-The Hindu The retail vegetable sellers have now started quoting the prices of almost all items in pao or 250 grammes. The concept of darjan or dozen has almost been replaced by the kilogramme for the humblest of fruits like bananas and oranges. But this means little to the common household which now literally thinks twice before buying any grocery item. A common refrain heard often from politicians is that prices are...

-The Times of India Heir apparent Rahul Gandhi on Friday said a successful 'direct cash transfer' can power Congress to victory in the next two elections. "If we get this programme right, we will win the next two general elections," Rahul reportedly told a meeting of Congress chiefs of 51 districts where the cash transfer scheme is to be rolled out. The remark provided the bluntest evidence that Congress is banking on the...

-The Times of India Of all the warnings about dramatic effects of climate change, a leaked draft UN report is the most vigorous in arguing that fears of an ice-free Arctic Ocean in summer months can become a reality if global temperature rises by more than 2 degree Celsius over current levels. The draft copy of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report says there is a 90-100% chance that the...

-The Times of India An average Indian man's life expectancy (LE) at birth has increased by nearly 15 years in the last 40 years, while an average Indian woman is living over 18 years longer than what she did four decades ago. The world population's life span has gained more than a decade since 1970 - from 56.4 years in 1970 to 67.5 years in 2010 for an average male and from...

-The Hindu Leaked documents at WCIT expose secret design; India steers clear of the proposal A leaked document from the UN’s World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) being held in Dubai, shows that the UAE accompanied by Russia, China, Sudan, Algeria and Brazil had placed a proposal to fundamentally restructure the Web and place it under government control, with authorisation for extensive state surveillance and content regulation. Brazilians later tweeted, denying their...