-The Indian Express In Gujarat, growth relies on indebtedness. And relegates development. The Gujarat pattern of development has often been arraigned from the left because of its social deficits. Indeed, the state's social indicators do not match its economic performance. With 23 per cent of its citizens living below the poverty line in 2010, Gujarat does better than the Indian average - 29.8 per cent - but it reduced this proportion by...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The goons and police can hang their heads in shame. Together, for once. The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha today with overwhelming support, with almost every speaker narrating how the police and criminals harass hawkers. The debate wove a tragic tale of exploitation and neglect of the poorest "entrepreneurs" of society while powerful support systems were available...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: A working group of the Sonia-Gandhi-led National Advisory Council has called for the creation of dedicated human resource departments at central ministries dealing with social programmes to ensure better delivery of the government's flagship schemes. The working group has suggested that the proposed HR wings should be entrusted with the responsibility of framing guidelines for recruitment and training of frontline workers, besides laying down key performance indicators...

-The Hindu Bangalore: Akshara Dasoha cooks and helpers engaged in the preparation of midday meals in various schools across the State staged a protest at Banappa Park here on Tuesday. General secretary of the Karnataka Rajya Samyukta Akshara Dasoha Karmikara Sangha D. Nagalakshmi said that while the head cooks were given just Rs. 1,100 per month, the helpers were given Rs. 1,000. The workers resorted to the protest after their repeated requests to...

-Down to Earth Open defecation along the Gandak in Uttar Pradesh causes the disease in Bihar, says study Bihar all set to check encephalitis Open defecation along the Gandak in Uttar Pradesh causes the disease in Bihar, says study TIRED of failures by researchers to identify the virus that causes acute encephalitis syndrome (AES), the Bihar government, along with Unicef and the Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences (RMRI), has sent...