Jim Clifton, chairman and chief executive officer of US research and consulting services company Gallup Inc., says he does not understand art, golf or sailing. He only understands polls as he grew up in Nebraska interviewing farmers and ranchers for his client Cargill. Clifton acquired privately owned Gallup in 1988 and merged it with his own poll company that he started at 18. Today, Gallup is known for its presidential...

This month a group of Dalit (or Untouchables, as they were formerly labelled) students organised a Beef Festival in Osmania University of Hyderabad. It was the festival to assert their culinary rights in public and make a political statement of dietary habits of Dalits and Muslims – by cooking and eating beef Biryani on campus. About 2000 students participated and although it started out well, the festival was disrupted and students...

The robust 9 per cent –plus growth in South Asia till 2010, driven largely by India, where it came down to around 7 per cent in 2011-12, had one major qualifier: it was mostly associated with a rapid rise in labour productivity rather than an expansion in employment, according to the latest report Global Employment Trends from International Labour Office. Up until the end of the millennium, that is just a...

-PTI Amendments to a bill meant to check sexual harassment of women in the workplace failed to get the Union cabinet’s nod today as several ministers frowned on certain provisions. Sources said the Sexual Harassment of women in the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redress) Bill was referred to a group of ministers headed by Union home minister P. Chidambaram. Human resource development minister Kapil Sibal and woman and child development minister Krishna...

-Reuters Latest World Bank food price index showed the cost of food rose 8% between December and March Global food prices are rising again, pushed higher by costlier oil, strong demand from Asia and bad weather in parts of Europe, South America and the United States, the World Bank said on Wed nesday. The latest World Bank food price index showed the cost of food rose 8% between December and March. In the...