58 mn job opportunities expected in 2007-12

Nearly 58 million jobs are expected to be created in the five years from 2007 to 2012 with the non-agriculture sector boosting employment during that period, the Economic Survey tabled in Parliament on Thursday said.

In the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period (2007-12), employment opportunities would surpass the projection of about 45 million, in turn helping to bring down unemployment in the country to below five per cent, according to the Pre-Budget Economic Survey tabled in Parliament on Thursday.

"The projected increase in total labour force during the Eleventh Five Year Plan is estimated at 45 million. It is also projected that 58 million employment opportunities would be created in the Eleventh Five Year Plan," the survey said.

The report pointed out that this would be greater than the anticipated increase in labour force, leading to a 'reduction in the unemployment rate to below five per cent' by 2012.

Rather than the agriculture sector, others like food processing, gems and jewellery, handloom, tourism and construction are expected to contribute in increasing employment in the 2007-12 period.

"It is expected that agriculture sector may not contribute towards any increase in employment during the Eleventh Five Year Plan," the survey noted. 

The report said the Five-Year Plan seeks to reduce underemployment and moving surplus labour in the agriculture sector to more gainful employment in the non-agricultural sector with higher wages.

According to the survey, the Plan has identified the labour-intensive manufacturing and services sectors with good employment potential.

Such sectors include food processing, leather products, footwear, textiles, wood and bamboo products, gems and jewellery, handicraft, handlooms, tourism and construction.

Meanwhile, employment growth in the organised sector -- both public and private -- has dropped during the 1994-2006 period to 0.12 per cent.

This was mainly due to a negative employment growth rate in the public sector at 0.54 per cent. Growth in jobs in the organised sector stood at 1.20 per cent in the 1983-94 period, with the public sector accounting for 1.53 per cent of the total.

Bollywood's Hottest New Heroines

The new breed of Bollywood babes are leaving no stone unturned in their quest for stardom. Priyanka Jain brings you some of the hottest and spiciest new age actresses who don't shy away from showing off that luscious body any more.

It is generally bad news for an actress when the weighing scales are tilting on the wrong side and the media has blown up the oversized pictures. Not Neetu Chandra.

On a hot Sunday afternoon in a vanity van, dressed in a very summery yellow number, the dusky actress is looking at news reports about her weight gain, and laugh out loud, "Actually these reports keep me motivated. Meet me in ten days and you will see the change." 

When we met again to discuss this story, the Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye chick is a few kilos lighter, showing off her belly button in a short top and low waist jeans that fits her like second skin.

Sporty in her attitude, and downright naughty, sexy and bitchy, she is a natural choice of The Man's cover. The newly toned deliciously hot bod helps, too.

The actress, who started in an itsy bitsy bikini number in Priyadarshan's Garam Masala, turned her luck around when she bagged a de-glam street vendor solo heroine role in Madhur Bhandarkar's Traffic Signal. Although the film failed to impress the box office, Neetu's work was appreciated. Then came her role opposite Abhay Deol in Oye Lucky Lucky Oye. The film did well and offers began to pour in.

Her last release 13B, a horror film, is now being remade into English by a Hollywood production house. With more than six of her films releasing this year, Neetu seems to have hit the formula of success. Rahul Dholakia's Mumbai Cutting, Vipul Shah's untitled film with Rahul Bose, Raj Kanwar's period film Sadiyaan with Rekha and Hema Malini, Gary Grewal's Khusar Prasad Ka Bhooth where she plays a prostitute, Jagmohan Mundra's psycho thriller Apartment and Ram Gopal Varma's Rann are expected to release this year.

This curvaceous lass says she has achieved all this without being a size zero and would like to keep it that way. "I believe one needs to have a good, toned body and have curves in the right places. I like how our older actresses looked. They were voluptuous and I want that trend to come back. Trust me, men love a body that keeps their hands full."

Unapologetic about showing off her body on screen she says, "If I can carry a bikini in the best form why shouldn't I wear one? I have no apprehensions about wearing clothes that flatter my body. I am comfortable doing intimate scenes. If shot aesthetically, I am ready to do a nude shoot too. It should not look cheap or vulgar."

