-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Cultivable land in India continues to shrink. It may not pose an immediate problem for the nation's food security but its long-term effect could be disastrous with the country needing more and more foodgrains to support its growing population. Latest data from the agriculture ministry shows that as many as 20 states reported decrease in cultivable land to the extent of 790,000 hectares in four years...
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Government seeks to woo Nitish with new backward state measure
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: An expert committee under chief economic advisor Raghuram Rajan has identified 10 parameters for a new Composite Development Index, whose adoption by the Centre will change the way thousands of crores are transferred annually and can potentially set the stage for realignment of political forces in Bihar before the 2014 polls. The new index seeks to rate states on the basis of their distance from the...
More »Creating durable assets through rural employment: Rubber Board ties up with MGNREGA
-The Economic Times The state-run Rubber Board is turning to the rural employment guarantee programme to increase India's natural rubber output from the present 9 million tonne a year. With rising global demand for rubber, the board is keen to extend the area under cultivation. It has identified 400,000 hectare in the North East, 100,000 hectare in Odisha and 50,000 hectare each in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh as areas with potential...
More »Ashish Bose, noted demographer interviewed by Somesh Jha
Ashish Bose coined the term BIMARU in a paper to then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in the 1980s to highlight the economic backwardness of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. He tells Somesh Jha he is not inspired by the Planning Commission’s bogus poverty figures. He says it is time the commission wound up. Excerpts: * You coined the term 'BIMARU', but these states performed well in alleviating poverty in...
More »20 villages inundated -Pranab Kumar Das
-The Telegraph Tezpur (Assam): Rains in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh and a rise in the water level of Solengi river has inundated at least 20 villages in Assam's Sonitpur district today. An embankment of the Solengi river at Borghuli village was breached, affecting the neighbouring villages. Road communication between Gohpur and Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh, was also hit due to floodwaters. Ramen Bora, a resident of Kokila village, said the breach near...
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