-The Telegraph   There is no jargon in Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi’s brand of economics — there are only blankets and bicycles and other such mundane things that he feels the poor need. And he even got a nod from a man who has received the Nobel Prize for economics. Speaking at a discussion, flanked by Joseph Eugene Stiglitz, an economics Nobel laureate and Lord Meghnad Desai, professor emeritus at the London School...

The Union government has cleared an external loan to finance part of the programme launched by the Ministry of Rural Development in left wing extremism-affected villages. The clearance is for a loan of $500 million from the asian development bank (ADB) to speed up construction of rural roads. Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh has, in a letter, urged Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to issue directions for negotiating and early signing...

The implementation of the ‘100 days work' scheme in West Bengal had become a poll issue during the last parliamentary and assembly elections as had some other Centrally-funded rural development projects. But despite a change in government in the State, little seems to have changed on that front ultimately leading to a somewhat hurried shunting out of a Minister from his Department. The decision taken by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to...

-IANS The food security bill, that seeks to legally entitle majority of India's population to cheaper foodgrains, is not sustainable as it would put further pressure on fiscal deficit and worsen inflation, an asian development bank (ADB) official said on Tuesday. "While the purpose of ensuring food security to the poor is laudable, the food security bill is not the right mechanism for it," said Biswa Nath Bhattacharyay, lead professional, Asian Development...

-Live Mint China nearly doubled its rural poverty threshold last week, in a move that will make an estimated 130 million people (or nearly one-tenth of its total population) eligible for various social support schemes funded by the government. China has now tweaked its poverty line for the fourth time in four years. Poverty lines are not set in stone. They have to be regularly changed. This development comes just as the...