-The Telegraph The Prime Minister today expressed surprise that “concurrent evaluation” of the rural job scheme was “not in good shape” and asked Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia to “apply his mind to making good this deficiency”. Concurrent evaluation is an assessment of a scheme’s impact, strength and weaknesses while it is being implemented, as distinct from the annual CAG audit or a post-mortem. Its objective is to identify problems...

-PTI Farmers should not be forced to vacate their land for development projects, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said, advocating adequate compensation for them. "Land acquiSITion should be done with the consent of the farmers by giving them adequate compensation and if required after adjusting the affected family in job," Yadav said in a conclave in Lucknow on Friday. He said the state government is planning to construct a road to connect...

UniverSITies should not have to bow to research institutes, writes Debashis Gangopadhyay. Basic Sciences versus Applied Sciences Undermining humanities studies in schools will lead to a large number of science graduates in the market. This is a boon for multinational companies as profits will escalate — the cost of labour being lower. However, the danger to profits persist from another aspect. Students who study science out of their love for a subject are...

-The Hindustan Times   The rain gods may have brought some cheer to everyone after a scorching summer, but a sense of gloom about the Indian economy appears to be building. A study by US-based Pew Research Centre has found that while just a year ago, 51% people were satisfied with the way things were in the country (and 47% dissatisfied), today, the proportions have reversed — 59% are dissatisfied and only...

-The Hindu After giving relatively good rains over large parts of the country over the past ten days, the south-west monsoon is all set to go into a lull for at least the next four to five days. Speaking to The Hindu , Director General of India Meteorological Department, L.S. Rathore said, “The axis of the monsoon is shifting close to the foothills of the Himalayas. Consequently, rains would be confined mainly...