The Jharkhand Police on Sunday arrested seven people for activist-nun Valsa John's murder and said they had cracked the case. The Sisters of Charity nun was killed in Pakur district last week by a mob in presence of suspected Maoists.  Describing the case as "complex", Dumka inspector-general Arun Oraon said the immediate reason why Valsa was lynched was to prevent her from taking a rape victim to the police and save...

Sehal Sagar village in Rajasthan has won the national water award instituted by the water resources ministry Nestled in Rajasthan’s bone-dry Tonk district, Sehal Sagar village boasts of lush green fields, wells full to the brim and healthy cattle. The surprise transformation has been possible because the village follows rainwater harvesting and develops its pasture land. Sehal Sagar has an elaborate network of ponds, canals and chaukas which ensure that every drop...

-The Telegraph Assam has managed to secure an exclusive meeting with the Planning Commission wherein it would make a strong case for a state-specific development strategy. Chief minister Tarun Gogoi revealed this here today during an interaction with reporters. He said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had assured him of arranging a full-fledged meeting with the plan panel during his meeting with the former in Delhi early this week. According to a senior official of...

Good sections of rural India don’t want NREGA any more, showing the government spending pattern on the scheme. Since a large percentage of the village labourers have moved to the cities, it makes far better sense to develop an unemployment dole for them. The subtext is an accounting arrangement that ensures that like NREGA, the government can keep on rolling out similar entitlement programmes like the proposed Food Security Act, but...

How do you quantify happiness in a diverse nation like ours? Growth levels, value-based structural changes, what can affect it? Life is Elsewhere?     Bhutan’s GNH: Based on the Buddhist doctrine of harmony with environment and fellow beings besides material comfort     UNDP Human Development Report: Ranks nations on quality of life—adjusted real income, life expectancy, education etc     World Values Survey: Started in 1995, it explores impact of social and political changes...