Opinion: Shekhar Aiyar. The World Bank’s measure of extreme poverty, at $2.15 a day, represents a level of deprivation that is rarely seen in the West. At this income, hunger or its shadow is an inescapable feature of life. Estimates suggest that over half the children born to poor families are undernourished. One could argue... Read More
Shekhar Shah India's rapidly-growing philanthropic community has received a huge shot in the arm with the CSR provisions of the new Companies Act: companies above a certain size must formulate a CSR policy and annually spend at least two per cent of their average net profits over the prior three years. That will translate in... Read More
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone of the National Council for Applied Economic Research's New Centre here this morning. Urging the institution to maintain its high standards of economic research, the Prime Minister said, "The best is yet to come." “I sincerely hope that this institute will stay faithful to what its founding... Read More
The purpose of studying economics is not to provide settled answers to unsettled questions Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in New Delhi on Saturday. "The purpose of the study of economics is not to provide settled answers to unsettled and difficult questions but sometimes to warn economists and the world-at-large how not to be misled... Read More
The dream run of the Indian economy between 2003 and 2008 raised expectations of a continued flow of investment into the physical and social sectors. With the GDP growth rising to around eight per cent per year over that five-year period India appeared to move towards an era of sustained high economic growth. Even the... Read More
The latest NSSO data also underlines the increasing absence of women from the labour market Every time results from one of the "thick" rounds of the National Sample Survey come out we get into a feeding frenzy trying to slice and dice the statistics for changes since the previous round. Since NSS large rounds are... Read More
After the dismal gross domestic product (GDP) numbers released last week and the fall in the Purchasing Mangers' Index for manufacturing announced by HSBC yesterday the economy has received another setback. In the quarter ended March the Business Confidence Index dropped 4.5 per cent compared to the previous quarter according to a National Council of... Read More
The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in its April 2013 Quarterly Review of the Economy has projected that the Indian economy would grow at 6.2 per cent in 2013-14 led by a reasonable growth in agriculture. For this year the think tank projected agriculture sector growth at 3.2 per cent against a growth... Read More
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Perspective Plan-2030 prepared by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) raises a concern. The Kerala state might soon have to deal with the Dutch Disease a negative development trend pushed by several positive development indicators. Dutch Disease is defined as development that results in a large inflow of foreign currency... Read More
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:The draft of the State Planning Board ’s ambitious Kerala Perspective Plan 2030 was presented before vital stakeholders of the future namely students here on Thursday. Around a 100 post-graduate students and researchers from various institutions across the state including those from the universities of Kerala and Calicut Central University at Kasargod College of Engineering... Read More