-The Economic Times   Given the hurdles to infrastructure projects across India, there's good news from Tamil Nadu. The prolonged shutdown at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant has ended following chief minister J Jayalalithaa's decision to back the Rs 13,000 crore project. But, while accompanied by a welcome area development package, this official nod may not dampen the ongoing anti-Kudankulam agitation. So, police must use utmost care in dealing with protesters. And...

-IANS   States should be allowed to declare an off period for the rural jobs scheme MGNREGA during peak agricultural season, says Sumitra Mahajan, chief of a parliamentary panel on rural development. She also believes extending the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to urban areas - as suggested by the Economic Survey last week - is not practicable unless the scheme is made to include semi-skilled work apart from manual...

That Bihar under Nitish Kumar grew at over 10% between 2004-05 and 2009-10 is now well-known. But data released on Monday shows that in the same period, the number of poor in the state actually grew.  During this five-year period, Bihar added 50 lakh people to the number of its poor, by far the largest number of any Indian state in this period. A look at Planning Commission numbers for 2009-10...

The Economic Survey 2011-12 showcases the dividends of economic liberalisation started by the ruling party. But admits: growth is not possible without agriculture During the last financial year there were talks of the Indian economy finally decoupling from agriculture thus monsoon. The Economic Survey of 2011-12 disagrees with that. The survey has re-emphasised that whatever economic growth happened in the last fiscal it was due to agricultural growth. India recorded the...

-PTI Nearly 5,000 farmers from various parts of the country are taking part in the two-day Kishan Mela organised by Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST) here from March 19, officials said today.  "It is expected that about 5,000 farmers will participate in this two-day Kissan mega event from March 19 here. Farmers, women farmers from the neighbouring states Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana are also expected to participate in...