Bihar's recent economic growth has created a peculiar problem for real estate and infrastructure firms in other parts of the country.  Migrant labour from the state constitutes around 50% of the unskilled workers employed in these sectors nationally, but increased government expenditure and private investment has caused rural migration from Bihar to fall by a third in recent years, resulting in labour shortages and 35-50% higher wage bills for real estate...

-The Hindu Justice Markandey Katju, Chairman, Press Council of India, argues that the media has a very important role to play in helping the country make the transition from an old feudal society to a modern industrial one quickly, and without much pain. The Role the Media should be playing in India by Justice Markandey Katju, (former Judge, Supreme Court of India), Chairman, Press Council of India To understand the role which...

-The Hindu   As the head of the largest trade union federation, Sharan Burrow represents the face of the worker at the high-tables of the world. Ms Burrow is the general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which represents 175 million workers in 153 countries. Ahead of this week's G20 Summit in Cannes, Ms. Burrow has, in meetings with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European leaders, warned of the...

-The Economist   A maverick minister lays into a hallowed programme IT LOOKS like risky politics for Jairam Ramesh, who runs India’s biggest civilian ministry, in charge of rural development, to lash out at his own government’s flagship welfare scheme. Mr Ramesh, who got his cabinet post in July, has sparked a row in the past week over corruption and poor results within a public programme that guarantees 100 days of paid work...

There are serious concerns over shortages of food and housing as the country's population is expected to reach 1.45bn by 2035 The Madanpur Khadr colony is a tenement slum on the southern outskirts of Delhi, the Indian capital. A decade ago there was nothing here but green fields, buffaloes wallowing, goats grazing and the odd small dwelling. Now an estimated 40,000 people live in ramshackle, five-storey, brick and concrete homes, 10 to...