The only economic or social variable that has not moved since 1991 in India is our 93% informal employment in the informal sector. So, while we have smartly and substantially moved the needle on everything from foreign exchange reserves, infant mortality, school enrolment, market capitalisation, foreign investment, and pregnancy deaths, 9 out of 10 of our workers do not work in organised employment. Informal employment—what President Alan Garcia of Peru...
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We need profits, passion in farming by MS Swaminathan
In recent years, the agricultural growth rate has tended to be lower than the population growth rate. This year, the former is nearing the target of 4%. But we still have a very large percentage of undernourished children, women and men. Poverty and destitution also remain stubborn. The Indian food security enigma rises from the mismatch between the grain mountains and the hungry millions. What are the prospects for ensuring...
More »Legal settlements hit record in Tamil Nadu by A Subramani
At a time when ordinary money suits and cheque bounce cases are taking years for settlement, lok adalats in Tamil Nadu have set a new record this year by quietly disposing of more than 33,000 cases involving Rs 247 crore upto October 2010. The Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority (TNSLSA), headed by its executive chairman justice Elipe Dharma Rao, conducted a total of 4,579 lok adalats and heard more than...
More »2010 saw a slew of measures on the labour front
Rolling out a slew of measures for the working class in 2010, the government effected key reforms in some labour acts while also raising the annual rate of returns on employee provident funds to 9.5 per cent. The steps came as the government also unveiled the draft national policy on employment with suggestions of launching of a employment guarantee scheme in urban areas on the lines of NREGA. It amended the Payment...
More »45% of farmers want to quit farming: Swaminathan by K.V. Kurmanath
Prof M.S. Swaminathan, the father of Green Revolution and Chairman of National Commission on Farmers (NCF) that called for revamp of policies to revitalise agriculture, says agricultural sector in India is entering a state of serious crisis. Quoting figures from National Sample Survey Organisation, he says half of the farmers in the country want to quit farming. Prof Swaminathan, who was here to deliver the Convocation Address at the Acharya N.G....
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