It is presumed that the industrial development in Bihar is hampered by lack of investments. Is it because of 'unproductive' government policies or an unpredictable law and order situation? And how to increase the flow of investment in the state? In order to find out answers to all such questions and debate these issues, Business Standard Hindi recently organised a roundtable in Patna. The seminar was attended by various small...

The demand for a separate state of Telangana has brought into focus the economic performance of small states. Data brought out by the Central Statistical Organisation do show that most of the reorganised states tend to grow faster post-reorganisation and smaller states such as Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have grown faster after achieving state-hood than before, and at a rate higher than the average for the country. Moreover, we find...

Several recent reports put India at the bottom when it comes to gender equality. It is time for a clearly-spelt new policy on women and development. SHAILAJA CHANDRA  “By and large the attitude of a man towards his wife is possibly worse than his attitude towards his buffalo.”--Colin Gonzalves, Human Rights Lawyer The World Economic Forum, in a report titled the Global Gender Gap 2009, has quantified the magnitude of gender-based...

A revolution in small farm management is essential to revitalise the country’s agriculture sector, according to noted agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan. Corporate farming would be detrimental to India. Farming was the largest private sector enterprise in the country, and any bid to take away land from the farmer would be counter-productive. But a symbiotic relationship between farmers and industry, resulting in a win-win situation for both, would be good, he...

Companies such as L&T, IL&FS, Dr Reddy’s and NIIT will soon train and employ youths from Below Poverty Line (BPL) families, based on the success of a pilot project in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, implemented under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). The National Rural Livelihoods Mission, to be taken to the Cabinet by the Rural Development Ministry soon, envisages the training of 1.1 lakh unskilled youth over the next...