Think India Foundation

Jagti Inmates face problems as Township road is in dilapidated condition

JAMMU : Notwithstanding the tall claims of both Government of India and state government regarding the return and rehabilitation policy for Kashmiri Pandit migrants with honor and dignity to their native places, the inmates of the Jagti Township are still facing various problems like road, electricity and other facilities which were arranged for them before shifting to Nagrota Township has exposed the claims of both the governments. 

The road connected from Nagrota (Kandoli Mandir Chowk) to Jagti Township is in dilapidated condition due to negligence and carelessness of the Road and Building department since the shifting of inmates to Jagti Township. However, the work done on that road look like a nightmare due to which the inmates including school going children of the Township suffer a lot while coming to and fro from the said spot. One of the inmates of Township Ramesh Koul while taking to KTNS said, “Since the shifting of migrants to the migrant township at Jagti Nagrota, a road connecting Nagrota to Jagti colony is in the bad shape. The concerned Department (R&B) is working after it and the officers of the department and contractors having nexus of mitigating the funds meant for the said road. The repair work on this road has been taken several times but is being left undone every time.” Read more

Source :  www.groundreport.com

Seminar on status of migrant workers in Mumbai

MUMBAI: A seminar 'Migration, a question of survival: An urban Perspective' will be held at Yuva Centre in Kharghar on Tuesday. 

It will focus on issues related to urbanization and migration, migrant workers and growth of economy. The study will also present the demographic profile of migrants in New Mumbai. The panel discussion aims to examine the services and policies of the government for migrant workers and how to fill in the gaps. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

NESO urges PM to address immigration issue in Northeast

New Delhi : North East Students' Organisation today urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take urgent steps to solve the problem of illegal immigration in the region saying due to continuous influx, the indigenous people have become minorities in their homeland. 

During their 15-minute meeting with the Prime Minister, the apex body of students unions of all Northeastern states also requested him not to abolish the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region as widely reported in the region. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

For first time, urban areas pip villages in job creation

NEW DELHI: A fascinating , but worrying , picture of the way common Indians are earning their living emerges from recently released Census 2011 data. Urban areas have emerged as huge magnets for jobs, for the first time beating the rural hinterland in job creation in the past decade. Simultaneously , there is a rising dependence on short-term jobs, both in rural and urban areas, as regular full-term jobs fade away. The data also reveals huge differences in the kind of jobs men and women are getting. Clearly, India is going through a churning process, which will have far reaching effects on living standards, job related migration and gender relations.

More than half of the total 8 crore jobs created between 2001 and 2011 were located in urban areas, although the population staying in cities and towns is just a third of the total. This is a direct result of migration of people from unproductive farming in search of better prospects, supplemented by more areas getting defined as urban. Read more

Source : articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Despite success stories, most cities still offer a dark reality

While the majority of Indians still live in rural areas, this, too, is changing fast. From 1970 to 2010, India's urban population grew by 250 million. The next quarter-billion will be added in half that time. By 2030, 70 per cent of India's GDP will come from its cities.

But cities are simply unable to cope with the influx of migrants on the current scale. The fast-growing metropolises of India, China, Brazil, and other major emerging economies offer plenty of jobs, but basic amenities are lacking; as a result, many of the urban poor live in slums, without adequate health care, water supplies, or electricity. Read more

Source : www.timesofoman.com

Fewer farmers call for urban reform

One lazy assumption, that most Indians live in villages and work their farms, has been demolished by census numbers released on Tuesday. These show that the number of "cultivators", people who own farms, fell by nearly nine million in the decade from 2001. It is also the first time, since 1971, when the absolute number of farmers has fallen. This tallies with a robust observation of economic history: as nations develop, people move from farm to factory. However, as people move away from farms and into cities in search of something else to do, most are diverted into informal jobs. This increasing informalisation of the workforce is dangerous for three reasons: it tends to perpetuate poverty, reduce productivity and yield lower revenues to governments. India's rigid labour laws, drawn up to protect the interests of its tiny formal-worker elite, need to be thoroughly revamped to let employers absorb more workers in formal occupations. 

