Feature Article

If one were to use correct concepts and measurements, it will be seen that labour in Gujarat has actually significantly benefited from high economic growth and productivity gains. Annual Survey of Industries data show that the state has outperformed many others in the level of employment and wage compensation. A critical comment on “Labour and Employment under Globalisation: The Case of Gujarat” (EPW, 28 May 2011).

One of the key challenges in the development of infrastructure in India is the acquisition of land necessary for the projects. Land acquisition techniques adopted across a variety of other countries are reviewed in this paper. Although no single “best practice” exists, viewing land acquisition practices through a framework of principles, processes, and compensation mechanisms allows us to position the Indian experience within the international context.

Launched in 2008, the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana provides financial protection from health shocks for poor households. This paper discusses findings from an experimental information and education campaign and household survey carried out in the first year of the programme in Delhi. First, the iec had no impact on enrolment, but households who were part of the household survey sample and therefore received information closer to the enrolment period were 60% more likely to enrol. Second, there is little evidence that the insurance company selectively enrolled healthier households.

The 66th round National Sample Survey Organisation data (2009-10) on the employment situation paints a grim picture of a limited creation of jobs between 2004-05 and 2009-10, widespread withdrawal from the labour force (especially by women) and slow growth of employment in the non-agricultural sector. The shift to education among the youth is a positive development but does not by itself explain the decline of the labour force participation rate.

In an atmosphere marked by a growing confrontation, the Assam Forest Department and a dominant section of the Assamese nationalists and conservationists argue that the Kaziranga National Park is facing imminent danger from its neighbouring habitats. The poor farmers, fishermen, and petty traders in the neighbourhood refuse to give up their land and be rehabilitated. This article journeys briefly into some of the issues to help understand the complex contest over both conservation practices and ownership of a prized space.

When officials connected to the National Rural Health Mission are murdered, there is clearly something wrong. (Editorial)

The reluctant resignation of B S Yeddyurappa from the chief-ministership of Karnataka has shown once again that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is as complicit as the Congress Party on corruption and the criminal abuse of government authority for personal aggrandisement. This is not a revelation, but it is easy to overlook how significant a blow it is to the BJP’s image and political strategy of cornering the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government over corruption. (Editorial)

We present a sea-ice record from northern Greenland covering the past 10,000 years. Multiyear sea ice reached a minimum between ~8500 and 6000 years ago, when the limit of year-round sea ice at the coast of Greenland was located ~1000 kilometers to the north of its present position. The subsequent increase in multiyear sea ice culminated during the past 2500 years and is linked to an increase in ice export from the western Arctic and higher variability of ice-drift routes. When the ice was at its minimum in northern Greenland, it greatly increased at Ellesmere Island to the west.

The Supreme Court on August 5 gave a three week extension to the Joint Committee to submit its interim report on the possibility of exports or disposal off the existing stocks of endosulfan.


The interim ban imposed on May 13 on the manufacture, use, sale and export of endosulfan will, however, continue. The joint committee comprising Director General Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Agriculture Commissioner was formed the same day to prepare a report on the harmful effects of endosulfan.