-Business Standard Not to estimate poverty lines or absolute numbers; will take these from ongoing socio-eco caste census done by states, focus on impact of programmes Taking note of some hard lessons learnt by its predecessor, the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog would not estimate either poverty lines or the number of the poor in the country. The erstwhile Planning Commission, replaced by the Aayog, had got into a big controversy...

-The Times of India CHANDIGARH: Five companies, including Robert Vadra's Skylight Hospitality, bought licences to build colonies from the Haryana government for Rs 52.26 crore. They went on to sell these licences to other companies at a massive premium and collectively earned Rs 267.47 crore in a short span of time. But the profit of Rs 215.21 crore wasn't shared with the department of town and country Planning despite bilateral agreements...

-The Times of India AURANGABAD: Over 350 like-minded organizations are set to launch a nation-wide agitation from Monday to protest against the contentious Land Acquisition Bill. Social activist Medha Patkar made the announcement in the city while addressing a gathering of farmers. She said organizations of farmers, traders and fishermen would stage demonstration in different parts of the country and mount pressure on the Union government to stop it from going...

-The Times of India CHENNAI: The industrial sector has been taking the flak for emitting high levels of hazardous gases over the years but it might ultimately be our homes that are responsible for the highest emission of greenhouse gases. A recently published study conducted by the Centre for Ecological Sciences of the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, found that the domestic sector was one of the highest contributing factors to greenhouse...

-The Hindu For any skill development effort to succeed, markets and industry need to play a large role in determining courses, curriculum and relevance The Union Budget 2015 paved way for the launch of a much-awaited National Skills Mission to complement Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ‘Skill India' and ‘Make in India' exhortations. However, much work needs to be done on the ground for the government to prove that this step is a...