But that will not be enough. In February this year, economists Ejaz Ghani and Ravi Kanbur published a paper which showed that across the developing world, more and more people were moving into informal jobs in cities. They also found that this informality was remarkably persistent. Of the more than dozen nations they surveyed, India had the highest level of informality; and it was as high in 2005 as it was in pre-reform 1989. Though their work suggests that informality could decline as people become better off — Chile and Turkey are richer than India and have more people working formal jobs — it is not enough to sit around and play catch-up. Read more

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com

Indian techies not stealing jobs in US: study

Washington : Indian IT firms operating in the US have long maintained that H-1B visas do not lead to outsourcing of jobs or shrink the job market for Americans. But few were willing to listen.

A new study by an independent US think-tank has now made the same argument. And Indian IT firms are hoping they would fare much better now. Read more

Source : www.hindustantimes.com

Miffed India writes to US

Calls proposed amendment discriminatory against Indian IT companies

New Delhi : In a fresh row over the US' H-1B and L-1 visas for Indian professionals, the government has slammed that country, terming its newly-proposed immigration reform plan "discriminatory" against Indian information technology (IT) firms.

In a strongly-worded letter to new US Trade Representative Michael Froman, Commerce Secretary S R Rao has voiced the concerns of India, which feels the proposed law is protectionist in nature and against healthy competition. The letter also alleges the new Bill, called the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2013 and put forward by a bipartisan group of Senators to overhaul the US immigration system, is "entirely targeted against Indian IT firms" and this "does not serve any purpose for the US". Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

The making of a city

How cities grow depends a lot on land ownership patterns in the surrounding rural areas.

There are many drivers of migration. Key among them are education and the reluctance to return.

The urban challenge in India is usually addressed in policy circles by focusing on cities alone. Read more

Source : www.thehindubusinessline.com

The Arriving Millions

Multitudes have to be connected to modernity for our great leap forward

A group of BPO recruits at a training session in Uttarakhand

It has become a cliche to speak of India as a land of paradoxes. The old joke about our country is that anything you say about India, the opposite is also true. We like to think of ourselves as an ancient civilisation but we are also a young republic; our IT experts stride confidently into the twenty-first century but much of our population seems to live in each of the other twenty centuries. Quite often, the opposites coexist quite cheerfully. One of my favourite images of India is from the last Kumbh Mela, of a naked sadhu, straight out of central casting, with matted hair, ash-smeared forehead and scraggly beard, a rudraksha mala around his scrawny neck and a distant gaze in his eyes, for all the world a picture of timeless other-worldliness, chatting away on a mobile phone.

Young Indians are growing into such a paradoxical India. What are the prospects for the expansion of the participative political space in tomorrow’s India, say over the next two decades? To me this desirable objective requires both growth and equity. It is happening, but there’s still a lot that needs to be done before we get there. Read more

Source : www.outlookindia.com

Indian students can work for 6 yrs in the UK after graduation: James Bevan

British diplomat says change in visa norms have affected influx of students.

James Bevan

Describing the perception that ‘Indians could no longer work in the UK after graduation’ as a ‘myth’, British high commissioner to India James Bevan said that in fact it is quite the opposite scenario. 

Indian students could work for up to six years after graduating, provided they get ‘graduate-level jobs’ that pay at least £25,000 a year, according to Bevan. He spoke on Wednesday during a press conference held in a city hotel. Read more

Source : www.dnaindia.com

US visa reforms to help skilled IT professionals

Reggie Aggarwal is the founder and CEO of Cvent, an online event management company co-located out of Washington, DC and Gurgaon. With about 60 of the top engineering positions in his US operations lying vacant, Aggarwal has a problem.  

There is a clear bias towards skilled immigration and moves away from the current family- and lottery-based principles.

"We need guys with deep engineering knowledge and every tech employer, from Fortune 500 companies to small start-ups in the US, knows that there's a huge shortage of such people in America," says the Cvent founder. "Like all other tech CEOs, I know there is a huge talent pool of such engineers in India," adds Aggarwal whose operations in Gurgaon employ around 650 such people. Even in the US, Indians form the largest part of Cvent's 550-strong workforce. Read more 

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Migration from villages bordering China a strategic issue: Arunachal CM

Guwahati : People living in remote villages in Arunachal Pradesh, close to the border with China and Myanmar, are rapidly migrating to the foothills and urban areas, said Chief Minister Nabam Tuki, adding that this is not a "healthy" development for strategic reasons.

