-The Telegraph Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee government has decided to return nearly 10,000 acres from its land bank to 30,000-odd original owners by the end of the year with an eye on electoral gains, officials said. No one in the government would go on record but The Telegraph has seen a land and land reforms department order, sent to the departments holding the plots and the district authorities, to start the land-return...

-Live Mint Cherry-picked indicators of progress cannot convey the complexities of development in India's diverse states Which Indian states have fared better than their peers and which ones have done relatively worse is a perennial question for discussion. There is more at stake than mere grading of states here. Investment flows, central government funds and praises for being a good state are all linked to this seemingly straightforward question. It seems to...

-The Hindu Chennai: India's economic boom in the first decade of the 21st Century coincided with an increase in the magnitude of poverty, economist Prabhat Patnaik said here on Saturday. "There has been a period of positive growth as far as the GDP is concerned. But during this period , there has been an increase in magnitude of absolute poverty," he said. "While the Planning Commission insists that proportion of population below...

-The Hindu   Growth in number of women needing contraception concentrated in 69 poorest countries Poorest countries within the developing world lag far behind higher-income developing countries in meeting the demand for modern contraception, says a study. Between 2003 and 2012, the total number of women wanting to avoid pregnancy and needing contraception increased from 716 million to 867 million, with the growth concentrated in 69 poorest countries where modern methods use was already...

-The Guardian GDP may be an inaccurate indicator in sub-Saharan Africa, which is a concern for those who want to use statistics to help the world's poorest people Even in good financial times, development aid budgets are hardly overflowing. Government leaders and donors must make hard decisions about where to focus their limited resources. How do you decide which countries should get low-cost loans or cheaper vaccines, and which can afford to...