Which is more important in human life: money or happiness? Can money buy happiness? According to the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan, the time has come for the world to pay closer attention to this age-old question. "We are starting a global movement on this issue," Jigme Thinley, the prime minister of Bhutan, told IPS after a high-level meeting on "Happiness and Well-being: Defining a New Economic Paradigm" held at United...

The ministry of agriculture has advised all state government agencies to streamline the seed certification process to facilitate farmers in choosing high yielding seeds at a reasonable cost. The agencies have been advised to ask private companies to select four to five of their high yielding varieties while seeking certification, and BRIng both older and new verities. According to officials, private seed certification agencies usually come up with 20-25 varieties, annually, for...

-The Times of India   The highways ministry has ordered a probe into alleged corrupt practices used by two private highway developers in three World Bank-funded projects - Lucknow-Muzaffarpur, Grand Trunk Road and the Third National Highway Project. Highways minister C P Joshi claimed that those found guilty would be held responsible and appropriate action will be taken against them. He said, "We have asked NHAI to investigate and submit the report. We...

The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council has suggested a complex combination of three pricing models to fix retail prices of 348 essential drugs to balance industry's concerns and public health. The proposal, however, has drawn the ire of drug makers who say it is a watered down version of the health ministry's proposals. The council has proposed that for medicines facing "insufficient competition" or a monopoly-like situation, the retail price should...

Women in Delhi are least likely to get married before reaching the age of 18 while those in Jharkhand are most likely. India's Capital recorded the lowest percentage of women (0.5%) who got married before 18 years of age in 2010 followed by Haryana (0.7%) and Jammu & Kashmir (0.9%), according to the Registrar General of India's latest Sample Registration System (SRS) survey, submitted to the Union health ministry on Saturday. Jharkhand...