Time magazine picked him as one of 100 people shaping our world. Today, he’s held responsible for bringing an exciting, inspirational business into disrepute. Oh, and his wife says he beat her and snatched their son. There could not be a more controversial torchbearer than Vikram Akula for an industry as quintessentially Indian as microfinance, the business of providing the poor with loans, as small as R5,000, secured not with...

Indicating the official auditor CAG be permitted to look into the Books of public-private partnership (PPP) projects, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today underscored the need to ensure transparency in these infrastructure schemes. "CAG will play a leading role in ensuring that these new initiatives (PPP) deliver as intended," the Prime Minister said at a function to mark the 150 years of Comptroller and Auditor General of India. "There is a need to...

The famous carpet belt of Bhadohi-Mirzapur had been freed from child labour, claimed minister of state for textiles Panabaka Lakshmi and textile secretary Rita Menon. They were in the city on Friday to take part in the inaugural function of the four-day India Carpet Expo, being organised in the premises of the Sampurnanand Sanskrit University. In a chat with reporters, the minister said no child labour was engaged in the carpet...

Noted Gandhian and economist L C Jain passed away on Sunday afternoon at the age of 85 after a courageous battle against cancer. L C Jain — organizer, commentator, activist — was born in 1925, the child of India's first freedom movement. He spent more than six decades of his life as an impassioned crusader for what Gandhi called India's second freedom struggle. Jain was known as a fierce opponent of...

Well-known Gandhian and Magsaysay Award winner L.C. Jain passed away on Sunday following prolonged illness. He was 85. An economist, organiser, commentator and activist, Mr. Jain spent more than six decades of his life as an impassioned crusader for what Mahatma Gandhi called India's second freedom struggle — the fight against socio-economic oppression. Known as a fierce opponent of overwhelming state control and an ardent advocate for social action, his efforts to keep...