-The Economic Times I have often been asked how Chhattisgarh manages the contradictory pulls of sound fiscal health and welfare schemes. How did we manage to roll out food and nutrition security to not just the most needy among us but to almost the entire population of a state that has had a history of malnutrition and neglect, without jeopardising Chhattisgarh's finances? As finance minister for the last eight years, I have...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Foreign corporations have created over 247,000 jobs through research and development (R&D) investments in India over the past decade, but most of the activities appear relatively unimportant with little long-term gains , researchers have said. The study, described as the first comprehensive assessment of foreign direct investment (FDI) in R&D, has challenged suggestions by Indian science policy makers and foreign corporations a decade ago that turning India into...

-The Telegraph ■ Pushpa Devi, a homemaker-turned-panchayat representative of Baridih block, Bokaro, used Right to Information (RTI) Act to stop illegal sale of government land ■ Vijay Yadav, a ward councillor of Koderma, ensured through RTI Act that private English-medium schools adhered to Right to Education Act provisions and enrolled poor students under reservation ■ Mukesh Rajak, a youth from Madhupur block, Deoghar, used the RTI Act to expose MGNREGS irregularities Ranchi: They...

-The Hindu As cities expand and markets keep fuel prices high, Indians are demanding better public transport. The States must deliver, but they are only inching ahead. In the chorus of angry voices against the horrific gang rape of a paramedic student on a moving bus in the national capital on December 16 last, one issue that quickly became apparent was the state of public transport in urBan areas. The shocking incident...

-The Hindu Sundarpahari (Jharkhand): In Santhali villages in Godda, along Jharkhand's border with Bihar, many slanting stone megaliths that mark the community graves are those of young women who died in childbirth in recent years. Tribal families in the hamlets scattered in Sundarpahari and Poreyhat - many of whom speak only Santahli - recount desperate struggles for medical help when young women in their families in advanced stages of pregnancy experienced...