-Live Mint Cherry-picked indicators of progress cannot convey the complexities of development in India's diverse states Which Indian states have fared better than their peers and which ones have done relatively worse is a perennial question for discussion. There is more at stake than mere grading of states here. Investment flows, central government funds and praises for being a good state are all linked to this seemingly straightforward question. It seems to...

-The Hindu   ‘Start with areas where the Army is no longer required to operate' Raking up the issue of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) again, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday hoped that the Centre would revoke the controversial Act from those areas in the State where it was not required. "We understand that you (the Centre) cannot take it (AFSPA) away overnight. It has to be a...

-The Hindustan Times The Enforcement Directorate will "look with interest" at instances, if any, of tainted money being sent abroad through the illegal hawala channel in the Saradha Realty case, of which, there is significant possibility, ED sources told HT. Reports said that a substantial chunk of money had found its way to Dubai through hawala with the money being suspected to have been ploughed into the real estate sector. ED's investigations...

-The Guardian GDP may be an inaccurate indicator in sub-Saharan Africa, which is a concern for those who want to use statistics to help the world's poorest people Even in good financial times, development aid budgets are hardly overflowing. Government leaders and donors must make hard decisions about where to focus their limited resources. How do you decide which countries should get low-cost loans or cheaper vaccines, and which can afford to...

-Frontline Corruption tends to be greater in periods when there is a state-engineered redistribution of wealth in favour of a few at the explicit or implicit expense of the many. Liberalisation is one such period. IT cannot be verified and may not be true. But, the view that the record of graft and corruption during the two-term, nine-year rule of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is the worst in India's post-Independence...