Neetu's new funda is, any publicity is good publicity, "My directors say every second day there is something written about me. They don't care whether it is good or bad, they say it is enough that the media is attracted towards you. Then it is good for his film too. I am a very frank person and I don't think there is anything wrong in accepting that I like being written about. I just want them to use good pictures," she winks with a wicked smile playing on her lips.

Neetu is symbolic of the new breed of actresses who leave no stone unturned to achieve success. There is a right mix of talent, attitude and an oomph factor. That she can kick some ass on and off screen makes her all the more desirable. Few know that Neetu is an avid sports person. A black belt in Taekwondo, she has represented India in the International Taekwondo Championship at Hong Kong and in the World Korfball Championship in New Delhi.

Just as we want to label her in the Charlie's Angels avatar, she drops another bomb about her spiritual life. "I am going to Osho Ashram tomorrow; I am going to swim there, play basket-ball and get some much needed peace and calm. I love the meditation exercises there. It helps me get some equilibrium," says the actress who has been working non-stop for 36 days, completing the first schedule of Ram Gopal Varma Rann and Jagmohan Mundra's Apartment.  

Ask her about per perfect date and pat comes the reply, "On the beach, with live music playing out of sight in the background, the guy coming on a white horse and popping out the diamond ring during the dinner. 

As a woman if I dig for loyalty it won't be right. It is biologically proven that men want to sleep with more than one woman. On the other hand women look for security. I can't say I am looking for loyalty and that my man should be a virgin when we get married. I am looking for a guy who believes in me, trusts me, till the time we have a good relationship. If I had to choose between a simple, cute guy and a clever one who can handle situations, well, I would prefer the clever one.

If someone very shyly coyly asks me out and says it's the first time he is asking someone out, I would slap him and tell him to sleep with 500 women and then ask me out. He needs to know how to handle women, needs to be polished. I don't want to dumb guy."

So what kind of a guy would Neetu marry? "I will only marry a guy who has a spa, basket ball ground, and a club, a bungalow, three to four cars to match my dresses, is good looking and a sports person. I want him to be intelligent and funny. I want him to make me laugh all the time." Easy to please, isn't she?

Not just Neetu Chandra, there is this whole bunch of new of actresses who are fiery and independent. They flaunt their sexuality and believe in the changing status of the fairer sex in keeping with the times. They are highly opinionated and don't break under pressure. But they must keep an image. For now. So, every time there is talk about an intimate scene involving them they say, "I will do it if the script demands it", or, "If it is shot aesthetically, why not", "I am an actor and I am here to portray my director's characters".

They don't mind mouthing sexy dialogues and performing provocative roles, being the woman who makes you to burn with desire as you watch them get intimate onscreen with their co-actors. In fact they love it and are hungry for more.

Mahie Gill

Cover her from head to toe and she still makes you burn with desire and ache with longing. That kind of encapsulates Mahie Gill's appeal.

The only makeup Mahie is sporting is her dark kohl eyes when she meets us. Bubbly and sporty in her attitude, Mahie has long covered the bruises from her past. Who would imagine that this beautiful actress who has been compared to Tabu, was once married and had to go through a painful divorce, before she came to Mumbai. 

Talk to her about Tabu and she blushes, "Tabu is a great actress. People have told me I look like her but I think it is not fair to compare a new comer with an accomplished actress."

It is no coincidence then that she is now cast in Tigmanshu Dhulia's Pan Singh Tomar with Irrfan Khan. She will be seen in a full fledged love making scene with him. Irrfan and Tabu have been a hit jodi and have given many a wonderful performances together. So will Mahie be able to live up the challenge? "I ain't wearing a bikini in that movie too. But just watch out," she says. 

Mahie will also be seen in Indrajit Nattoji Aage Se Right with Shreyas Talpade. For now, she is happy being mobbed in her hometown where she started quite humbly doing Punjabi television and movies. 

Just when I wonder whether I should believe when she tells me she is a shy person; she says, "Once I know you, I am very bindass. I am a lot like Anurag Kashyap's Paro in Dev D. I feel that character was written keeping me in mind." 

