In The Media ⁽⁴⁰⁰⁾

From being ranked second-poorest state 30 years ago, Rajasthan clocked second-highest growth of 9.4% in 2008-09. Read full article Economically-prosperous states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are ‘happening’ places and, therefore, enjoy near-continuous coverage in print and electronic media. At the other extreme, when an exceptionally-poor state such as Bihar begins to register growth rates of 8-9%, it catches the eye of not just the national but also international press. But the achievements of states that are neither at the top nor at the bottom go largely unnoticed. One such state is my own: Rajasthan. Going by the available per-capita income data, Rajasthan was the second poorest state in financial year 1980-81, ranking barely above Bihar. For years, it was pejoratively referred to as a Bimaru state alongside Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Read full article Abstract: Opposition to the foreign universities Bill, some of it originating even from within the Congress, is a sad affair for the nation. Few arguments against this much-needed and long-neglected reform stand up to close scrutiny. Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education, defined as the number of students enrolled in colleges and universities as a per cent of the total college-age population, stood at eight in China and 10 in India in 2000. By 2007, the ratio had shot up to 22 in China but crawled up barely to 13 in India. Seen differently, GER in secondary education in India was 57 in 2007. Even assuming that only half of these students actually graduate, our colleges and universities are seriously short of space.

The issue concerning GM crops is not that Bt brinjal was consigned to cold storage but the process that led to its approval being held in abeyance.Read full articleThe priority our environment and forest ministry gave public consultation over scientific evidence in reaching a negative verdict on Bt Brinjal calls for a look back at the process leading to the adoption of high-yielding varieties (HYV) that ushered the Green Revolution. The courage and tact then minister of agriculture C Subramaniam exhibited in navigating the process eventually earned him India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna. And late Dr Norman E Borlaug, the inventor of the new technology with HYV seeds at its centre, won the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize. In the mid-1960 s when Subramaniam became the minister of agriculture, India suffered from such serious food shortages that then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri called upon all Indians to miss one meal each week. Around this time, assisted by the Rockefeller Foundation and Ford Foundation, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) had been experimenting with the seeds and cultivation method of…

Country's leadership views India's destiny to great world power as inevitable. As a result, complacency has returned at top policy levels. Top 10 challenges for IndiaRead full article The single most important reason why India receives as much attention worldwide as it does today is its perceived economic potential. At $1.25 trillion in GDP, the country currently accounts for only 2.2% of the world GDP. It ranks a low 12th in economic size despite a population of 1.2 billion and comes behind all remaining three BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries. Yet India cannot be ignored because if it fulfils its promise of near-double-digit growth over the next two decades, it would become the third or fourth largest economy in the world. But nothing is ever carved in stone in the world of economics. In the 1950s, India had been seen as a rising star while South Korea was viewed as a basket case. But dramatically different policy choices by the two countries led to exactly the opposite outcome by 1980. Fortunes began to turn for the better for India only…

Read full article Abstract: Lagging employment recovery and continuing high levels of unemployment have marked the macroeconomic scenario in the United States. So, it is natural that the United States, which chaired the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, would use its privileged position as the host to invite the US secretary of labour, a well-known union activist, to convene a meeting of the employment and labour ministers on the jobs situation prior to the next G-20 heads of state meeting in Canada. The macroeconomic aspects of the labour situation are indeed a proper focus of such a meeting. But the Pittsburgh declaration goes further and urges the G-20 countries not to "disregard or weaken internationally recognised labour standards" and to "implement policies consistent with ILO fundamental principles and rights at work".