U.P.'s GDP grew at 7.28 per cent in the past five years, but the State ranks low in virtually every area of socio-economic development. IF statistics on gross domestic product (GDP) are the only criteria to evaluate the performance of a government, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government in Uttar Pradesh will have to be rated as one with highly impressive credentials. For, India's most populous State has recorded a...

The word ‘hunger’ does not appear in the 12th Plan Approach Paper even once, whereas according to the latest Global Hunger Index Report, India continues to be in the category of those nations where hunger is ‘alarming’. What is worse, India is one of the three countries where the hunger index between 1996 and 2011 has gone up from 22.9 to 23.7, while 78 out of the 81 developing countries...

-The Times of India   Union rural development minister will be on a two-day visit to the state beginning Saturday. Jairam Ramesh is visiting Jharkhand on a request of chief minister Arjun Munda. The invitation was sent to Ramesh last month when Munda met him in New Delhi and requested him to visit Jharkhand. This is the first meeting of Ramesh to the state after taking over as rural development minister. On his arrival...

-PTI   Maoists have indicated their willingness for talks with the West Bengal government for lasting peace in tribal 'junglemahal' area, a human rights activist engaged in parleys with the Naxals said on Friday. "There are many stakeholders in junglemahal who are willing to talk to the state government... The government has already initiated some positive steps and is willing to talk (with the Maoists)," Sujato Bhadra, who was among a six-member...

-The Business Standard   A young entrepreneur with an engineering degree from India’s premier engineering school and a postgraduate degree from the US’s finest technical school develops an innovative service aimed at ameliorating the energy utility situation in rural India. In 1995, he co-founds SELCO India, which provides customised energy solutions based on each household’s requirements. It facilitates low-income rural households to secure financing help from local financial institutions. Read how...