Unhappy with the government's “failure” to honour the promises made for persons with disability under the 11th Five Year Plan, the Disabled Rights Group has demanded that it implement at least those decisions that can be achieved in the remaining period of the Plan. The group will register its protest in front of the Planning Commission office on Friday, when the first meeting of the steering committee on ‘empowerment of persons...

-The Indian Express   With Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee resigning from the Union Cabinet to take over as the Chief Minister of West Bengal, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) today completely sidelined her objections against government role in land acquisition — even for private industry. “The government will be acquiring 100 per cent of the land for public purpose by offering very good compensation to landowners. If the public purpose...

The steadily rising rate of economic growth in India has recently been around 8 percent per year (it is expected to be 9 percent this year), and there is much speculation about whether and when India may catch up with and surpass China’s over 10 percent growth rate. Despite the evident excitement that this subject seems to cause in India and abroad, it is surely rather silly to be obsessed...

The food ministry is set to oppose the mandatory 5% ethanol blending programme, fearing diversion of foodgrain for manufacture of ethanol. The ministry has called for the report of the expert panel headed by Planning Commission member Saumitra Chaudhuri in order to "review" the programme. The petroleum ministry was expected to soon send the report to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for a final decision after factoring in the dissent notes...

-The United Nations   The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) has drafted a plan committing Member States and development partners to implement priority nutrition interventions and policies on health care, education and agriculture to improve the health of mothers and their children. The measures, which will be included in a WHO report to be entitled Maternal, infant and young child nutrition: implementation plan, were discussed today at WHO’s ongoing 64th World...