-Down to Earth The situation of India's farmers has only become grimmer in the past decade, according to the latest National Sample Survey Office report The lot of the embattled Indian farmer only keeps on getting worse with the passage of time. In the last 10 years, the voluminous debt of Indian agricultural households has increased almost four-fold whereas their undersized monthly income from cultivation has increased three-fold. Even the number of...

-IndiaSpend.com The wages of people living in rural India are no longer rising at the same rate as they were under the United Progressive Alliance government. Last week, The Indian Express reported that the average daily wage rate for rural India grew by 3.8% in November 2014 as compared to the same month the previous year. This is the lowest since 2005, said the paper. As recently as June, growth figures were...

-The Guardian Universal healthcare is often presented as an idealistic goal that remains out of reach for all but the richest nations. That's not the case, writes Amartya Sen. Look at what has been achieved in Rwanda, Thailand and Bangladesh Twenty-five hundred years ago, the young Gautama Buddha left his princely home, in the foothills of the Himalayas, in a state of agitation and agony. What was he so distressed about?...

-The Indian Express Rural wages in India have registered an average annual growth of 3.8 per cent in November, the lowest since July 2005, according to Labour Bureau data. The 3.8 per cent year-on-year increase is a significant drop relative to the two-digit growth rates prevailing until June, and the peak 20 per cent-plus levels of 2011 (see graph). "The numbers confirm the findings in our mid-year economic analysis that inflation is...

-The Hindu Business Line Its bold labour reforms are a trendsetter, lending impetus to the ‘Make in India' initiative With ‘Make in India' taking centrestage in India's plan to position itself on a high growth track, far-reaching reforms in the labour, tax and land laws hold the key to the government's ambitions. The abundance of workers is undoubtedly India's biggest asset for its emergence as a preferred manufacturing destination. While the Centre has initiated...