The chief minister, who was speaking at a seminar organised by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in Itanagar, said he was appalled to see the living conditions of people in the border areas during a series of visits he made in recent months. Read more

Source : www.indianexpress.com

India seeks more US visas for its high-skilled workers

WASHINGTON: As the US moves forward to reform its immigration system, India has said that a generous American visa policy for the country's high-skilled workers would help everyone and both nations will emerge as winners. 

"We respectfully urge that they consider the impact of their decisions on the ability of both US and foreign-based companies to expand now and in the future," Indian Ambassador to the US Nirupama Rao wrote in an opinion piece in the 'USA Today'. Read more

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com

H-1B lottery leaves 39,000 out of luck, shortage to hit Indian firms

New York: For the first time since the financial meltdown in 2008, the US government conducted a lottery selection process on Sunday to award H-1B visas to Indian and other highly-skilled foreign workers.

Immigration officials will begin notifying winners and losers next week. Reuters

After being swamped with 124,000 applications in five days, but having only 85,000 visas to give, US Citizenship and Immigration Services ran two computer-generated lotteries on Sunday to award the available visas. Read more

Source : www.firstpost.com

Tripura to stop migration of students through setting up of more IIITs

Imphal : Remaining at the helm of the power for the fourth consecutive term under the rule of CPI-M and giving special focus to development in education sector, the tiny northeastern State of Tripura is today making rapid stride in the field of education.

To put a brake on the trend of many students from Tripura going outside for study mainly in the field of information technology, the Government of Tripura is also set to open more Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) in the State. Read more

Source : e-pao.net

Several Measures Taken For DPs Of 1947: Ajaz

JAMMU, Kashmir -- Minister of State for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation, Ajaz Ahmed Khan today informed the House that Government has taken several measures for relief and rehabilitation of the Displaced Persons (DPs) of 1947. Cash assistance to the tune of Rs. 3500/- per family was given to the Urban DPs of 1947. Besides plots and quarters were also allotted to the Urban DPs at various colonies set up for their rehabilitation.

Replying to a question by  Ravinder Kumar Sharma in the Legislative council today, the Minister said as per records available, 31619 DP families of 1947 stand registered and no claim stand unregistered. Number of families settled district-wise is not available as per records of custodian (Ex-officio provincial rehabilitation officer) Jammu. Besides 80 families displaced from POK are registered and settled in village Kilshay Payeen and Gulshanpora of tehsil Gurez district Bandipora. Also 31 families displaced form POK are residing in Shangus tehsil of district Anantnag. The Number of families has risen to 101 due to division of families. Read more

Source : www.authintmail.com

31,619 displaced families of partition on records: J&K govt

Jammu: A total of 31,619 families displaced in the 1947 partition are registered on its records, the Jammu and Kashmir government today told the Legislative Council. 

Minister of State for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Ajaz Ahmed Khan, however, said the district-wise data of the families settled is not available with the government. Read more

Source : zeenews.india.com

'Rapid urbanisation taking toll on environment'

Bad planning of cities was held responsible for the continued failure to tackle challenges of urbanisation and globalisation at the first international conference on ‘Urban Issues and Challenges’ jointly organised by Bangalore University and Union of Geographic Information Technologists.

Speaking at the conference held here recently, Swami Muktidananda Maharaj, president, Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama, Mysore, said increasing migration of populace from rural to urban areas reveals how unplanned our cities are. Read more

Source : newindianexpress.com

No panic situation in Kerala due to new Saudi job law: CM Oommen Chandy

Thiruvananthapuram : Saudi Arabia's new labour policy, which is expected to affect expatriate workers of the state, has not created a panic situation and India is trying to find a solution to the issue based on its cordial relations with that country, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said today.

"We expect to resolve the matter amicably as India has a good and friendly trade relation with Saudi Arabia," he said while addressing a press conference here. Read more 

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

10 million Indians want to move to US: Poll

WASHINGTON: More than 100 million people from across the world, including 10 million from India, would like to move permanently to the US, which remains the most popular global destination, according to a latest opinion poll. 

 

Potential migrants who would like to move to the US are logically the most likely to come from some of the most populous countries in the world, the Gallup poll said. Read more 

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Punjab to have rent-to-own housing plan for poor soon

Chandigarh : At a time when India is facing acute housing shortage, Punjab is planning the country’s first rent- to-own housing scheme aimed at migrant workers and slum dwellers.