For now however, the image of the mistress and mujra dancer singing Ranaji in Anurag Kashyap's Gulaal has been etched in our minds. We are sure Mahie isn't complaining.

Kalki Koechlin

Dev D is the most radical Indian film, ever. Period.

The girls Kalki Koechlin and Mahie Gill couldn't have asked for a better launch. Both upped the sex quotient of female actresses in Hindi cinema and acquired the newest sex-symbol label. 

Dressed in a kurta-pyjama and dishevelled, messy hair, the real life Kalki is nothing like her onscreen seductress character, Chanda. She meets us for tea, minutes before she can start her twelve-hour rigorous month-long theatre workshop. Even if you were to have just a five-minute conversation with this woman, you would know she is not just a sex-bomb but has the intelligence, which must have bowled over our reclusive director, Anurag. Yes, the two are dating, and enjoying every bit of the fame that was long over-due to Anurag. It is no wonder that Kalki's next release is her beau's next directorial venture, Happy Ending.

Kalki wowed everybody with her bold portrayal of the modern day Chandramukhi. It was, indeed, a tough task for a debutante, given the fact that the role was earlier essayed by Vyjayantimala and Madhuri Dixit. 

Kalki says, "I never had any illusions about my look. I don't have a commercial Bollywood actress look and I look like a foreigner. This meant that I could be cast only in an offbeat film. "

This French theatre actress was born in Pondicherry where her parents settled in Sri Aurbindo's ashram 35 years ago. She studied in Ooty until she was 18 and then did theatre in London. She had already worked for over a year in the London theatre circuit before she started attending workshops in India with theatre personalities like Rajat Kapoor and Anamika Haksar. In India she worked with Atul's Company Theatre before she was selected for Dev D.

"Tamilian with a white skin" is a term Kalki has coined for herself as she speaks good Tamil.

Shruti Haasan

Just her parentage -- Kamal Haasan and Sarika -- generated enough interest in Shruti Haasan even before she has debuted in Bollywood. 

Shruti has her mother's royal looks -- fair skin. She too is an interesting mix -- trained in dance, is a professional singer and is already making heads turn with her selvte body and tantalising look. 

Any guesses what will happen when her debut film -- Soham Shah's Luck with Imran Khan releases? 

As of now Shruti is also composing the music for Kamal Haasan's upcoming Tamil film Unnaipol Oruvan which is a Tamil remake of A Wednesday! Shruti has also lent her voice in her debut film Luck. 

For now Shruti has kept away from the press but we hear her publicity campaign is very well laid out and her PR has started sending some really hot images of the actress to the media.

Sonal Chauhan

It must be daunting task to date a girl whose father is a police inspector. Maybe that explains why Sonal is still single.

Born in a Rajput family, Sonal was the first Indian to bag the Miss World Tourism title after which she debuted last year in Mukesh Bhatt's Jannat opposite Emraan Hashmi. Sonal is far more fun and mischevious in her demeanour than her miss goody two shoes character Zoya in Jannat.  

The girl must have got some spunk beneath that innocent smile which made MF Hussain's son Owais Hussain sign her for his directorial debut tentatively titled Punjab 69. She has also recently wrapped up a film opposite Shivrajkumar down South.

Ask her what took her so long to sign the second film she says, "After Jannat released the Bhatt's told me that there will be high expectations now. You can only fall from here. That statement made an impact on me and I was just being careful. Though I have a three movie deal with the Bhatt's, they haven't forced me to sign something immediately. They understand an artist's situation and have given me freedom to choose the film I want to do with them." 

For now Sonal says she is just waiting for a script where her wild side can be explored. 

For those of you who would want to impress her, she doesn't ask for much. "Just take me to an open place where I can see the stars in the sky, feel the breeze in my face," says Sonal.

Shahana Goswami


"She is a girl one must watch out for," says Anurag Basu. 

Metro and Kites director isn't even doing a film with Shahana Goswami right now but when you quiz him about the most promising new actresses, Shahana's is the first name that comes to his lips. 

Shahana played a docile-nagging wife in Rock On. Though the film was Farhan's launch pad and the buzz was more about Ekta Kapoor's friend Prachi Desai and his debut, Shahana acting prowess made people take notice her. This, in spite of the almost zilch publicity she was given in the film's PR campaign. 

