-The Asian Age   Amidst the high voltage campaign to tom-tom Bihar’s achievements for registering an unprecedented growth rate of 13.13 per cent for the year-2011-12, there exists a dark story. Almost half of the state’s population still lives below poverty line (BPL). According to sources in the Planning Commission, the background note, prepared by the panel for the Plan (2012-13) discussion with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday, around 48 per...

-The Times of India The Rio +20 summit grabbed much limelight with its focus on sustainable development this month, but a smaller event held in Hungary threw the spotlight on another equally pressing aspect of development: the challenges of urbanisation. The growing footprint of cities could very well determine the future path of sustainable development. The conference organised by the Global Development Network, an international conglomeration of researchers and institutes comes at...

-Down to Earth But public sector, too. needs quality improvement, say researchers from University of California What should cash strapped low- and middle-income countries do to improve access to health care? Should they strengthen the public health sector or the private sector? The question remains unresolved, but often funds are redirected from the public exchequer to the private health sector, even though, there is not enough data to guide policy. Recently, the...

-The Hindustan Times There is a widespread perception of policy paralysis in the corridors of power. The two remaining years of the UPA's term is still not too short to reverse the current drift, but time is rapidly running out. The damaged economy needs urgent fixing as does restoring the credibility of an executive racked by scandals and the absence of a sense of direction. The people of the country long...

-The Times of India Upset with the Delhi government's proposal for doing away with the public distribution system and instead offer cash, the resident welfare association (RWA) of Jahangirpuri and NGOs have decided to hold a meeting with government officials on June 22 at the Jahangirpuri Ramlila ground. In April this year, the government had started its second pilot project in Jahangirpuri area. The project covered 4,000 households, which would be given...