September 22, 2007

Recently, on August 18, 2007, a public meeting was held in New Delhi under the aegis of the Convention for the Restoration of Democracy in Burma to reiterate solidarity with the struggle for democracy in Burma and demand the immediate release of veteran Burmese journalist, U Win Tin.
Presided over by former Defence Minister George Fernandes, MP, the meeting was addressed by former PM I.K. Gujral; former Minister of State for External Affairs Digvijay Singh, MP; Dr Tin Swe, MP, of the (…)

Economic reforms have no doubt ushered in an economic boom in India but this boom hasn’t created any jobs.
The Ninth Five-Year Plan had projected that 54 million new jobs would be generated from 1997 to 2002 but the performance has fallen very short of its target as in the past. India’s labour force is growing at a rate of 2.5 per cent annually but its employment rate is growing only at the rate of 2.3 per cent; thus the country faces the challenge of not only absorbing new entrants in (…)

India has become known in recent years as a centre of competence in operating and servicing Information Technology—and the thrust of public policies over the last few years has been on the IT and software-related industries. Even the media has created an impression that the Indian economy can drive its growth on this IT and software sector. This impression is fundamentally flawed.
Information Technology and software account for only 1.5 per cent of the world’s GDP. The share of India (…)

reflections on implementation of Renewed Roshni Act in the State
Land tenure institutions and their reform have a direct bearing on the question of development. Land reform in J&K is considered to be a success story. The first phase of reform was introduced in the early 1950s (Khatama chakdari in Samvat 2007): this was land reform-I. Recently, the J&K Assembly passed the Roshni Bill on Feburary 9, 2007 and it is claimed that this bill will provide ownership of 16.6 lakh kanals (…)