-The United Nations Swaziland’s farmers are beginning to reap the benefits of a UN-backed five-year programme aimed at reversing the country’s declining agricultural productivity, the United Nations food agency declared today. In a media statement, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced that its Swaziland Agricultural Development Project, or SADP, had already begun to have an impact on the lives of the country’s smallholder farmers through a number of training initiatives...

-Outlook The Women and Child Ministry is planning to make changes in the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 to include electronic media and internet under its purview. At present the legislation only includes depiction of women in publications, WCD secretary Prem Narain told reporters at an interaction here. "We are also thinking of raising the penalties mentioned in the Act, to make them more contemporary," the WCD secretary said, adding that...

-Outlook Alleging a Rs four lakh crore scam in iron ore mining as the state government kept renewal of licenses in abeyance, Union Minister Srikant Jena today demanded exclusive rights to Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) over minerals. "The scam relates to renewal of licenses. Official documents show of the 107 iron ore mines in Odisha, 83 are operating by using 'deemed to' clause of the mining law," the senior Congress leader told...

-The Hindu PM’s statement that seven States are naxal-affected is at variance with Home Ministry’s figure How many States are affected by left-wing extremism? The answer could vary, if one is to go by official statements made at different times. Addressing the annual conference of the DGPs/IGPs in Delhi on Saturday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said seven States were affected. He spoke about the “ability of left-wing extremists in increasing their numbers and...

-The Hindu The country has shown that it is possible to have superior social outcomes at lower per capita incomes and rates of economic growth Bangladesh is very much in the news these days in our country, but for the wrong reasons. In the unfortunate Bangladesh-bashing that seems to have become somewhat of a pastime, we seem to have failed to notice the striking developmental success that it has had in the...