The Bengal government will look for a "consensus' with the new Opposition-led zilla parishads before going ahead with land acquisition for industry, the state industries minister today said. "There is a new leadership at the district level in East Midnapore and South 24-Parganas (thrown up by the panchayat polls). We will consult them for a consensus before going ahead with the new projects,' Nirupam Sen told reporters. "Meanwhile, we'll go ahead with the projects that already have consensus.'

The state government is doing all it can to reshape the Siliguri-Jalpaiguri belt into an industrial hub WEST Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has good news to share with his prospective Indian and foreign investors: 'It's ready - come to Siliguri to set up new industries and business. There will be no scarcity of land and power.'

The government will on June 4 consider 15 new proposals for setting up special economic zones (SEZ). Of these, 11 are for IT, ITeS and electronic hardware zones. The proposals, including those of Larsen & Toubro and Deccan Infrastructure and Land Holdings, will be taken up by the Board of Approval (BoA) for SEZ, chaired by commerce secretary Gopal K Pillai. Six of the applications relating to different sectors belong to Hyderabad-based Deccan Infrastructure. L&T proposes to set up a 15-hectare IT zone in Gujarat.

Employment generation initiatives like food-for-work programme seem to have had a positive impact. The fifth Economic Census report, released on Thursday, said there has been a decent increase of 2.78% in the rate of employment generation in the country during 1998-2005, as compared to the rate of 1.75% during 1990-98.

Exports double, while jobs and investments show robust growth rate. In data that may lay to rest all doubts of sceptics, special economic zones (SEZs), which its supporters backed by arguing that they will boost exports, investments and employment, delivered on all these three counts during 2007-08. They are expected to improve their performance in the current fiscal.

Industries Minister Elamaram Karim has said that major projects entailing private investment of nearly Rs.10,000 crore were in the pipeline in Kerala. At a press conference here on Tuesday, he said the

A healthy cocktail of financial and market inclusion with an appropriate dose of required policy changes would do wonders not only for economic growth but also economic development, say V Shunmugam & Yogesh Kochhar

The Planning Commission today gave a go-ahead to Uttar Pradesh for its annual Plan outlay of Rs 35,000 crore for 2008-09, representing an increase of about 40 per cent over the allocation during the previous fiscal The Planning Commission has also meeting between the Planning Commission member, Mr B.K. Chaturvedi, and the State Chief Secretary, Mr A.K. Gupta. The Planning Commission has also agreed to consider the State's demand for additional Central assistanceof Rs 5,000 crore, Mr Guptsfsaid, adding no final decision has yet been taken.

Sustaining Growth and Sharing Prosperity: United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Poverty and Development Division, United Nations Building, Rajadam-nern Nok Avenue, Bangkok 10200, Thailand.

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said on Monday, that the government was trying to industrialise as quickly as possible while trying to consolidate on agriculture. Making his first appearance at a business meet here, since the panchayat elections, Mr. Bhattacharjee said : "We have an investment-friendly government