-Economic and Political Weekly   What explains the erosion of support for the ruling combine at a time of rising human development indices? Ten years is long enough for an elected government to lose public faith and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has done much, both in acts of omission and commission, to ensure a steady erosion of support among the electorate. Large-scale corruption, the incompetence of the government in handling many important...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party is inking its agriculture policy to connect with rural voters and expand its support base. Apart from farm production, the policy will focus on ensuring income security for farmers through a series of measures including a farmers' income commission, increasing access to insurance and credit facilities for tenant farmers and improving rural infrastructure. Recent data from the National Crime Records Bureau show...

-The Hindustan Times As parties gear up for polls, India's two most talked about non-Congress ruled states - Gujarat and Bihar - have been rated as having lesser spending inequality as compared to most other states of the country. A new government study ranks Gujarat as the state having least inequality in urban areas except four north-eastern states of Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram. For rural areas, Bihar earns the top slot...

-The Business Standard A sting, Operation Prime Minister, by a TV news channel had said opinion polls could be manipulated by research agencies The Election Commission (EC) of India cannot ban opinion polls ahead of elections; all it can do is remind the Union government about its long-pending request. And, this is what India's highest poll-conducting body is planning to do, following a TV news channel's sting operation code-named ‘Operation Prime Minister', which...

-The Times of India LUCKNOW: Learning a lesson from the lavish anniversary bash of the United Progressive Alliance, which had a number of exquisite food items, the Aam Aadmi Party decided to invest less on food items served during the December 28, 2013 swearing-in ceremony of Arvind Kejriwal held at Delhi's Ramlila Ground, and settled for Rs 405 per head, while the overall expenses stood at Rs 6,33,802. This is in stark...