In its latest report, the Statistical Year Book, India 2014 conveys that India is clearly on track to attain the MDG-2 (achieve universal primary education) and MDG-8 (develop a global partnership for development). However, the results are either mixed or poor in terms of India's performance in achieving the rest of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The chart below provides the MDG scenario from a bird's eye view.   The new...

-Outlook Raipur (Chhattisgarh): Slow pace of development work resulting in blockage of over Rs 8 crore and alleged irregularities in implementation of MGNREGA through payment of excess wages to labourers have been noticed in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district. As against 865 works sanctioned under 13th Finance Commission, only 391 works were completed and against allotment of Rs 16.20 crore, expenditure of only Rs 7.97 crore was made and Rs 8.23 crore was blocked,...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Two government agencies - the census office and the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) - have come up with two completely different estimates of India's slum population, leaving both policy makers and the aam aadmi puzzled. The difference is so big that it can't be papered over by any technical jugglery. It has again raised suspicions of India's statistical system floundering, especially when it comes...

-The Hindu The chopping off of the palms of two migrant workers is a wake-up call The gruesome incident of the chopping off of the palms of two migrant labourers of Kalahandi district of western Odisha by the labour contractor mafia in December 2013 should serve as a wake-up call. The incident highlights the ruthless extent to which the mafia can go to meet its ends and brings home the fact that...

-Deccan Herald Between 2005 and 2010, 140 lakh people were displaced from agriculture and 57 lakh jobs were lost in the manufacturing sector. With a bountiful monsoon and a record foodgrain production, agriculture is going to be the saviour of the Indian economy in 2013-14. At a time when there is an all around doom and gloom -- industrial output failing to keep pace, manufacturing sector refusing to look up, joblessness growing,...