As part of the pilot project, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) plans to build and rent out 15,000 one and two bedroom flats to migrant workers/ slum dwellers for a nominal rent varying between Rs.1,800 and Rs.2,000 a month. Read more

Source : www.hindustantimes.com

No water to drink; Maharashtra villagers migrate to cities

AURANGABAD: Sachin Dhike is barely 16 and has realized that survival is more important in times of drought than pursuing his dream of completing his education and making it big in life someday. 

The Class X student from a remote hamlet near Lasur station has dropped out of school and joined hundreds of villagers from various parts of this drought-hit district migrating to the town, around 60 km away, in a desperate search for some odd job. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Top World Bank official to meet Akhilesh Yadav

LUCKNOW: World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim will visit India between March 11 and 13 to have a first hand idea of some of the development challenges faced by India.
During his three-day visit, Kim will also visit Lucknow and Kanpur and is scheduled to meet Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. The visiting official will also see development challenges in the state, which is home to the largest number of India's poor. During his UP tour, Kim will visit one village in Uttar Pradesh to understand the reasons for migration from rural areas to towns and cities, and in Kanpur he will assess the challenges in managing increasing urbanisation.

In an official statement released on Friday, Kim said, "India's historic transformation provides a great opportunity to lift millions out of poverty, but it also poses enormous challenges in providing jobs, housing and basic services to people." He also said, "A quarter of urban India already lives in slums, with limited access to clean drinking water, proper sanitation, electricity or public transportation. I am here to see how the World Bank Group can support India as it strives to turn its urban centres into clean, liveable cities for its people." Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

British visas issued to Indians fall by 20%

LONDON: The number of Indians receiving visas to travel to the UK, either to work or study, fell by nearly 20% over a year, according to the latest immigration data from the government's office of national statistics (ONS). 

Indian fears that new British visa rules were making it difficult for students to study in the UK have also been proved right.

Days after prime minister David Cameron said the UK would welcome Indians coming to the UK with open arms, ONS data showed that the number of visas issued to Indians dipped by 18,365 -- a fall of 19% -- between 2011 and 2012. These figures do not exclude visitor and transit visas. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

No influx of Bangladeshis into West Bengal: police

Kolkata : With security tightened in West Bengal districts bordering Bangladesh in view of violence in the neighbouring country, senior police officials on Sunday denied reports of influx of people from that country. "There has been no influx of Bangladeshi citizens to our state. Security has been beefed up in all district police station areas of the state," ADG (law and order) Banibrata Basu said. 

Large-scale violence erupted in Bangladesh after a top leader of Jamaat-e-Islami was sentenced to death for crimes committed against humanity during the 1971 liberation war. Read more

Source : www.hindustantimes.com

Nobody wants to work on coffee plantations anymore

Urban migration has been the main reason for the decline in employment in the plantation sector.

A COFFEE PLANTATION in Visakhapatnam district, Andhra Pradesh. — K.R. Deepak

Reports published by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation shows that between 2009 and 2011, the plantation sector has seen a decline of nearly 75 per cent of its workers. Read more

Source : www.thehindubusinessline.com

In TN, kids of many migrant labourers still out of school

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu has the distinction near 100% enrollment of children in the six to 14 age group in schools, but going by the accounts of activists, a silent community has been left. Thousands of children, whose parents are of migrant labourers are out of school.

State government estimates show that there are around 5,400 construction sites across the state, including 2,500 in Greater Chennai. Figures put together by the state health department, with inputs from polio immunization centres, show that there are 35,000 migrant children across the state below the age of five, and around half are estimated to be living in and around Chennai. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan state wing, however, puts the number of children between six and 14 years at around 4,000. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

16th Birding Fair to draw attention on urban lakes' conservation

JAIPUR: The Man Sagar is teeming with birds these days and it's time again for the annual bird fair in Pink City. Compared to previous years, the lake has significantly improved. The stench is now a thing of the past, but there is still a lot that needs to be done to restore the eco-system of the lake. Though the lake is restored for its visual and aesthetic attributes, the aquatic ecology is dismal and has led to over 25% decline in the population of migratory as well as local birds at this time of the year.