But Shahana is not one bit bitter. She says, "In terms of getting noticed, Rock On gave me the visibility that other films didn't." 

Shahana started with Naseeruddin's directorial debut Yun Hota To Kya Hota, went on to do Reema Kagti's Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd, Rubaru with Randeep Hooda, though a small film, was her first solo heroine role. The film bombed but it helped her reinvent herself. "I lost weight, trained for it and understood that I could do more glamorous role. It was a big move for me." 

This delhite also found a fan in Nandita Das and was signed for Firaaq which has brought her critical acclaim once again.  

She will next be seen in a bold role in Sudhir Mishra's Tera Kya Hoga Johnny, where she has a boy friend and a husband, with the by-now-obligatory love-making scene thrown in. Godmother director Vinay Shukla's Mirch, in a glamorous-neurotic avatar in Mahesh Bhatt's Jashn where she plays Adhyayan Suman's pathetic alcoholic sister. 

On screen brother and sister Adhyayan Suman and Shahana Goswami are rumoured to be dating each other, after Kangana Ranaut was reported to be in company of Barbara Mori's brother. 

Ask her if she is open to go the glam way, she says, "If you want to be a mainstream Bollywood actress you have to do it. I always rely on instinct. There is nothing at this point I am averse to doing but at the same time it doesn't mean that I am open to doing everything. It depends on the context in which it is required, the time in my career graph where the opportunity comes. The role has to be beyond titillation and if it is titillation then there has to reason for the requirement of the titillation." 

So does the new Bollywood babe maxim 'any publicity good publicity' work for her? 

"I prefer to play safe and would not want to have a controversy. The price you pay to undo bad publicity is too much."

Men are from mars and women are from heaven'

Akshay Kumar gives us action, romance and comedy, all packaged in the same film, Kambakkht Ishq. The film also features the glamorous Kareena Kapoor and Hollywood stars Sylvester Stallone, Denise Richards and Brandon Routh. Directed by Sabbir Khan, Kambakkht Ishq looks like a great way to spend a July afternoon.

Akshay tells Patcy N why we must look forward to this film, and what is the most difficult thing for him.

What's your role in Kambhakkth Ishq?


I play a male chauvinist pig, who thinks he's right because he is a man, and that he is superior to women. But he is brought down to the ground realities and explained to that women are far stronger, and more intelligent than men.


Do you agree with that?


Yes. I believe men are from mars and women are from heaven. I have just finished shooting the Fear Factor episodes and there were about 13 women and men. You see some difficult stunts done by women, which men were scared to do. And they have managed it faster than the men.

Top 10 Celebrity Death Conspiracy Theories

After the death of Michael Jackson I’m wondering how long it’ll be before we see the first Elvisesque headline claiming he’s been spotted in some far flung place alive – just maybe not well.

The conspiracy theories surrounding Jacksons death, and recently actor David Carradine’s demise in a Bangkok hotel, are in full flow right now. Although I’m sure the latter will fade away pretty quickly as the Jackson bandwagon moves up a gear or two in the months and years ahead.

Here’s a list of ten celebrity deaths that have captured the attention, and imagination, of conspiracy theorists the world over.

Anna Nicole Smith



The model and actress, whose real name was Vickie Lynn Marshall, was found dead at 39 from an overdose of prescription drugs in a hotel in Florida on February 8, 2007. An official investigation concluded that she had been killed by a cocktail of drugs. 

Within days of Nicole Smith’s death, the web was alive with speculation over the striking similarity with the death of her son, Daniel, who had been killed a few months earlier from a cocktail of drugs. 

James Dean



The actor died on September 30, 1955 when his Porsche 550 Spyder was hit by a Ford Custom Tudor coupe on Route 466 near Cholame California. The Ford was driven by 23-year-old Donald Turnupseed and had crossed into Dean’s lane and hit the Porsche almost head on. Dean was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital. 

Conspiracy theorists seized upon evidence from a reconstruction of the accident which suggested that the damage had been too light for a high-speed crash and would not have killed the driver. They suggested he faked his death. 


