To control inflation and ensure long-term economic growth, India needs to harness the creativity of the large number of its farmers and entrepreneurs, especially in rural areas. The latest WPI inflation data show primary articles inflation in double digit, driven mainly by food inflation which remains stubbornly high at over 9 per cent. The high food prices are the result of structural factors with shortages getting aggravated as demand continues to outstrip...

A retired IPS officer in Bihar JK Sinha has set up a free English-medium residential school to educate 200 young Musahar boys. It's a big step for the tribe which is one of the state's most backward communities. Every morning, the national anthem instills pride and courage in 120 inmates of the residential school. One of the students Pankaj said, "This school gives us all the basic amenities that a...

-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...

Two months ago, a media baron from Ahmedabad bought 240 bighas of land near Mahakali temple in Sitapur village, adjacent to Hansalpur where India's largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, plans to set up its biggest plant in the country.  The media baron paid Rs 12 lakh a bigha. On Tuesday, four days after the car project was announced, they sold the land for Rs 33 lakh a bigha.  From Sanand to...

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...