-The Economic Times New discoveries of natural resources in several African countries - including Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, and Mozambique - raise an Important question: will these windfalls be a blessing that brings prosperity and hope, or a political and economic curse, as has been the case in so many countries? On average, resource-rich countries have done even more poorly than countries without resources. They have grown more slowly, and with greater inequality...

-The Hindu An anthology of independent evaluations of MGNREGA shows that it has provided income security, improved health, narrowed the gender gap and created useful assets   In the midst of the debates that prevail in this country over the feasibility of the world’s largest public works programme, the MGNREGA Sameeksha — an anthology of independent research studies and analysis on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, from 2006-2012 — is...

-The Economic Times Rural India is getting fast on the information superhighway. Rural India has 38 million claimed internet users and 31 million active internet users, according to a report on 'Internet in Rural India' by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB. The penetration of claimed internet users in rural India has grown from 2.6% in 2010 to 4.6% in 2012, a CAGR of 73%. On the other...

-The Times of India The Comptroller and Auditor General is likely to make a strong pitch for scrapping all the controversial allocations of coal mines during its presentation to Parliament's Public Accounts Committee. Sources said the auditor looks set to cite total lack of transparency in the recommendations made by the screening committee for allocation of coal blocks worth thousands of crores. In its presentation to the PAC likely next week, the...

-The Times of India KOLKATA: Call it fuel austerity. For the first time, the principal secretaries of 18 departments of the state government — including chief secretary Samar Ghosh — will tour five districts in a bus rather than hired cars. This will not only save a huge amount of fuel cost, the government won't have to pay for the accommodation of the drivers and other related expenses. The secretaries will not,...