In a sudden U-turn, the mines ministry has decided against asking miners from mandatorily sharing 26 per cent of net profits with the affected local population. Instead, it has proposed that miners set aside 26 per cent of the royalty they pay to states for sharing with locals. This dramatically changes what locals will get if the proposal becomes law. For example, for a tonne of iron ore which costs about...

Women’s stepping out of their homes to work is often seen as a symbol of empowerment. But what if girls and young women are first lured to work in factories on the false promise of decent wage, comfortable accommodation and payment of a lump sum amount at the end of 3 years contract, and then made to toil for pittance and their labour rights are violated? A report titled: Captured...

Retirement at 60 means a relaxed life for most people. Not so for 70-year-old P Mukundan, managing director of Servals Automation Pvt Ltd, though. He did retire from his busy business life at 60 but chose to become a social entrepreneur after that. He started a social enterprise that is 'for-profit' but that touches the lives of those who live in rural areas all over the world. In 2002, Mukundan started manufacturing...

-The Business Standard   A major blow was delivered to the National Advisory Council’s capacity to intervene in decisionmaking by the government with the Ministry of Rural development sticking to the formulation that if a private company wants to set up industry, it must buy 70 per cent of the land itself. All that the state government will do is buy for the investor, 30 per cent of the land, that...

-The Business Standard   Political rhetoric dominated the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and industry (Ficci) annual executive committee meet today, even as two key faces of Mamata Banerjee’s administration reiterated the government’s stance of not acquiring land for industry. “Under no circumstances will the government acquire land for the industry,” Partha Chatterjee, West Bengal’s commerce and industries minister told the industry body. Also present at the event was state’s finance...