Tom Sawyer, the mischievous young protagonist of Mark Twain's 19th century classic, is an unlikely hero for a social activist from rural West Bengal. But Shabnam Ramaswamy, a feisty 55-year-old from Murshidabad, likens herself to Tom Sawyer in more ways than one.  Like Sawyer, who, when given the onerous task of painting a wall, convinced his friends of the importance of his job and had them queuing up to help him,...

The world is a more corrupt place now than it was three years ago, a poll suggests.Some 56% of people interviewed by Transparency International said their country had become more corrupt.In Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iraq and India more than 50% of people said they had paid a bribe in the past year - many of them paying off the police.Meanwhile, a BBC poll suggests that corruption is the world's most talked...

Labour Minister Harish Rawat says the government is confident of creating 58 million additional jobs by the end of the 11th Five Year Plan in 2012 thanks to the smart recovery in the farm sector and its resultant impact on the rural economy. "Agriculture has responded very positively. With economy poised to grow at nine percent in this fiscal year, we will be able to meet the target," Rawat told...

he recent findings by the Labour Bureau's Employment and Unemployment Survey (2009-10) provide timely pointers to the manner in which liberalising India's workforce is coping with the changing times. The survey gives a snapshot of the country's employment and demographic situation. The estimated unemployment rate — in the region of 9.4 per cent (barring the five north-eastern States and the islands of Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar, where the survey...

Dr MS Swaminathan, NAC member and the father of India's green revolution talks to Rupashree Nanda on the food security legislation, the neglect in creating storage infrastructure and ideas like outsourcing food security issues. Rupashree Nanda: The main reason for the NAC climb down from the promised universal PDS to targeted PDS was the stated non - availability of foodgrains. Would you agree to that argument? Isn't there is not enough...