Meanwhile, the two-day 16th Birding Fair devoted to Urban Lakes' Conservation in Rajasthan will be start on February 1 2, 2013 at the Man Sagar dam led by Rani Vidya Devi of Jaipur's erstwhile royal family. About 2,500 migratory birds can be seen against 10,000 birds reported a few years back. Diving shovellers, pintails, coots, resident ducks like spot-bill duck and common moorhen, and four species of egrets too can be seen though barely 400 in number. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Karnataka govt to build eight cluster cities in Bangalore

The Karnataka government plans to build eight cluster cities around Bangalore to decongest the bustling metropolis and regulate migration from within the state and across the tech hub.

 

"Eight cluster cities will be built around Bangalore at a cost of Rs.2,100 crore to decongest the city, which is bursting with about 10 million people and infrastructure constraints," state Law Minister Suresh Kumar told reporters here after a cabinet meeting in Bangalore. Read more

Source : www.smetimes.in

 

240,000 illegal Indian immigrants on path to citizenship in US

WASHINGTON: Over 240,000 illegal Indian immigrants in the US could be soon on their path to obtaining citizenship under a "big deal" reached by a bi-partisan group of influential Senators but uncertainty remains for the tens of thousands of highly skilled Indians seeking a Green Card. 

India has registered quite an increase in illegal immigrants, which was about 120,000 in 2000, said the report of the Department of Homeland Security.

Described by the White House as a "big deal", the compromise announced by the group of top eight Senators proposes a path to citizenship for 11.5 million illegal immigrants of which more than three-fourths (77 per cent or 8.9 million) are from North America, including Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America. Read more

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com

Congress sets sights on migrants, urban youth

New Delhi : About 15 months away from the next Lok Sabha elections, the Congress is on course-correction mode, attempting to win over not only the middle class urban youth but also migrants who form a large chunk of floating voters. In its 56-point Jaipur declaration, the party acknowledged that migration was a natural phenomenon in a developing country and pledged to create jobs and self-employment opportunities for migrants. 

The move is aimed at tapping migrants who, after moving to cities in search of job opportunities, gradually become part of the rising middle class. Read more

Source : www.hindustantimes.com

Indian cities must act now on city climate resilience plans

Cities across the world, due to their rapid population growth and large-scale developmental and economic investments, are at high risk from the impacts of climate change. According to the United Nations World Urbanisation Prospects 2011 report, the population living in urban areas is projected to increase from 3.6 billion currently to 6.3 billion by 2050. Cities need to start thinking about addressing these impacts which will become more evident in the coming times given their high vulnerability.

Cities across the world are at high risk from the impacts of climate change.

Indian cities are facing multiple challenges: rapid urbanisation, inadequate urban services and infrastructure, migration, ecological degradation etc. which makes them all the more vulnerable in an uncertain and changing climate regime. In India, 53 cities have populations of more than one million people. By the 2060s, it is expected that there will be approximately 500 million additional people in an estimated 7,000- 12,000 urban settlements in India. Read more

Source : ibnlive.in.com

Calangute meet raises issue of students' safety

CALANGUTE: Last week's rape of a school student in Vasco echoed at a gram sabha held at the Calangute village panchayat ghar on Sunday morning with villagers demanding to know what steps the panchayat plans to take to prevent such incidents in Calangute. The villagers resolved to hold an extraordinary gram sabha on January 31 at 3.30 pm to discuss the issue of migrants residing in the village. 

"We have to take steps to ensure that such incidents do not take place in Calangute," panchayat member Joseph Sequeira said. "A lot of migrant workers are staying in the village and we don't know who they are, who is staying in whose house," he said, adding that before such an incident takes place urgent steps are needed. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

West Bengal: Malda - Locus of Instability

The District of Malda in West Bengal, bordering Bangladesh, has emerged as an area afflicted by a plethora of problems, most significantly including the smuggling and distribution of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN), illegal cultivation of narcotics and illegal migration – which have a far-reaching impact on the security situation of region, in particular, and the country at large.

Over a period of time, Malda has emerged as a major transit route for FICN couriers. FICN produced and distributed by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) bosses, is brought into India by couriers, principally through Malda via Bangladesh and Nepal. From here it is circulated across India. Read more

Source : www.indiablooms.com

MNS chief Raj Thackeray blames 'Bihari' migrants for Delhi gangrape case

Mumbai : Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray has blamed "Bihari" migrants for the recent case of gangrape of a girl in New Delhi.

