 10 countries with the most upbeat attitudes are in Latin America. Many of the seven do...

-The Hindu The trouble with ageing is that it is inevitable. The truth about ageing in India is that we have not yet built an adequate knowledge base to respond to its multifarious challenges. So says the United Nations Population Fund in its recently released Report on the Status of Elderly in Select States of India. The focus of the study is on the seven States where the aged population is...