-The Times of India LONDON: India's Gangetic river dolphin and wild elephants figure in the latest 100 top mammals on the verge of extinction. The Zoological Society of London have for the first time scored the world's mammals according to how Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) they are. The list that includes the world's most extraordinary threatened species - frogs that give birth through their skin and mammals that are immune to...

-Live Mint Some commentators dismiss the seriousness of India's nutritional crisis as it fails to account for genetic differences With one in two children malnourished in India, child malnutrition is considered to be among the biggest challenges facing the country. But are these figures highly exaggerated? The answer is a resounding yes, according to Columbia University economist Arvind Panagariya, who believes that the international standards used to measure nutritional attainments of...

-BBC Many Bangladeshi textile factories near the capital, Dhaka, have shut because of unrest sparked by the collapse of a factory building last month, the country's textile association has said. Owners made the decision on safety grounds after many workers went on a rampage, the group's president said. Retailers in Europe meanwhile said they would sign an accord to improve safety conditions in factories in Bangladesh. At least 1,127 people were killed when the...

-Frontline Corruption tends to be greater in periods when there is a state-engineered redistribution of wealth in favour of a few at the explicit or implicit expense of the many. Liberalisation is one such period. IT cannot be verified and may not be true. But, the view that the record of graft and corruption during the two-term, nine-year rule of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is the worst in India's post-Independence...

-Countercurrents.org   The events of last over two decades have shown us, more than before that the efforts of dividing the nation by communal forces have been a major obstacle to social peace and process of development. In India while the communal violence began with the Jabalpur riot of 1961, it is from last couple of decades especially from 1980s that the divisive politics has tried to drive a wedge between different...