-The Economic Times What is... Inequality has re-emerged as a core concern in developing and developed countries alike, thanks to the growing gap and frustration of a section of the middle class and the rich vis-a-vis the super rich. A World Bank Policy Research Working Paper (No. 6259) by Branko Milanovic shows that the incomes of the global top 1 per cent and the emerging middle classes in developing countries rose dramatically between...

-The Economic Times Foreign pharma companies could be forced to overhaul their strategy for the Indian market by striking more local deals and cutting sky-high drug prices after the Supreme Court slammed the door on Swiss giant Novartis' attempts to gain a patent for its blood cancer-busting drug Glivec. But the ruling, welcomed by activists campaigning for affordable drugs and local generic companies, threatened to reinforce a narrative that India...

-The Times of India Internationally acclaimed academician Noam Chomsky of Massachusetts Institute of Technology of the United States has warned that Koodankulam could be another Bhopal disaster in waiting. In a solidarity letter to the struggling people he said: "Nuclear energy is a very dangerous initiative, particularly in countries like India, which has had more than its share of industrial disasters, Bhopal being the most famous." "I would like to express my...

-The Economist A new form of radical centrist politics is needed to tackle inequality without hurting economic growth BY THE end of the 19th century, the first age of globalisation and a spate of new inventions had transformed the world economy. But the “Gilded Age” was also a famously unequal one, with America’s robber barons and Europe’s “Downton Abbey” classes amassing huge wealth: the concept of “conspicuous consumption” dates back to 1899....

-Frontline Reinstatement of the fundamental right to property in the Constitution will on its own do little to protect the interests of poor peasants and traditional communities.  The Indian Constitution adopted in 1950 guaranteed a set of fundamental rights that cannot be abridged by Central or State laws. One of these fundamental rights was the right to property enshrined in Articles 19(1)(f) and 31. Article 19(1)(f) guaranteed to all citizens the right...