MNS chief Raj Thackeray (Reuters)

"All are talking about the Delhi gangrape, but nobody is asking from where these men came. No one is asking who did this. So many cases are slapped against me (for speaking against Biharis) but no one is talking about the fact that all these rapists are from Bihar," he said, addressing a public function in suburban Goregaon last night. Read more

Source : www.indianexpress.com

Centre has no role in curbing migration

PUNE: The union government has stated that it has no control over the migrations taking place in cities across India.

A press statement issued by the government states, " It is not the policy of government to either check or facilitate migration to the cities as the process of migration is driven by demographic and economic factors and distortions in the process may have undesirable consequences on economic growth and development". Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Urbanisation helps BJP grow in tribal belt

Who did the tribal people vote for in the just concluded assembly elections in Gujarat? An analysis of the voting pattern in the 42 seats that fall in purvapatti (tribal belt) indicates that growing urbanization helped the BJP increase its tally in the region.

In the purvapatti — the popular term for the tribal belt from Banaskantha in central Gujarat to Umergam in South Gujarat — 27 seats fell in the reserved category, while 15 can be considered tribal-influenced constituencies. Read more

Source : www.dnaindia.com

Sickle Cell Anaemia on the rise in Andhra Pradesh

VISAKHAPATNAM: Sickle Cell Anaemia, a genetic disorder affecting red blood cells that is usually found in the tribal belts of North-Coastal Andhra, Bastar and south Orissa and also amongst certain communities such as Pydis in the plains, is now on the move and affecting newer communities in the plains due to migration, according to researchers at Andhra University (AU). 

An age old affliction, researchers at Andhra University believe that this is found mainly amongst communities that have genetic roots in Africa. Now after 20 years of research, a team of AU researchers headed by Dr M Ramesh, have found a way to detect this disorder at an early stage to increase the life span of the affected patient. But their bigger worry is that the disease is now spreading across communities to those hitherto unaffected by the disease due to cross community breeding. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Migration pushing up rapid urbanisation

The world's urban population is expected to grow by 2.6 billion people between 2011 and 2050, bringing the total number of urbanites to 6.3 billion, according to new research conducted by the Worldwatch Institute for its Vital Signs Online service.

This urban expansion will be especially burdensome for developing countries, where 82 per cent of the world's population currently lives, writes Grant Potter, who authored the report, Urbanizing the Developing World. Read more

Source : www.domain-b.com

Come home to the Village

New Delhi : Ronnie Screwvala is trying to reverse rural migration by improving conditions in villages.

In Swades (2004), Shahrukh Khan plays a NASA scientist, Mohan Bhagwat, who comes to his village in India on vacation and decides to relocate permanently in order to use his education and skills to improve the lives of villagers. Ronnie Screwvala, who co-produced the film with Ashutosh Gowariker, now wants real life to imitate art. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

Govt policies can’t ignore migrant labourers

Is the movement of people from the poorest parts of India to the poles of economic growth a sign of distress or dynamism? Or is it both? This is the kind of question which makes the day of the argumentative Indian. But those voting with their feet care little about how they are described. Or what parochial politicians think of them. Migrant-bashing is a popular sport in parts of India, as in many other countries, but the desperate and determined continue to move in search of a better life and opportunities.

This has been known for quite some time. Almost a third of Indians, or over 300 million people in the country, are migrants. Though people are on the move in increasing numbers – from the village to the city, from one town to another, from one state to another, thousands of miles apart — internal migration is nowhere at the top of the policy discourse in India. There is hardly any meaningful national discussion about policies and practices required to handle this seismic development. Typically, the migrant makes news only when the migrant-basher swings into action. Read more

Source : www.dnaindia.com

Off Pune-B’lore highway, a novel experiment to check HIV

The presence of migrant sugarcane farmers and a thriving commercial sex industry makes Karad tehsil off the Mumbai-Pune-Bangalore highway a high-prevalence HIV pocket — and it is here that a new rural research initiative is being launched on World AIDS Day tomorrow.

