If proof is needed of a policy paralysis, a recent official admission that poverty cannot be eradicated by 2020 cannot be dismissed out of hand. That this follows the Planning Commission's estimate of a rapid decline in poverty over the period 2004-05 and 2009-10 is not just intriguing but arguably schizophrenic. The former is utterly pessimistic while the latter is optimistic notwithstanding dubious price adjustments designed to deliver a favourable...

PANAJI: At least 31% of elders in India are abused by their relatives; the highest number of elder abused is traced in Madhya Pradesh with 77.12% while Rajasthan is the lowest at 1.67%. 40% elders are abuse because they are economically dependent.  Assam is followed by 60.55%, on third position is Uttar Pradesh with 52%, forth is Gujarat by 42.97%, and Andhra Pradesh is 42.86%. The lowest percentage of elder abuse...

-The Hindu Business Line   Reservations for SC/STs may not impact redistribution as much as they can alter social prejudices and hierarchies. June 5, 2012: This year, India celebrates the 20th anniversary of the 73rd amendment. One of the most striking aspects of the modern Panchayati Raj defined by the amendment is the systematic reservation of political positions (pradhans, sarpanchs, and ward members) for villagers from the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (SC/ST)....

-The Times of India No survey official has visited the village of Phisami, not far from India's border with Myanmar in Nagaland, or parts of the Andaman and Nicobar islands as the sheer remoteness of these areas made them off limits for enumerators.  This will change in July, when the 69th round of the National Sample Survey Organization's (NSSO) enumeration of socio-economic indicators gets under way as all of India will be...

If the environment ministry's draft proposal for 'inviolate forest areas' is accepted, large swathes of healthy forests, including national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, tiger reserves and wildlife corridors, would be out of bounds for all mining activities, and not just coal excavation. The ministry's draft lists criteria for identifying forest patches where mining should be banned following the GoM on coal's decision to junk the no-go policy of the environment ministry. The...