At BANCON (annual bankers' conference) 2011 in Chennai, financial institutions explored avenues for greater participation in agriculture and rural development. There are a few areas in need of additional attention and investment. Green Revolution technologies are scale-neutral but not resource-neutral. Inputs are needed for output; therefore market-purchased inputs become important in providing soil and plant healthcare for higher yields. Social scientists point out that small and marginal farmers will be excluded...

By the end of this year, one in every 10 Indians will be an Internet user, making the country the third-largest Internet market in the world after Chinaand the United States.  At the end of December, 121 million Indians will be accessing the Internet at least once a week to check emails, chat or log on to a social network, a survey has found. India is adding Internet users at the...

-The Times of India   One in every five Indian adults living in urban cities suffers not only from hypertension but also diabetes. In Maharashtra, more disturbingly, one in three persons is struck by the twin epidemic. These are some of the highlights of India's largest clinic-based survey to assess the prevalence of diabetes and hypertension. The findings of the study, called Screening India's Twin Epidemic (SITE), were announced on Monday in...

It has to be but a means to development, not an end in itself Is India doing marvellously well, or is it failing terribly? Depending on whom you speak to, you could pick up either of those answers with some frequency. One story, very popular among a minority but a large enough group—of Indians who are doing very well (and among the media that cater largely to them)—runs something like...

Poverty lines have been in the news again. This round started when a Planning Commission affidavit to the Supreme Court placing the poverty line at Rs 26 per capita per day (rural), Rs 32 (urban), raised a furore over the use of these to set a cap on the percentage of the population covered by the food security Bill. Since then, the pendulum has swung to the other extreme. The latest...