-The Economic Times My target for fulfilling Rajiv's vision has always been 2018. We can get there in less than 5 years if govt acts on our recommendations, says diplomat-turned-politician Mani Shankar Aiyar. You have been passionately talking about Panchayati Raj. But your party doesn't seem to share the same passion lately... Mani Shankar Aiyar: I don't agree with you here. The commitment of the party to Panchayati Raj and devolution of...

-The Hindu The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Rs. 22,507-crore National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) that seeks to address healthcare challenges in towns and cities with focus on urban poor. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Rs. 22,507-crore National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) that seeks to address healthcare challenges in towns and cities with focus on urban poor. The scheme will now be introduced as a sub-mission under the National...

-The Hindu Moscow: Ahead of a key government-level interaction with Russia here on Monday, India has sought to assure Russia that it is not deliberately delaying the startup of the Kudankulam plant with the motive of thrashing out liability issues in that project and others proposed elsewhere in the country. To show its sincerity, India is dispatching a key Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) official M. I. Joy from...

-The Hindustan Times Government is set to fight Maoists with an all new weapon-development. From more residential schools to more mobile health units, the UPA is planning a slew of development activities in the red corridor along with its recent measures to beef up security offensive against the Maoists. After a recent meeting of the centre's Review Panel on Left Wing Extremism (LWE), cabinet secretary Ajit Seth directed the health ministry to...

The ongoing droughts and water crises in Maharashtra and Gujarat point to the multiple conflicts the beleaguered and scarce resource of water is likely to spark in the coming years. India is today the world’s largest consumer of groundwater, but it is clear that how we extract, harvest, distribute and manage our most precious resource cannot proceed along usual lines. The unsustainable over-extraction is heralding a fall in the water-table and...