-PTI Experts from the University of Oxford and Indian researchers are looking into the impact of climate change policies on India's informal economy, and to diagnose ways of reducing CO2 emissions and improving jobs.  By and large the global response to climate change has ignored informal economies and yet the larger part of India's economy and almost all its jobs are informal and not directly affected by government policy, a university release...

Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz today said he was aware of the problems industry was facing in acquiring land in Bengal and suggested that government role in facilitating acquisition could help reduce the difficulty. “I talked to some people and they said it’s (land acquisition) a problem here,” said Stiglitz, a professor of economics at Columbia University, during an interaction with journalists. The former chief economist at the World Bank expressed his...

-The Economic Times   Farm sector has sought reforms in supply chain infrastructure, rationalisation of subsidies, decentralised handling of foodgrain, and higher resources to farm productivity and ensure food security.  Presenting its pre-budget wish list to the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, a delegation of farmers and sector experts said there was a need to boost investment in farm sector to tackle food inflation. Farm sector growth is likely to be 3-3.5% in 11th...

Without equality, democracy and social justice, which are three interrelated factors, secularism cannot exist as a positive value in society. I HAVE known Prof. Romila Thapar for about 45 years, most of it as a colleague at the Centre for Historical Studies of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Romila, as she is called by almost everybody – from her eight-year-old grandnephew to all of us present here – had helped to...

Economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, currently the Lamont University Professor and Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University believes that mere economic growth cannot be equated with the wellness of people. Social indicators are an equally important measure. In Bangalore for the presentation of the Infosys Prize for 2011 ( Sen is the jury chair for social sciences), he spoke to TOI on a variety of topics. Excerpts: Q:...