A fast growing economy is a thirsty economy and India is no exception—with the country’s water supply already under great strain, India must reassess its consumption to meet escalating demands for water to produce food and energy. Business-as-usual water practices cannot remain the same in India as the economy and its demand for freshwater grows over the coming decades. With an astounding 75% of freshwater already used for agriculture in India,...

The unemployment rate in India is estimated at 9.4 percent or 94 persons out of 1000 persons in the labour force for the fixed reference period of financial year 2009-10, according to employment-unemployment survey by the Labour Bureau under the Labour and Employment Ministry. In absolute terms about 40 million persons are found unemployed based on the survey results at overall level of the State/UT’s surveyed. The unemployment rates are estimated at...

A high-level working group of the Government of India has approved the idea of outbound foreign direct investment by Indians in the production of pulses and oilseeds aimed at meeting domestic demand. This is not a new idea. Since arable land in India is fast shrinking and efforts to lift the output of pulses and oilseeds, besides some other essential commodities, are not bearing fruit, investing in land elsewhere for...

The “paid news syndrome” in the media should be resisted as part of a larger struggle for democratic rights because corruption in the media directly affects the health of democracy. The struggle has to be waged in the context of media's corporatisation, monopolistic trends and structural decline. These views emerged at a day-long seminar on “Abridging Freedom and Fairness of the Media: Combating Challenges,” organised by the Rajasthan Working Journalists' Union,...

The NAC proposals for the food security bill are narrow and lack in vision. What is needed is a comprehensive bill with universalisation of PDS and a focus on child malnutrition.   There was much excitement when food security became one of the issues in the manifestos of most major political parties in the run up to the 2009 General Elections. With burgeoning food stocks, double-digit food inflation, stagnant malnutrition rates, declining...