-The Economic Times After Mahatma Gandhi, Jairam Ramesh is the only national leader to be genuinely concerned that 65 years after Independence, some 600 million Indians in the 21st century continue to use open skies as their latrines. While Lee Kuan Yew continues to exhort Singaporeans to have cleaner loos, our ministry of railways thinks depositing human excreta all along the country's length and breadth, including deep into the cities -...

-The Times of India Families living in cities and towns with annual income of up to Rs 1 lakh or monthly earning of up to Rs 8,334 will fall in the category of economically weaker section (EWS), according to new criteria formulated by the housing and urban poverty alleviation ministry. Households having income between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 2 lakh or monthly earning of up to Rs 16,667 will be classified...

-The United Nations International investments must give local farmers and active role and leave them in control of their land if they are to have a positive effect on the host country’s economy and advance development, according to a report released today by the United Nations food agency. Produced by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the report – Trends and Impacts of Foreign Investment in Developing Country Agriculture – emphasizes...

-The Hindustan Times As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his team pull out all stops to  shake off criticism of policy paralysis with a string of reform measures, rising prices and sliding growth continue to remain key worries. A Hindustan Times survey, one of the largest of its kind covering 28,395 respondents across 13 cities, shows nearly two in three (62.7%) of the people surveyed said that high food prices were hurting...

-The Indian Express Farmers welcome the stand of the government of India on the outright rejection of the recommendations of the technical expert committee to the Supreme Court, which suggested that a moratorium be imposed on field trials of GM crops. The SC shot down the proposal of an interim moratorium that would have strangled technology and innovation in the country. The moratorium would have also prevented Indian scientists and companies...