-Outlook Lucknow: Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said the 12th Five Year Plan lays emphasis not merely on economic development but on inclusive growth to bring more poor and marginal people under its ambit. "The one point that I find reading the newspapers talking about the economic development is that there is a tendency to think that economic growth is a very narrow objective," Ahluwalia said while addressing the...

-The Telegraph Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today asked lawyers to acquire the expertise required to deal with international business laws, intellectual property rights and arbitration agreements as they had a bearing on the domestic situation. Singh also urged the legal fraternity to join hands with the government in providing speedy justice to the common man and expressed concern over the increasing number of pending cases in courts. Speaking at the golden jubilee celebrations...

-The Telegraph Congress leaders today pleaded with finance minister P. Chidambaram to not compromise on social sector schemes despite constraints of a sliding economy as the party has to face a series of polls this year followed by the general election in 2014. At the annual pre-budget consultation with the party, Chidambaram explained the difficulties created by slow domestic growth and continuing global recession while admitting the importance of sustaining social sector...

-The Economic Times Food inflation in India, as measured by food articles price index, has averaged 11.3% for the period FY 2008-09 to December 2012, with a maximum of 15.6% in 2010-11 and minimum of 7.3% in 2011-12. In December 2012, wheat prices stood 23% higher than in December 2011, and rice prices 17% higher in the same period. Although this spurt in wheat and rice prices in the face of...

-World Bank Blog The enormity of the global job-creation challenge is underscored in a comprehensive new analysis by the International Finance Corporation, which issued a wide-ranging Jobs Study at a recent IFC forum  on the urgency of the unemployment crisis. More than 200 million people are now unemployed worldwide – with another 1.5 billion people only marginally employed, and with an additional 2 billion working-age adults neither working nor seeking a...