-The Business Standard The Union ministry of rural development proposes to introduce flexibility in implementation of its flagship programmes across the country. Minister Jairam Ramesh said, “In a phased manner, 50 per cent of the funds earmarked for rural development programmes will be transferred to state governments to implement the schemes as per their requirements, subject to broad guidelines. The rest of the funds will be spent as per the national guidelines...

-The Times of India As political parties learn to set up central war-rooms in their headquarters during elections to civic bodies, state assemblies or the Lok Sabha, they are increasingly depending on private detective agencies to collect and collate data in order to gauge people's mood, select prospective candidates and know rival strategies. Sniffing a business opportunity, private players have come up with specialised services of providing ground report to political leaders....

-Reuters Global food prices rose in March for a third successive month, driven by gains in grains and vegetable oils, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Thursday, putting food inflation firmly back on the economic agenda. Food prices hit record highs in February 2011 and stoked protests connected to the Arab Spring wave of civil unrest in some north African and middle eastern countries. They then receded but started...

-The Deccan Herald   Diddalli, a hamlet under Channayanakote grama panchayat, lacks even basic infrastructure facilities. The labourers who planted teakwood trees under Neduthopu yojane of the forest department at Devamacchi forest in 1972 were shifted to Nagapura and Channayanakote in 1982. The forest department had alloted two acres of land for the labourers who settle down in the new place. However, Diddalli does not boast of anything that a civilised society can be proud...

-The Business Standard E-waste disposal cannot ignore the informal sector The deadline for the enforcement of new electronic waste (e-waste) management norms is just a month or so away. And yet, most of the sector’s stakeholders seem quite unprepared. The E-waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011, notified almost a year ago as coming into effect from May 1 this year, require producers of electronic and white goods to take back their products...