-The Indian Express The politics of what these figures could mean or what they could be 'spun' to mean is something to ponder. As far as demographers go, Census 2011 brings good news on the population stabilisation front. And now we know that even across religions, across all communities, there is a decline in population growth rates. Alok Vajpeyi, of the Population Foundation of India who has studied the data in...

-IPS News GUNTUR, India: Thirty-seven-year-old Kode Sujatha stands in front of a hut with a palm-thatched roof, surrounded by a group of men shouting angrily and jostling one another for a spot at the front of the crowd. Each of the boatmen, who carry sand mined from a nearby river to the shore every day, wants to be paid before the others.   Sujatha stares hard at them, holds up a piece of paper...

-The Indian Express A joint venture between the Railways and the Karnataka government, the original project involved construction of 329 bridges and 29 tunnels, and required felling of more than 2.5 lakh trees on 965 hectares of forest land.  The Rs 2,315-crore Hubli-Ankola railway line, cutting across the Western Ghats in Karnataka, has been shown the red signal by a Supreme Court panel on forest and wildlife, which said that the...

-The Hindu Business Line Discussions are on with insurance companies: official New Delhi: The government is considering the launch of a universal health insurance product, a government official said, adding that the Department of Financial Services has already held discussions with insurance companies for the launch of such a product. The government is also considering ways to incentivise providers to encourage good health rather than hospitalisation. “So far, health schemes are pushing for hospitalisation...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's magic appears to be working well among cooking gas consumers. With a little assistance from state-run fuel retailers. Between 30,000 and 40,000 households are giving up LPG subsidy daily in response to a countrywide door-to-door campaign launched by the oil marketers to capitalize on the prime minister's call to 'Give It Up'. The result is nothing but magical in a country used to...