For the first time, Pune-based National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) will extend its activities to the rural and semi-urban pockets of the state. Read more

Source : www.indianexpress.com

Winged visitors fly to MP for winter sojourn

INDORE: With early arrival of winter, migratory birds have started coming to Madhya Pradesh.Terrestrial birds have already set their foots in state and now arrival of water birds has also begun. But increasing pollution and human disturbances are keeping the migratory birds away from water bodies located in and around the urban areas. Winged guests are rather preferring undisturbed small water bodies in rural areas.

Bird watchers from Indore and Bhopal said that migratory birds coming from Europe, upper parts of Asia and Siberia in the winter season have moved to rural areas for the second consecutive year. With good monsoon this season, small and medium-sized water bodies in and around the villages across the state have become the new homes of winged guests. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Jharkhand celebrates 13th statehood day

Kolkata/ Ranchi : Carved out of southern Bihar as a new state of India on November 15, 2000, Jharkhand was plagued by adverse initial conditions, low average income, very high incidence of poverty and little social development like education, health , communication, etc.

In education fields, non-recruitment of teachers from primary level to university level caused serious set back in the state’s educational system. For higher education hundreds of students are leaving every year from the state for Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Jharkhand Governor, Syed Ahmed, who is also the Chancellor of universities, while chairing a meeting of vice-chancellors and senior government officials recently, expressed his displeasure over mushrooming of courses without necessary faculty. He asked vice-chancellors to introduce new courses only with the requisite infrastructure in place. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

Changing patterns of domestic work

Domestic work is emerging as and is likely to remain an important activity for women workers in several developing countries, including in urban India. This makes the task of improving labour conditions in such work a difficult but urgent imperative

Since most domestic workers are women (often migrants) they are less likely to demand their rights. — K.K. Mustafah

Paid domestic work is not only one of the oldest occupations, but also one of the “emerging” activities that account for the work of increasing numbers of women workers in many developing and developed countries.

To some extent, this reflects demographic patterns that place increasing requirements on the “care economy”, as well as patterns of GDP growth and macroeconomic processes that are associated with rising inequalities and do not generate sufficient productive employment opportunities in other activities. Thus, the greater the income inequality in a country, the greater is the likelihood of the proliferation of paid domestic work. Read more

Source : www.thehindubusinessline.com

Migrant workers' kin await govt aid

HYDERABAD: Three years after her husband's death in Dubai, P Renuka, a 26-year-old resident of Karimnagar and mother of two is struggling to make ends meet. With a measly daily wage of Rs 100 per day, she and her two sons studying in class VI and IV at a government school are still waiting for local authorities to assess her economic status in order to make her eligible for an ex-gratia amount.

Renuka is just one of the hundreds of women across the state who are languishing in extreme poverty following the deaths of their husbands while they were in West Asia for employment. "We were told that some officials will visit us to check on our economic condition. But so far no one has come. Without help from the government it is very difficult for our family to get by as we don't even have any land or other assets which we can sell for income," she said. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Marriage drives migration of women in India!

Delhi : More Indian women are open to migration within the country than men says the latest report published by the statistics and program implementation ministry. Sixty-one percent of urban women migrate due to marriage as against 91% in rural India.

The 14th issue of the report named “Women and men in India-2012” shows that the trend of migration is getting more popular within women in comparison to men both in rural and urban areas. The report was published on October 31, 2012. Read more

Source : www.dnaindia.com

Can the 'American Dream' be reversed in India?

America's Silicon Valley has always been a hub for some of the brightest and best Indian immigrants to start businesses. Now, in a reversal, more people from the US are moving to the sub-continent with their ideas.

Californian Sean Blagsvedt exchanged Silicon Valley for Bangalore

Valerie Wagoner is a smart and articulate woman. Educated at Stanford University, and a former employee at the online auction site Ebay, her credentials could get her work anywhere in the world. Read more

Source : www.bbc.co.uk

Decongest cities, the PURA way

With the provision of urban amenities in rural areas, mega cities, with all the attendant risks arising out of high population density, will cease to be necessary.

The recent cyclone near Chennai and the more horrendous one near New York should give our town planners cause to think. If these storms had moved a little away and hit the cities directly, the damage would have been unimaginable. Yet, recent thinking is to have more and more high-rise apartments and crowd more people into our cities. Read more

Source : www.thehindubusinessline.com