Twice every year, between 1981 and 2000, a helicopter would whirr around the hills of the Western Ghats in Kasargod, a district in north Kerala bordering Karnataka, spraying endosulfan over the cashew plantations on the upper reaches. Children would rush out to take a look at the helicopter and the white spray would settle like mist on their heads and on leaves and shimmer in the sunlight. But that’s also...

Microcredit lifted 10 million Bangladeshis out of poverty between 1990 and 2008, according to a report. The work of Grameen Bank and others helped many families to raise their income above $1.25 a day, said the US-based Microcredit Summit Campaign. The study follows recent criticism of microfinance, which works by providing small loans to people to invest in generating their own incomes. Some experts argue the report may have missed the bigger picture. They...

Estimating black money has been a long time preoccupation of economists and tax collectors in India. Several books have been written and several government reports prepared. It is possible to suggest that the policy disincentives that may have contributed to black money generation, like high tax rates, have been moderated, if not eliminated, and that the incentive to declare income has gone up since the beginning of tax and policy...

Lone absconding accused arrested Co-accused produced in juvenile court As 15 lakh State government employees and gazetted officers went on strike on Thursday to protest the gruesome killing of Additional Collector of Nashik Yashwant Sonawane, the State government cracked the whip on the oil, sand and milk mafia in the State. “In the last 36 hours, we have arrested 170 persons in raids conducted across the State,” K.P. Raghuvanshi, Additional Director-General of Police,...

The Centre may announce a tax amnesty scheme to bring back black money stashed in Banks abroad, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee hinted today. He declined to share the names of those who have black money in foreign Banks “as it violates international law”. By one estimate, anything between $450 billion and $1.5 trillion is in these accounts. Mukherjee’s news conference was called today at the behest of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who...