-Live Mint FDI or not, there are problems that plague Indian agriculture and will need to be fixed first  With the parliamentary vote on foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail out of the way, the government will proceed with the liberalization of this sector as it thinks it will improve the prospects of agriculture.   Should we be worried about our small neighbourhood stores shutting down? The fears are overblown. Organized large-format retail...

-Live Mint Decline came as labour productivity grew 7.6%; wage growth remains far below pre-crisis levels globally  India’s real wages fell 1% between 2008 and 2011, while labour productivity grew 7.6% in the same period, International Labour Organization (ILO) data showed on Friday, indicating that the benefits of the country’s economic growth didn’t translate into better pay for workers in the aftermath of the global economic crisis. In contrast, China’s real wage growth...

-Live Mint High growth hasn’t led to more jobs  The years between 2004-05 and 2009-10 saw some of the highest rates of gross domestic product (GDP) growth for India. The problem, however, is that this high growth hasn’t led to more jobs. Employment elasticity—which is a measure of how employment varies with economic output—has come down dramatically. The Planning Commission says that employment elasticity has come down “from 0.44 in the first half...

-DNA Gujarat government’s tall claim of providing employment to 65,000 youth under ‘Swami Vivekananda Youth Employment Week’ have been contradicted by its won reply to a RTI plea filed on issue. Jyoti Karmachari Mandal (JKM), the organisation that filed the plea seeking details of Rojgar Melas held in state, has accused the state government of manipulating figures to mislead people. They alleged that state government’s reply showed that beneficiaries were given employment letters...

-The New Indian Express Bhubaneswar: The Assembly on Tuesday passed the Odisha Consolidation of Holdings and Prevention of Fragmentation of Land (Amendment) Bill, 2012, with members of both Treasury and Opposition benches making a strong plea to the Government to ensure that agricultural land is not used for non-agricultural purposes. “The amendment of the Odisha Consolidation of Holdings and Prevention of Fragmentation of Land Act, 1972, will pave the way for fragmentation...