India’s story in the global gender gap review is a little good news followed by a lot of bad news. The good news first: The 73rd (Panchayat) amendment to the Constitution, passed in 1993, has brought over one million women at the grassroots into the political system. Another shining indicator relates to the female head of government. Sixteen of the last 50 years were occupied by a female in the...

India’s city population will nearly double to close to 600 million people by 2030, requiring huge investment to avoid urban “chaos”, a report by global consultancy McKinsey warned Thursday. India must invest $1.2 trillion for core urban infrastructure in its cities over the next 20 years, equivalent to $134 per capita a year, the report said — almost eight times current spending in per capita terms. “The need for change is urgent....

The impact of global recession will force an additional 64 million people across the world to live in extreme poverty by 2010, warns the World Bank. The economic crisis and recession have substantially increased the challenge of meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) targets, according to the World Development Indicator (WDI) 2010 released by the World Bank on Tuesday. In contrast to the record growth in 2000-07, the Global Economy grew only...

For decades the sprawling state of Bihar, flat and scorching as a griddle, was something between a punch line and a cautionary tale, the exact opposite of the high-tech, rapidly growing, rising global power India has sought to become. Criminals could count on the police for protection, not prosecution. Highwaymen ruled the shredded roads and kidnapping was one of the state’s most profitable businesses. Violence raged between Muslims and Hindus, between...

Democracy and free market have fused into single predatory organism: Arundhati Roy  MoUs with transnational firms resulted in tribals moving out of their lands: Arundhati Roy The problem of market externality poses systemic risks: Chomsky “What happens, now that democracy and the free market have fused into a single predatory organism with a thin constricted imagination that revolves almost entirely around the idea of maximising profit,” asked author Arundhati Roy at a...