Chhattisgarh, long known as the epicentre of Left-wing extremism, clocked the highest growth rate among all states in 2009-10. The emergence of the state as a ‘miracle economy’ is yet to loosen the grip of politics of misery-mongering. Chief minister Raman Singh discusses the state’s growth journey and its challenges with Bharti Jain. Chhattisgarh is the latest growth story, having ranked first among states with 11.49% growth rate. What are...

Exaggeration. Exaggeration. Exaggeration.  I was subjected to this tiresome litany from various angry officials and a couple of politicians after one of their colleagues — who will remained unnamed — leaked to me the perilous state of India’s granaries and the rotting foodgrain within. On July 26, I reported how 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat and rice had rotted away, unfit even for animals; how 17.8 million tonnes, enough to feed...

Sitting on his father’s shoulders, two-year-old Rahul Kumar giggles and tugs on a lock of his father’s hair. A happy, healthy-looking boy, Rahul has already seen much of India. Born in a small village in northern Bihar, he has spent roughly half of his short life in Punjab, where his parents work as seasonal farm labourers. He has spent a few months in his parents’ village. The rest has been spent...

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday virtually ticked off the Supreme Court, saying that it "should not get into policy formation". The trigger for this rebuke was the apex court's anger at grains rotting in FCI and government godowns, and its direction to agriculture minister Sharad Pawar to distribute grains for free to families living below the poverty line. Talking to a group of editors on Monday morning, Singh said...

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the Supreme Court should not go “into the realm of policymaking”. This was his response at an interaction with newspaper editors here to the recent order by the apex court that the government give food free to the poor. The court’s directive had caused the government some embarrassment but it had been uncertain whether the Centre would legally challenge it. While appearing to be unwilling to...