-The Hindu Chennai: India's economic boom in the first decade of the 21st Century coincided with an increase in the magnitude of poverty, economist Prabhat Patnaik said here on Saturday. "There has been a period of positive growth as far as the GDP is concerned. But during this period , there has been an increase in magnitude of absolute poverty," he said. "While the Planning Commission insists that proportion of population below...

-The Hindustan Times Odisha's Kalahandi district - once the cause of global embarrassment for India due to its high number of starvation deaths - today stands tall with a five-fold increase in its rice production since 1999, figures reveal. The agriculture ministry's recent crop data ranks Kalahandi among the top 25 rice producing districts of India. The three-year average of its rice production ending 2010-11 was 468,000 tonnes, compared with a three-year...

-The Hindu Business Line It requires a change in mindset to reverse declining sex ratios. The state-wise child sex ratio (number of females per 1000 males in 0-6 years age group) in India during 2001-2011 declined except in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Mizoram, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu (see table). Interestingly, these are the same states that had recorded a significant fall in child sex ratio during 1991-2001. Adverse child sex ratio can have...

-Down to Earth The country's 76 million poor have been denied the right to claim subsidised foodgrain under public distribution system The government has denied 76 million people in the country eligible to access public distribution system (PDS) the benefits of the food security system. For the past 20 years, the government has not cared to refresh its data and has been distributing foodgrain according to the population figure of 1991. Worse, the...

-The Telegraph Bihar today drew praise from Planning Commission deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia for faring better than other states on per capita income. "Bihar's overall performance during 2012-13 has been very good and its growth in per capita income has been better than the country as a whole. Although the state started with a low base, this still is a remarkable growth," he said after a meeting with chief minister Nitish...