CHENNAI: The Nagapattinam Port in Tamil Nadu would be upgraded as an all-weather, deep-water green field port, at a cost of Rs 380 crore, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today announced. "In the first year of its operations after upgradation, the port can handle 10 lakh tonnes of cargo which will yield …
Fixing of minimum wages in the States and under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is set to become a poll issue, at least in Uttar Pradesh. Even as the Ministry of Rural Development is hurrying to revise the wage rate under the MGNREGS next week, its officials …
THE cat is out of the bag. Developed countries take back a large chunk of their development assistance by forcing recipient countries to buy goods and services from them. This was stated in a report released ahead of a meeting of rich countries to be held in November at Busan …
The Centre has decided to modify flagship rural development schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) to suit the needs of naxal-affected districts. While the schemes will be made more flexible, funds allocated to them will also increase. The decision was taken at a day-long consultation held …
One might not expect every butcher in rural Greece to recognise Costas Lapavitsas. He is, after all, an economist, a professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. His research interests include the evolution and function of the Japanese financial system—probably not staples of discussion among Greek …
This report analyzes the political economy of two important fields of agricultural policy in India: fertilizer supply and electricity supply for groundwater irrigation. These inputs are essential to food production and agricultural development, which have been core areas of concern for policymakers in India since Independence. Following the food shortages …
WITH financial institutions of emerging economies like India and China getting big time into development lending, the World Bank plans reforms to attract its borrowing countries. Some of the important plans are to disburse loans faster and on flexible terms. Bank watchers and civil society groups say the reforms, expected …
India’s labouring poor, historical studies edited by Rana P Behal & Marcel van der Linden, Cambridge University Press, Rs 695 In recent years, apart from the study of the industrial workforce, labour history has been enriched by the scholarly attention to mobile labour, lives of artisans and peasant migrants to …
In the last week of May, passersby at Dublin’s busy Merrion road were struck at the sight of a hoarding bearing a message from one Jobless Paddy: “Save me from emigration.” The message struck an instant chord among the Irish, tens of thousands of whom are forced to migrate in …
Oxfam, an international confederation of 15 human rights organisations fighting poverty and injustice, launched a new campaign here on Wednesday for a hunger-free world even as it announced that the number of hungry people the world over has crossed the billion mark and one in four of the world's hungry …
Staff at a bank in Uttar Pradesh has been blamed for allowing termites to eat their way through banknotes. The insects are believed to have chewed their way through notes worth some Rs 1 crore. “The branch management has been found guilty of laxity due to which the notes were …
WITHIN six months of its implementation, the Integrated Action Plan (IAP), intended to boost development in Naxalite-affected regions, is heading for a change. At present, the plan is being directed by district-level committees with no public participation. The Planning Commission wants to alter this arrangement by imposing conditions on release …
A town in northern Spain has decided to reintroduce the old Spanish currency, the peseta, alongside the euro to give the local economy a lift. Shopkeepers in Mugardos want anyone with forgotten stashes of the old cash at home to come and spend it. More than 60 shops in the …
Japan's centuries-old experience in dealing with natural disasters proves inadequate to help it handle the man-made nuclear crisis. THE magnitude 9.0 earthquake of March 11, the 10-metre-high waves of tsunami that followed, and the aftershocks have left Japan devastated, with thousands dead and radiation from damaged nuclear power plants threatening …
As I write this piece, the finance minister has dispatched the Union Budget 2011. The press is busy reflecting the views of business and industry lobbies, as they quibble over duty exemptions, insist on financial stimulus and other incentives, and cry for big-ticket reform—foreign direct investment in retail and insurance. …
The Indian economy this year (2010-11) has been characterized by robust economic growth and steady fiscal consolidation. Inflation continues to be high even though it has come down markedly from where it was at the start of the fiscal year. There are structural challenges that face, concerning economic governance, efficiency …
On January 10, Spain opened an architectural extravagance to the public amid complaints that the City of Culture in Galicia is a white elephant. The complex is still less than half built after it was commissioned 12 years ago. A library and newspaper archive were opened while four buildings—a museum, …
The new UNEP report demonstrates that a transition to a green economy is possible by investing 2% of global GDP per year (currently about US 1.3 trillion) between now and 2050 in a green transformation of key sectors, including agriculture, buildings, energy, fisheries, forests, manufacturing, tourism, transport, water & waste …
The Budget documents presented to Parliament comprise, besides the Finance Minister's Budget Speech, of the following: A. Annual Financial Statement (AFS); B. Demand for Grants (DG); C. Appropriation Bill; D. Finance Bill; E. Memorandum Explaining the Provisions in the Finance Bill, 2011; F. Macro-economic framework for the relevant financial year; …
