-The Times of India That Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)'s e-ticketing facility has not kept pace with the rise in demand is evident from the large number of failed transactions. Approximately 35 lakh transactions in June 2012 and almost 37 lakh attempts in May 2012 could not materialize due to the huge rush to book railway tickets online. To top it, there are several cases where a ticket is...

-The Indian Express New NSS data affirms that GDP growth remains the best way to tackle poverty Amid the pervasive economic gloom, provisional data from the 68th round of the National Sample Survey Office’s just-concluded household consumer expenditure survey offers a sliver of good news. According to it, average inflation-adjusted expenditure for July 2011-June 2012 rose by about 4.5 per cent in two years, with the poorest 10 per cent of the...

-PTI Patchy monsoon has its shadow over onion cultivation with major producing regions in Maharashtra and Gujarat witnessing drop in sowing area of the key kitchen item almost by half. Decline in area would affect supply of onion during October-December period and could trigger its price rise in the domestic market. Onion is selling at Rs 10-15 a kg at present in retail in Delhi and other parts of the country. "Almost 50 per...

-The Hindu Literacy has helped people in the State maximise the benefits of the rural employment guarantee scheme Kerala’s achievements have long been celebrated by development economists — high literacy rates, including among girls, low infant mortality rates and so on. There has also been a spate of writings highlighting the ills of Kerala society. Critics have pointed to the high rates of suicides and feminists have also raised difficult questions. While...

-The Business Standard Consumers say they cannot buy branded FMCG items in mobile phones, customers opt for low-end handsets while retaining brand loyalty Last year, Ashok Das, a farmer-cum-fisherman from the small industrial town of Rishra in the Hooghly district of West Bengal, had promised his younger son a branded television. But last year’s bad crop output and this season’s deficient monsoon made him change his plans and finally settle on a...