River Phoenix



The young actor had a squeaky clean image and frequently spoke of his abhorrence of drugs. And yet, on October 31, 1993, he collapsed from an overdose of heroin and cocaine outside a Hollywood nightclub owned by Johnny Depp. 

Many people have questioned the official story pointing to Phoenix’s public opposition to drug abuse and a lack of any needle marks on his body. 


Kurt Cobain



The lead singer of Nirvana was found dead at his home in Seattle on April 8, 1994. The singer – who had disappeared from a drug rehabilitation clinic – had, according to his wife, Courtney Love, been suicidal and a suicide note was found. The initial police report stated that Cobain had been found with a shotgun across his chest and an autopsy ruled that he had died by a single gunshot wound to the head and that he had taken a large amount of heroin. 

However, Tom Grant, a private investigator hired by Love to find Cobain after he disappeared from the clinic, believed that the singer was murdered. He claimed that the amount of heroin in Cobain’s bloodstream would have made it impossible for him to have put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. Grant claimed that an unknown assassin had administered the drug and then shot Cobain. 


Natalie Wood



The 43-year-old actress was found dead in the sea off Catalina Island, California, on November 29, 1981. She had apparently drowned after falling off a yacht owned by her husband, Robert Wagner. Wood had spent several hours drinking with Wagner and the actor Christopher Walken before disappearing. 

There was speculation that she had been murdered but the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office was emphatic: Her death had been accidental, possibly after she had fallen into the water while attempting to get into the dinghy. 


David Carradine



The 72-year-old star of the the Kung Fu TV series and Kill Bill films was found dead on June 4, 2009 in his room at the Swissotel Nail Lert Park Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. Police reported that he had been found hanging in a wardrobe. Other more lurid reports suggested he had died after some kind of sado-masochistic incident. A pathologist stated that autoerotic asphyxiation was the most likely cause of death and a police chief said that CCTV footage at the hotel showed that nobody else had been involved. 

The day after his death, Carradine’s family’s lawyer dismissed the idea that the actor had committed suicide and suggested that he could have been murdered by a gang of kung fu assassins after it was revealed he was planning to uncover groups in the martial arts underworld. 


John Lennon



The former Beatle was shot dead outside the Dakota building in New York where he lived by Mark David Chapman on December 8, 1980. Chapman was jailed for murder and is still in prison. 

The most popular conspiracy theory over Lennon’s death is that he was killed by remote control. Those who believe this claim that Chapman was programmed by US government agents to kill Lennon and that they used the novel Catcher in the Rye as a signal to go ahead with the operation. But there appears to be very little motive for such an assassination by the US government other than a supposed dislike of the musician’s radical views by the newly-elected Reagan administration. 


Michael Jackson



The 50 year old singer died on June 25th and at this time the official cause of death has still to be determined, although it looks like the star died of a heart attack following a lethal cocktail of prescribed drugs.

It took just hours after Jackson’s death for the first conspiracy theories to start circulating. The most popular is that the singer faked his death in order to escape the media spotlight and impending bankruptcy.


Marilyn Monroe



The actress was found dead at her home in Los Angeles on August 5, 1962. An autopsy found a cocktail of the drugs choral hydrate and Nembutal in her system and the county coroner recorded the cause of death as acute barbiturate poisoning by accidental overdose. 

However, speculation over Monroe’s death continues to this day and centres on her relationships with US President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert Kennedy. Most of the theories allege that she was murdered either by the CIA or the Mafia because she knew too much about the Kennedy brothers’ links to organised crime. 



Elvis Presley



Presley was found dead on the floor of his bathroom in Graceland, Memphis, on August 16, 1977. An investigation and autopsy found that he had crawled several feet from the toilet before he died. Two autopsies into his death (one in 1994) concluded that drugs did not play a part and that he was killed by a sudden heart attack. Given Presley’s widely documented prescription drug abuse, most experts believe that he was killed by a cocktail of drugs. 

And yet there are a million and one theories surrounding the death of Presley – by far the most persistent being that he somehow faked his own death in a bid to boost flagging record sales. Hundreds of thousands of supposed sightings of “the King” have been claimed in the three decades since.