Employment data indicates that India's recent growth has been largely jobless, the government must adjust its policies and promote job creation. Every five years, India's statistical system releases the results of a large scale sample survey that generates comprehensive data about consumer expenditure, employment conditions and much else. The results of the most recent survey conducted from July 2009 to June 2010 have just been released, and they have created shock...

If you buy electricity from Reliance Energy, you can now get any information from the parent company — Reliance Infrastructure — using the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. The state information commission has stated that suburban power supplier Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) comes under the ambit of the RTI Act. Justifying the order, the commission said though RInfra is a private company, Reliance Energy provides essential public service, and hence should come...

The empowered group of ministers (eGoM) recently decided on two important steps seen crucial for management of foodgrains. The first was the finalization of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and, secondly, extending the term of the Nandan Nilekani committee to explore the possibility of introducing cash transfers for delivering food subsidy directly to the poor. Another linked decision was to allow exports of wheat and rice to international markets. The...

The Centre will spend around Rs.30,000 crore on providing more than 2.5 lakh villages with broadband connectivity through optical fibre, Sam Pitroda, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Infrastructure, Innovation and Information, said on Monday. He was speaking to journalists after launching Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited's voice and video telephony over Internet protocol (VVoIP) here. “We need 30,000-40,000 km more of optical fibre…we probably need Rs.25,000-Rs.30,000 crore for all this. We are...

The Indian media have grown rapidly in scale, reach, influence, and revenues. But all stakeholders must realise that the ethical underpinning of professional journalism in the country has weakened and that the corrosion of public life in our country has impacted journalism. So what needs to be done? We have been witness in recent years to rapid, and unprecedented, changes in our society, economy, and polity. These have also transformed the...