-Reuters OSLO: World powers are running out of time to slash their use of high-polluting fossil fuels and stay below agreed limits on global warming, a draft UN study to be approved this week shows. Government officials and top climate scientists will meet in Berlin from April 7-12 to review the 29-page draft that also estimates the needed shift to low-carbon energies would cost between two and six percent of world...

-Live Mint   What explains the mystery of job growth slowing so drastically just when growth spiked up so rapidly? The health of the economy occupied the centrestage of the political battlefield this week, as the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) engaged in a spirited debate on India's economic performance. A major bone of contention was the slower pace of job growth in the UPA's 10-year...

-The Hindustan Times If the opinion polls are to be believed, the UPA is facing a rout in the coming Lok Sabha elections. One explanation, popular in the media, goes something like this: The UPA faces voter wrath because it destroyed growth. The economy has paid a price for bad governance and expensive welfare schemes. If you look at data for the last two years, this view will find some support....

-The Hindu The digital divide has gone out of favour, but millions of Indians not only remain illiterate, but are unable to access welfare schemes Is there a clash between social media and social movements? Or, can social media be used to promote social movements? As political parties intensify their use of social media and election fever heightens in a country where millions are illiterate and have little access to technology, these questions...

-MoneyLife.in India, the world's second largest food producer, is witnessing growing distress and declining confidence in agriculture as most small and landless farmers, with less of a stake, are found to quit farming The recent unseasonal heavy rains, thunder and hailstorms originating from unusually intense western disturbances from the Mediterranean interacting with the south-easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal have ravaged the due-for-harvesting chana, lentils and wheat in Madhya Pradesh,...