Finally, there's some good news for the United Progressive Alliance government. Consumption numbers for the past six years show that real incomes have grown much faster under the Congress-led coalition than during the National Democratic Alliance era. What's more, poverty is trending down and rural wages are growing smartly. The 2009-10 survey by the National Statistical Survey Organisation (NSSO) shows real spending by each person in rural India rose 6.3%...

"The Earth upon which the sea, and the rivers and waters, upon which food and the tribes of man have arisen, upon which this breathing, moving life exists, shall afford us precedence in drinking." - Prithvi Sukta, Atharva Veda Land is life. It is the basis of livelihoods for peasants and indigenous people across the Third World and is also becoming the most vital asset in the global economy. As the...

The country's financial hub, which overshot the capital in per capita income this year, cannot boast of any achievement where its women are concerned. Mumbai seems to prefer its men to women in all age categories, according to the provisional Census 2011 figures released on Friday. Mumbai's per capita income is currently poised at a healthy Rs 1.25 lakh, but it has emerged as the worst performer in Maharashtra in terms...

The country's financial hub, which overshot the capital in per capita income this year, cannot boast of any achievement where its women are concerned. Mumbai seems to prefer its men to women in all age categories, according to the provisional Census 2011 figures released on Friday. Mumbai's per capita income is currently poised at a healthy Rs 1.25 lakh, but it has emerged as the worst performer in Maharashtra in terms...

The rapid growth of global markets has not seen the parallel development of social and economic institutions to ensure balanced, inclusive and sustainable growth. Although we may not have yet reached “the end of history,” globalisation has brought us closer to “the end of geography” as we have known it. The compression of time and space triggered by the Third Industrial Revolution —roughly, since 1980 — has changed our interactions with...