-The Hindustan Times About 1.98 lakh farmers committed suicide in India between 2001 and 2012 as the benefits of high growth failed to trickle down to the rural areas, says the India Rural Development Report 2012-13 released on Thursday. Indebtedness and lenders confiscating land have been attributed as the main causes of the farmers' deaths. Around two-third of the farmer suicides were reported from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Depicting the...

-The Hindu Bihar is the second most backward, and Gujarat is less developed A panel headed by Raghuram Rajan has recommended a new index of backwardness to determine which States need special assistance. The new methodology ranks Odisha as India's most backward State, Bihar, which has been seeking ‘special' status, as the second most backward, and Gujarat as one of the "less developed" States. Goa is India's most developed State. In May this year,...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: A high-level panel has recommended new criteria for measuring the backwardness of states and proposed the devolution of funds to them through an index that identifies Odisha and Bihar as the least developed states and Goa as the most developed one. The committee had been set up by the government amid demands for "special category" status by Bihar and was headed by the then chief economic...

-Live Mint According to Unicef, India houses one-third of the stunted, wasted and malnourished children of the world Malnutrition is a persistent problem in India, though it is often confused with hunger. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), about 18% of India's population was undernourished in 2012. Undernourishment is the main cause of children's deaths, and according to the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), India houses one-third of the stunted,...

-Live Mint BJP-ruled states to get more funds, while most Congress-ruled states will lose out if report's funding formula is accepted New Delhi: Odisha, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are the least developed (or the most backward) in that order, according to a government committee whose recommendations, if accepted, will mean a larger share of central funds for these states. Goa, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are India's most developed states, according...