India, Switzerland had signed a protocol to amend the DTA last year It is expected to help India get details about illicit wealth India may have to wait till at least next year for information from Switzerland on the possible black money trail to Swiss banks, as a treaty for the same might come into force only by the end of 2011. The treaty needs to be ratified by various authorities in India...

According to Transparency International, India ranks 87 in the 2010 corruption index in a list of 178 countries, ranked from very clean to highly corrupt. Ranked with India at 87 are Albania, Jamaica and Liberia. India slipped from 84 in 2009. In our country kickbacks, bribes, public swindles and land-grabbing is now virtually institutionalised. Clean politicians, bureaucrats and police officials are now seen as a rare, endangered species. And it’s...

Despite its slackening industry, the common perception of West Bengal as a backward state has little substance when one looks at the facts. Most of us are conditioned to view economic development in terms of industrialisation. While industrialisation is essential for economic transformation, it is not as if economic growth is not possible without it. The sectoral structure of India's gross domestic product (GDP) and its slow transformation makes a good...

“Government callous to plight of people groaning under spiralling prices of food items” Nine Political Parties, including four Left parties, on Thursday announced a week-long nationwide agitation against price rise. The United Progressive Alliance government was callous to the plight of people groaning under spiralling prices of food items, they alleged. “We have decided to jointly conduct a week-long agitation against the price rise from February 3 to 9. During the...

Even though the Central Government agreed to link the wages paid under MG-NREGA to the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers (CPIAL), it shied away from paying statutory minimum wages in various states of India. Their logic for this: Lack of clarity on who will bear the extra financial burden—the Centre or the states? A letter from the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to UPA and NAC Chairperson Sonia Gandhi dated 31...