-The Hindu Bangalore: Ninety-two-year-old midwife Narasamma from Krishnapura village of Pavagada taluk has been chosen for a national award for carrying out 1,500 deliveries in remote areas. Announcing this at a press conference in Bangalore on Thursday, Minister of State for Women and Child Welfare Umashree said the award being given by the Union government on the International Day of Older Persons on October 1 in New Delhi carries a cash prize...

-The Times of India   One in five rural households has none of three basic facilities - drinking water, electricity and sanitation - while only about 18% have access to all three. The India Rural Development Report 2012-13 released by Jairam Ramesh on Thursday also shows that while rural poverty has reduced significantly from over 40% to just 26%, there is large variation in poverty reduction between regions, districts and social classes...

-Reuters NEW DELHI: The Asian Development Bank will provide a $500 million loan to build a transmission system for solar and wind energy in western India, the Bank said on Friday, a day after it announced a $400 million package for a water and sanitation programme in the eastern part of the country. The loans from the Manila-based Bank come at a time when India is looking to boost dollar inflows to...

-Live Mint BJP-ruled states to get more funds, while most Congress-ruled states will lose out if report's funding formula is accepted New Delhi: Odisha, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are the least developed (or the most backward) in that order, according to a government committee whose recommendations, if accepted, will mean a larger share of central funds for these states. Goa, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are India's most developed states, according...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: An expert panel has ranked Gujarat 12th among states in development, its findings flying in the face of Narendra Modi's claims but winning endorsement from economists The Telegraph spoke to. The committee, headed by Raghuram Rajan who has since been appointed Reserve Bank governor, assessed states on the basis of 10 criteria, which included many human development indicators. Bengal came 16th. Economist and Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen, who...