A meticulous study of the agrarian relations in three villages. ONE of our senior sociologists once drew my attention to the distinction between economics and other social sciences. Other social sciences – sociology and anthropology, for instance – he said, pay a great deal of attention to gathering primary data and interpreting them, whereas economics relies on secondary data for its analysis. This is, to a large extent, a fair...

All school children across the country will soon have unique identification numbers (UID) which will help in tracking their movement in educational institutions and academic records. This follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Union Human Resource Development Ministry and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) here on Wednesday. The system will help in tracking students' mobility by creating an electronic registry, right from the primary level through...

Bharti Wal-Mart Pvt. Ltd, the 50:50 wholesale retailing joint venture between Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of the US and India’s Bharti Enterprises Ltd, plans to enlist about 35,000 farmers in the next 5-year to source fresh produce as it opens more stores. Currently, Bharti Wal-Mart sources fruits and vegetables from more than 600 farmers in Punjab and other states. Last week, it opened its fourth Best Price Modern Wholesale store in Kota...

Getting rural India to register for Aadhaar, the unique identification number scheme, is going to be a rewarding experience for banks. Leveraging on the government’s financial inclusion agenda, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has decided to pay Rs 50 per enrolment to banks and Life Insurance Corporation of India, which are acting as its registrars, for signing up residents till March 2011. Besides, any person who is below...

In 1957, the Communist Party of Kerala became the first democratically elected communist government in Asia. While many in the West feared that this election would help communism spread across South Asia and make Kerala the "Yan'an of India", the Keralite communists' actions were checked by Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress party's control of the federal coffers. Instead, from within the political bounds of India's divided government, Kerala initiated what has...