Articles 1 to 10 of 63
Battling the Elements: How Can India's Farmers Cope with Drought?
As the lack of rainfall in India during the sowing season earlier this year showed, many of the country's 235 million farmers teeter on the brink of losing their livelihoods due to severe droughts and the vagaries of climate change. According to agriculture and water experts, grassroots initiatives based on public-private partnerships hold the key to averting future devastation. But is it too little, too late for the next generation of farmers?
Why India's Garment Factories Have Proved Unreliable for New Workers
In recent years, India has sewn its way toward a more reliable income for nearly 35 million garment industry workers. Agricultural laborers left the fields to work in factories that sprouted up as the economy gained steam. But as demand for exports has dropped amid the global financial crisis, hundreds of thousands of Indian garment workers have found their new line of work is on shaky ground. Sudden job losses highlight an industry where workers have few rights and where the support systems that help laborers in developed markets are lacking, according to experts interviewed by India Knowledge@Wharton.
Electric Cars in India: Why So Few?
With the rise of environmentalism and the high cost of gasoline, it would seem that the electric car would take off. Not so fast, says Bangalore-based writer Shoba Narayan in this opinion piece. Although companies like the Reva Electric Car Company are advancing the cause and major auto makers are likely to follow suit, Indian consumers need to be convinced they will achieve substantial savings and that there is enough infrastructure in place to support electric vehicles before they will be willing to open their wallets.
Affordable Housing: An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Affordable housing is the Indian government's new mantra. President Pratibha Patil mentioned it in her speech on Bharat Nirman, a project that plans to double the construction of low-cost houses to 12 million units. This move, it is hoped, will cascade into more demand for steel, cement and construction material. For this to happen, the government is banking on public-private partnerships. In the past, even if developers were willing to build housing structures for the poor, they found it difficult to come up with suitable ways to finance them. Now, given the fresh optimism in the market, it seems like affordable housing is an idea whose time has come, writes Bangalore-based writer Shoba Narayan in this opinion piece.
Aakash Ganga: Saving Water for a Rainy Day
The Aakash Ganga experiment to harvest rainwater has been successful in Rajasthan, known as India's "desert state" because it has suffered through 40 droughts in the past 52 years. It is now being tried elsewhere, including China's Guiyang municipality. The World Bank has provided a $200,000 grant and other experiments to extend Aakash Ganga's impact are being explored. Experts interviewed by India Knowledge@Wharton note that if the Aakash Ganga model proves to be scalable, it could solve the problem of scarce drinking water all over rural India and, perhaps, elsewhere.
Labor Pains: Is Industrial Unrest Growing or Slowing?
Labor protests, strikes and lockouts have begun to hit the headlines again, as the recent agitation of Air India employees demonstrated. Is this just a coincidence, or is Corporate India about to witness the return of militant labor? According to experts interviewed by India Knowledge@Wharton, the data are ambiguous about whether labor militancy is increasing or declining. While activism of the type that existed in the 1970s and 1980s is unlikely to return, they note, the growing unrest points to an urgent need to reform labor laws.
Billiards Champion Geet Sethi: 'By the Next Olympics, We Will Win Five Golds'
India's emergence as an economic leader in such areas as computer software is giving it confidence to take on new challenges, including in sports. "We ... want the status of being recognized as a power in sports, too," notes Geet Sethi, who has won dozens of professional world-class championships and set world records in billiards and snooker. In an interview with India Knowledge@Wharton, Sethi discusses the foundation being laid by India -- physically and psychologically -- to reach new levels of success in sporting competitions. Sethi is also the author of Success vs. Joy and a founder of Olympic Gold Quest, a non-government organization that funds India's Olympic medal hopefuls.
Reverse Exodus: Gulf Workers Return to India, Bringing New Travails
More than two million citizens of the southern Indian state of Kerala work abroad, with nearly 90% finding employment in the Gulf region. According to official estimates, between 200,000 and 500,000 of them -- particularly those working in Dubai -- are likely to be laid off and return home by midyear. Non-resident Keralites make up a significant percentage of the state's population, and they send back nearly US$8 billion in remittances annually, more than double the state's tax revenues. According to experts, the impact of the reverse exodus -- both economically and socially -- could be devastating.
Is the U.S. Government's New Tax Proposal Just Political Rhetoric?
U.S. President Barack Obama says that American companies should create jobs in Buffalo, not Bangalore. In a recent speech about international tax policy reforms, he pointed out that the American government should not subsidize firms that send U.S. jobs overseas. Experts interviewed by India Knowledge@Wharton note, however, that the tax proposals are likely to have little impact on offshoring or outsourcing.
What Is the Role of Women in Indian Politics? Growing Stronger...
While India exults after yet another peacefully concluded election, one question remains: What is the role of women in Indian politics? The answer is both big and small. Typical of India, it contains contradictions. On the one hand, India ranks lower than the UAE in terms of the number of women in Parliament. On the other, India has elected 59 women as Members of Parliament, the highest since Independence. The country should work towards empowering women economically -- through microfinance programs -- and also encourage greater participation of women leaders in panchayats, or village councils, writes author Shoba Narayan in this opinion piece.
