-IPS News India's planners worry about ‘jobless growth', but perhaps nothing illustrates this phenomenon better than a policy of handing over the collection and disposal of the capital's refuse to large private corporations, leaving close to 50,000 ragpickers unemployed. For decades ragpickers provided a service to this city, scavenging waste for recyclable plastic, aluminium, glass and other materials, and earning a livelihood by selling their pickings to contractors with equipment to process...

-The Economic Times The UPA government's flagship employment guarantee programme can play an important role in conserving natural resources and sustaining water supply and food production, according to a study. Conceived to provide livelihood security for the rural poor, the scheme can also help reduce and counter the impact of climate change in villages, according to the study, "Environmental Benefits and Vulnerability Reduction through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme"...

-Live Mint Despite being declared unconstitutional by SC, ‘khaps' continue to hold sway in parallel with the state machinery Rohtak/Bhiwani: Ravinder Gehlawat and his wife Shilpa had been married for less than four months when they were marched out of their village-Dharana in Jhajjar district of Haryana-by men of the local community and warned never to return. Their fate was sealed on 24 April 2009 when the local khap panchayat, which translates...

-Live Mint Lack of decentralization means municipalities lack power, resources to meet rising aspirations of ‘middle' India Othakadai, Madurai (Tamil Nadu)/Hubli (Karnataka): S. Paramasivam , president of the Othakadai panchayat, has big plans for his area. "Rainwater harvesting, removal of encroachments on roads, waste recycling, covered drainage, bigger primary health care centres and community parks," lists the 58-year-old, who has spent 30 years in the stainless steel business that dominates industry...

-The Indian Express By May 2, Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd (SIRECL) has to prove the "genuineness" of all its investors to the Supreme Court. It has a difficult task on its hands: the name ‘Kalawati' figures 5,984 times on that list, same names appear against different locations, and geography takes a giant leap with ‘Jaipur Nagpur Maharashtra' and ‘187 Aurangabad Lucknow UP' mentioned as addresses. SIRECL had given the list...