Lack of adequate credit - the lifeblood for any company is threatening to derail fledgling attempts by hundreds of dalit entrepreneurs to overcome deep socio-economic barriers and break into mainstream business.  Without credit, such entrepreneurs would also struggle to cash-in on the Rs 7,000-crore business opportunity opened up by the central government's new dalit-friendly sourcing plan, unveiled last month.  Credit disbursements to dalit entrepreneurs through 20-odd schemes run by the Ministry of...

Nearly 11 children go missing in India every hour and at least four of them are never found, according to a study by a child rights organisation. The report by Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) covers 392 of India's 640 districts and is the first such comprehensive study on the subject. The data was compiled over two years from January 2008 to January 2010. The report says most of the missing children end up...

Some time ago, newspapers in Britain carried full-page advertisements from the curiously named British Pig Association. This consortium of pig farmers was clamouring publicly that the supermarket chains were squeezing the farmers dry. Alongside them, Britain’s dairy farmers complained that a supermarket cartel was paring down their prices, while production costs went up and up. These farmers too have powerful lobbies; they are still in business. To this end, Britain, like...

U.P.'s GDP grew at 7.28 per cent in the past five years, but the State ranks low in virtually every area of socio-economic development. IF statistics on gross domestic product (GDP) are the only criteria to evaluate the performance of a government, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government in Uttar Pradesh will have to be rated as one with highly impressive credentials. For, India's most populous State has recorded a...

-IANS  Expressing its admiration for slain Maoist leader Kishenji but opposing his brand of politics, The All India Forward Bloc Saturday said it was 'shocked' over the way he was killed by the police. 'We are shocked over the way Kishenji was killed. Many times he had tried to contact us through telephone. I told him clearly that I admire you, but I do not agree with the way you are fighting...