-Reuters LONDON: Poverty and the all-consuming fretting that comes with it require so much mental energy that the poor have little brain power left to devote to other areas of life, according to the findings of an international study published on Thursday. The mental strain could be costing poor people up to 13 IQ (intelligence quotient) points and means they are more likely to make mistakes and bad decisions that amplify and...

-Down to Earth Our policy makers should move away from the income criterion for estimating poverty and take cognisance of other indicators Amid mounting criticism and heated debates about the poverty line, a challenge has resurfaced to examine whether there could be a single non-monetary criterion of estimating poverty. A poverty line is a monetary cut-off point below which a person is deemed to be poor. Thus, any attempt to measure poverty...

-Economic and Political Weekly The government has notified a Draft Land Reforms Policy which, on paper, has all the requisites of an earnest programme. Yet, the near total failure of earlier efforts at land reforms in India leave little room for hope that something substantial will at last be done to combat landlessness. Harsh Mander (manderharsh@gmail.com) is with the Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi, and works with survivors of mass violence,...

-The Hindu How rich your State was the year you were born is a direct predictor of how tall you will grow, new research shows. But the relationship between a State's income and the height of its residents is growing weaker over time, possibly as a result of inequality within States. Faster growing States will not necessarily get healthier and taller at an equally fast rate, especially if their inequality...

-PTI Muslims' average per capita spending a day is Rs. 32.66, while it is Rs. 37.50 for Hindus, Rs. 51. 43 for Christians and Rs. 55.30 for Sikhs Among various religious groups, Muslims have the lowest living standard with the average per capita expenditure of just Rs. 32.66 in a day, says a government survey. At the other end of the spectrum, the Sikh community enjoys a much better lifestyle as the average...