The economy in the North East is still largely based on subsistence-oriented farming. There is plenty of frustration arising out of inability to meet modern aspirations. What are the options for people to engage in productive work and earn more money? Surekha Sule has more.

Moments after a customer approaches this cart, the vendor pours tender coconut juice into a funnel-like part. Chilled juice comes out of a stainless steel tap below, filling a 250 ml glass, for Rs.10. Shree Padre reports about Fruit Hut Beverages, a Hyderabad-based firm that has launched the Coco Fresco brand.

A number of implicit and explicit constraints influence the extent to which carts and kiosks work as avenues of creative entrepreneurship. Varupi Jain compares the Indian scenario with that in the US, and notes cultural and social realities that shape the Indian experience.

A new report from TERI, the first of its kind for India, argues that compliance with environmental, social and governance criteria would better differentiate Indian stocks in comparison to issuers from other emerging markets for high quality investors. Rajni Bakshi has more on why India must care.

Against the wishes of the local people, and even the State government, a salt factory is proposed to be established on land that has been used freely by 20,000 villagers for decades. In the face of shifting politics, the residents are determined that they will protect their livelihoods. Aparna Pallavi reports.

The Indian economy is creating millions of varied job opportunities. Despite this, scores of educated youth are not readily employable and face a grim future. Companies are struggling to find and retain talent. Ramesh Menon on the challenges.

A new policy framework for hydro-electric power seems to have given confidence to private corporations to enter the sector, with a large number of mega projects lined up. But the same policies raise critical questions in relation to equity and access, writes Shripad Dharmadhikary.

As the heaps of pineappples grow bigger, prices will go down drastically from Rs.5 to Rs.2 and finally to 50 paise per pineapple, says Priyalal Sharma, a Tripura grower, who has also started rubber plantation in some portion of his land. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports.

New Delhi recently allocated three blocks of coal in Orissa for projects that will produce liquid fuel from coal, in an attempt to increase oil supply. The decision appears to have overlooked a number of critical considerations, say Ananth Chikkatur and Sunita Dubey.

India has made cotton fabrics for 20 centuries, and its scale in India was unimaginable. But modern market structures have pushed millions to the edge, and a few intense efforts, such as those of Dastakar Andhra, are not enough to reverse this. Darryl D'Monte reports.

The many arguments offered in support of Public Private Partnerships don't stand up to close examination. The private sector is not more efficient than its public counterpart, nor is cheap money accessible to it as readily, write Shripad Dharmadhikary and Gaurav Dwivedi.

The lack of economic activity in most SEZs leads to the suspicion that many were incapable of attracting economic production units in the first place. The rush to 'denotify' them only reinforces this, writes Kannan Kasturi.

This Kochi's couple's one-year-old enterprise is perhaps the only serious attempt to market snow ball tender coconut so far. And in their response to irregularity of supply, they introduced the coconut lassi. Shree Padre has more.

The newly announced country assistance strategy for India is the continuation of what the World Bank has been pushing in this country and elsewhere in the last 15 years or so years, with nothing to show for it, writes Shripad Dharmadhikary.

It is nobody’s case that there is no crisis. But when remedies are prescribed, the diagnosis and the investigation have to be beyond dispute. P N Venugopal critiques a report from the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram.

The list of new products that corporate India wants to attach the 'rural' tag to has grown quickly. What is at stake here is more than the survival of India's ambitious, if creative, consumer goods manufacturers, writes Rahul Goswami.

There is an urgent need for reliable and transparent consumer price indices that covers the large majority of Indian families, from the poorest upwards. Kannan Kasturi reports.

A conference on September 14-16 this year at New Delhi will bring together political decision makers, representatives from entrepreneurial associations and corporate partners, and civil society to discuss growth in Asia. It is backed by Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the Planning Commission of India.

Apart from its high literacy rate, richer natural resources, and green public consciousness, the Kerala Government's decision to go for a green budget this year makes this tiny southernmost state a model to look up to. Darryl D'Monte has more.

There is a great shortage of people with employable skills. But vocational training is neither popular nor seen to be offering good job options. The challenge is to overcome this perception, writes Megha Aggarwal.

The 260-km Sharda Sahayak canal took 32 years to complete, and cost almost 20 times the original estimate. It irrigates only half the area it was supposed to, and has created untold suffering along its path. Puja Awasthi reports.

In the old days, government was responsible for controlling inflation. Now if you feel the pinch of inflation, you have to fend for yourself, and especially because everyone is so busy looking after you, writes Pratap B Mehta.

Many micro-credit loans do no more than allow a family to juggle its finances for a month-to-month existance. As investors embrace this 'market', MFIs are increasingly under scrutiny. Jaideep Hardikar reports.

The government's new plans to boost manufacturing in the country look quite similar to its earlier promises made when SEZs were set up. But there are a few lessons to be learned from that experiment, writes Kannan Kasturi.

Art blends with life through the tradition of woodcraft in Etikoppaka, but the need to sustain livelihoods is ever-present. Neeta Deshpande reports.

Far from subsidising the public, governments made the aam admi bear a substantial part of their expenditure on the production and sale of fuels, writes Kannan Kasturi.

