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...

-The Telegraph   The urban development ministry is miffed at the budget allocation for the urban renewal mission and has told the House standing committee it would not “sit quietly” but fight for more funds from the finance ministry. The aggressive posture comes despite the poor progress of the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, with only 127 of the 555 projects under its first phase completed by the deadline of March 31, 2012. A...

-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...

For three days in the last week of March, the United States Supreme Court heard arguments on the Affordable Care Act. No Federal law in the U.S. in recent memory has aroused such bitter controversy. If it is struck down as unconstitutional, President Barack Obama's prestige will suffer. He is due for re-election in November. Very many think the court will rule against him in June. The core of the law...

-The Hindu The Bachelor of Rural Health Care course seeks to create a separate cadre of public health professionals to serve in rural areas   Any doctor travelling to the United States for higher medical studies from this year onwards will have to sign a bond with the government, promising to return to India after completing his/her studies. This has been done to prevent doctors from leaving the country on the pretext of higher...