Information and communication technology (ICT) projects are helping countries make significant progress towards the globally agreed anti-poverty targets world leaders have pledged to achieve by 2015, according to a United Nations report released today. For the first time, the 2010 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Stocktaking report – now in its third edition – takes into account the use of social networking services. “This report charts significant progress...

A bill to raise the ceiling of gratuity for employees to Rs10 lakh from Rs 3.5 lakh was passed by the Lok Sabha without discussion Monday. The House, which witnessed an opposition furore over the 2G spectrum “scam” and reports about alleged involvement of a central minister in an illegal arms deal, also adopted the Employees’ State Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2009 without any debate. The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill 2010, introduced...

Is the Indian government bargaining away the rights of millions across the world to essential drugs supplied by India, hailed as the pharmacy of the developing world, in the name of free trade with the European Union (EU)? That's a fear being expressed by civil society groups in the developing world. Commerce minister Anand Sharma vehemently denies such a possibility, claiming that the free trade agreement (FTA) under negotiation with...

Is India’s brand new Seed Bill capable of protecting the farmers' livelihoods? Or will it compromise their interest by allowing multinational seed companies to have a free run of the Indian seed market? The new Bill seeks to regulate the seed market and improve the quality of seeds as well as to harmonise and update the old policies in line with the current international practices for production, supply and for...

A meticulously researched book by A. Vaidyanathan, Agricultural Growth in India: Role of Technology, Incentives and Institutions, is an illuminating scholarly work. Thinking about it one realizes the dismal and declining state of Indian agriculture and the poor governance at both Central and state government levels that has brought it to this sorry pass. A valuable compendium of data and analysis of Indian agriculture since Independence, it is a valuable...