-The Economic Times KOLKATA: Paddy farmers in eastern India are a bit worried over erratic rainfall this year. The spread of the rainfall has not been uniform across the region which has prompted states like West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha to prepare contingency plans if the trend continues for long. The states are looking at options such as short-duration crops and direct seeding as possible ways of growing paddy in...

-The Times of India There's a new trend of chief ministers, particularly those with national ambitions, aggressively peddling their respective 'development models'. Interestingly, CMs from the same party at times indulge in one-upmanship. The question is: How are people in their states actually faring? How does one know whether one 'model' is better than another? One way is to look at how much a person spends on an average every month;...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The government is giving a fresh push to its flagship rural employment scheme ahead of the general elections, providing additional funds to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha. To begin with, the rural development ministry will pump in 200 crore each year, a senior official told ET, adding that these states have been chosen because half of their population is below poverty line and they have not...

-Outlook Koraput (Odisha): Amid reports of students falling ill after consuming mid-day meal at schools in Dhenkanal and other districts of Odisha, tribal-dominated Koraput requires immediate steps to check the unhygienic condition in which food is prepared. According to official reports as many as 2,14,000 students have been enrolled at the 2,757 primary schools of the district but at least 1,378 schools lack proper kitchen to prepare food forcing the officials concerned...

-The Hindu Boards are understaffed, have little time for meetings, inspection or regulation, says study Mumbai: Environmental protection seems to be in shaky hands with political appointees nominated to head state pollution control boards (SPCB) in some places. In one case, the educational qualification of the chairperson was tenth standard. In Karnataka, for instance, the chairperson of the SPCB is Vaman Acharya, a senior BJP leader. In Himachal Pradesh, it is Kuldip Singh...