-The Times of India NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday sought clarifications from senior Cabinet ministers on the justification for bringing an ordinance that allows convicted lawmakers to hold on to their seats in Parliament and state legislatures. The President, who was forwarded the ordinance cleared by the Cabinet on Tuesday, sought clarifications separately from home minister Sushil Shinde, parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath and law minister Kapil Sibal. The inquiry came...

-India Today The BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is going to fight the next general elections on the development plank, and he puts forth Gujarat as the model of development. At public meetings, he has been appealing to other states and the Centre to follow his model. But the latest index released by the finance ministry may prove to be a pinprick. It shows Gujarat has not done as well...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: An expert panel has ranked Gujarat 12th among states in development, its findings flying in the face of Narendra Modi's claims but winning endorsement from economists The Telegraph spoke to. The committee, headed by Raghuram Rajan who has since been appointed Reserve Bank governor, assessed states on the basis of 10 criteria, which included many human development indicators. Bengal came 16th. Economist and Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen, who...

-Live Mint BJP-ruled states to get more funds, while most Congress-ruled states will lose out if report's funding formula is accepted New Delhi: Odisha, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are the least developed (or the most backward) in that order, according to a government committee whose recommendations, if accepted, will mean a larger share of central funds for these states. Goa, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are India's most developed states, according...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: A high-level panel has recommended new criteria for measuring the backwardness of states and proposed the devolution of funds to them through an index that identifies Odisha and Bihar as the least developed states and Goa as the most developed one. The committee had been set up by the government amid demands for "special category" status by Bihar and was headed by the then chief economic...