-PTI NEW DELHI: Riding on strong easterlies, monsoon made a grand entry today in the national capital even as seasonal rains covered the entire country one month in advance. South-west monsoon, which kept its June 1 date with Kerala, made rapid progress across the country bringing bountiful showers all along and giving relief to most drought- hit regions. The monsoon onset in Delhi today was also a fortnight in advance as the normal...

-The Times of India New Delhi: The capital's growth in the last decade has overwhelmingly come from the city swallowing up rural areas, newly released census data shows. The number of census towns-essentially newly urbanized villages in the laldora areas-nearly doubled over the last decade, taking the proportion of Delhi's residents who live in these areas to an unprecedented third of the population. Varsha Joshi, director of census operations for Delhi, released...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Union home minister SushilkumarShinde on Tuesday said the government was considering the demand of various states, including Jammu & Kashmir, for withdrawal of the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and a final decision would, however, be taken only after talking to all stakeholders. Shinde said, "We have to consider all the stakeholders' opinion. The AFSPA is not only in Kashmir. It is in many...

-Economic and Political Weekly   A report on the 2013 deliberation of the Kolkata Group at its 10th workshop which focused on healthcare, the status of women and social justice in India. A K Shiva Kumar (akshivakumar@gmail.com) is convener of the Kolkata Group workshops which are organised by Pratichi (India) Trust, the Harvard Global Equity Initiative and UNICEF India. At the 10th annual Kolkata Group workshop in February this year, 40 policymakers, development practitioners,...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The government's ambitious manufacturing thrust has run into trouble even before it could take off with many states expressing difficulty in acquiring the vast tracts of land needed to set up dedicated zones. Five states have written to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, requesting it to consider revising the minimum land requirement (from existing 5,000 hectare) for developing National Manufacturing Investment Zones (NMIZs). These include Assam,...