-The Times of India The Centre is blaming state governments for a near 20% rise in cereal prices despite overflowing granaries that have record stocks, and suspects that hoarding and high state levies are causing the spike. The latest wholesale price inflation data showed that the price increase in this segment was estimated at over 19%. According to the consumer price index, inflation is of the order of 17%. Last month, Food...

-First Post In an interview with Firstpost, Ajay Chhibber, Regional Director of the UNDP, tells us why India ranks low on the Human Development Index, below China, Sri Lanka and Iran, what we need to do to improve our standing and why welfare schemes are not to be blamed for poor growth or inflation. Excerpts from the interview: * Why does India lag other BRIC countries in the HDI ratings? Compared to the other...

-The Hindu By hanging Afzal Guru secretly so that he could not approach the courts, and ignoring the pending case that could have affected his sentence, the Home Minister acted illegally On March 6, 2013, in response to an RTI request, the President’s Secretariat made available documents pertaining to Ajmal Kasab’s mercy petition. People from across the country and the globe had written to the President asking that he use his clemency...

-The Economic Times India may have policy of preferring free and open source applications, but still the world's largest software maker Microsoft and others, including Adobe, Norton and McAfee, have managed to weasel their way into some of the largest government purchases in the country's history. Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are in the process of procuring over eight million laptops preloaded with proprietary software in clear violation of India's national...

-The Economic Times A balance between the need to unleash animal spirits and the larger issues of ethical governance is essential for the country to move ahead, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh tells ET in an exclusive interview. * Is unleashing animal spirits still the main focus of the government? Unleashing the animal spirits is all very well but it has to be in an ethical framework. Markets is all about...