The principal contribution of the Malkha initiative is in its idea of rooting cotton handloom production in the rural economy, much against the trend in urban discourses. Neeta Deshpande reports.

In his latest book, The Wisdom of Ants: A Short History of Economics, with numerous revealing historical arguments and anecdotes, Shankar Jaganathan traces how economics emerged from being a relatively obscure field to a structured discipline that may be used to explain the basis for every aspect of human life and society, writes Satarupa Bhattacharya.

Given our Constitutional mandate to "endeavour to eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities," Shankar Jaganathan explains why reintroduction of the Inheritance Tax may be a step worthy of serious consideration.

The relationship between professionals such as doctors, lawyers and teachers and the society they serve is increasingly and radically changing. The reasons behind the same, however, may go deeper than the obvious mercenary tendencies of the former. Shankar Jaganathan ruminates.

Despite privatisation in the power sector, consumer interests are professed to be safeguarded through competitive processes and independent regulatory authorities, but a recent order in favour of Adani Power Ltd. dents such assertions. Shripad Dharmadhikary analyses the implications.

Lack of development and unmet aspirations in India's villages and small towns not only raise the pressures arising from rural-urban migration, but also trigger an overall sociological malaise that is so difficult to dispel. Puja Awasthi reports from Ballia in eastern Uttar Pradesh, a stark example.

The appointment of NR Narayana Murthy at the helm of affairs in IT bellwether Infosys may have raised the prospects of its economic revival, but has broader implications related to corporate governance. Shankar Jaganathan explores the likely impact.

The Kerala government's pet 'Seaplane' project, initiated with minimal homework and impact assessment, has run into stiff opposition from environmentalists and local communities. P N Venugopal reports on the developments.

The recent plummet of the Indian rupee has elicited alarmist cries from different quarters, but what does it really augur? Shankar Jaganathan provides a historical perspective on relative currency movements to help analyse its possible implications.

Of the abundant quantities of jackfruit grown in India annually, an estimated 70 per cent rots away, due to lack of awareness and difficulties of usage. Now, a joint initiative by an academic institute and a farmers' group seeks to change that. Shrikrishna D reports.

The recent closure of a landmark music store in the heart of Calcutta is symptomatic of the larger malaise afflicting the music industry. Shoma A Chatterji reports from a gathering of local luminaries to protest the rising menace of piracy in music.

While the government's food security scheme has come under attack by many for its economic non-viability, Shankar Jaganathan argues that it may actually be both desirable and feasible if its reach is expanded.

The recent clash between two eminent economists of our times, Amartya Sen and Jagadish Bhagwati, appears to be centred around the Food Security Bill. Shankar Jaganathan provides a historical context to show why their contradictions extend far beyond any isolated issue to a clash between two schools of the discipline itself.

The benefits of providing access to energy and lighting to increasing numbers of the populace are indisputable, but many of the current initiatives to provide cleaner energy rely on corporate partnerships. Darryl D'Monte examines its pros and cons vis-à-vis an alternative model.

Winner of the 2013 Economics Nobel, Robert J Shiller adds the latest perspective to a long-standing, heated debate on whether Economics can be called a science at all, and if it merits the prestigious award. Shankar Jaganathan recounts the many points of view on the subject.

It is certainly not because of mere demand-supply mismatch. Kannan Kasturi deconstructs the supply chain dynamics and credit linkages in the vegetable markets to show how these, coupled with government impotence, have led to uncontrolled, spiralling inflation.

The agreement between the Kandla Port Trust in Gujarat and the Adani Port & Special Economic Zone Ltd appears set to be passed without the kind of environment impact assessment mandated for an eco-sensitive zone such as this. Kanchi Kohli reports.

Non-performing assets in public sector banks have shot up by more than 400 per cent in the last five years, hitting Rs 164000 crore! Shripad Dharmadhikary summarises findings of a research report that unearths the real reasons underlying these bad loans.

Innovative use of information technology through mobile phones is enabling improved financial literacy and increased access to credit for economically disadvantaged women in rural and urban areas. Swapna Majumdar reports.

Responsible governance, economic security for the maximum numbers and ecological sustainability are the three key challenges facing the country today. Ashish Kothari deconstructs the Congress, BJP and AAP manifestos to see what these parties promise on these fronts.

The findings of a recent study by scholars at the University of Oxford point to the adverse outcomes and poor economic returns associated with large dam projects. Amruta Pradhan summarises the findings and shows how they have been consistently borne out by empirical observations in Maharashtra.

Narendra Modi’s attention to the woes and plight of farmers during election campaigning has raised a lot of hope for improvement among members of the beleaguered community, but can he deliver? Devinder Sharma presents an 11-point prescription for turning the agricultural sector around.

Several recent studies bring out the abysmal deprivation from entitlements among India’s vast internal migrant population. Shambhu Ghatak throws light on the problems faced by migrants and explores if the UID can indeed live up to its promise of making mobility a smoother process.

As the country eagerly awaits the new government’s maiden budget, Shankar Jaganathan evokes the realities of the Indian economy to provide a reference framework within which to judge the Jaitley budget.