-PTI Opposition parties on Friday disrupted Rajya Sabha demanding a special economic package for seven most backward states including Bihar, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, leading to an adjournment of the House till noon. Raising the issue, Kiranmay Nanda (SP) said the Central government had failed to provide financial package to the seven most backward states identified in the Raghuram Rajan report. The Rajan panel had in September 2013 recommended a new index of...

-Outlook Sydney: The OECD today said India needs to address its infrastructure shortfalls and pervasive state control in business activities, among other things, to maintain robust growth. In its 'Going for Growth' report, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) called for structural policy reforms to boost growth. "To maintain robust growth, India needs to address its infrastructure shortfalls, pervasive state control in business activities and unequal access to quality education. "It also...

-The Hindu With the era of cheap, bountiful water having been replaced by increasing supply-and-quality constraints, many international investors are beginning to view water as the new oil There is a popular, tongue-in-cheek saying in America - attributed to the writer Mark Twain, who lived through the early phase of the California Water Wars - that "whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over." It highlights the consequences, even if...

-The Times of India CHENNAI: Asian countries have failed to end hunger despite Economic growth, says agriculturist M S Swaminathan who is known as the 'Father of the Green Revolution in India.' "Livelihood security and food security depend on agriculture. We have not achieved this despite a spectacular economic and technological growth," Swaminathan said while speaking at the 'Phenotyping for Agriculture Sustainability' conference in Chennai on Monday. Referring to the Food Security Bill...

-Economic and Political Weekly   Chhattisgarh's public distribution system reforms have been lauded as a model for the National Food Security Act, and as one that other states can emulate. Previous research has shown that PDS rice consumption increased in Chhattisgarh following reforms by the Raman Singh government, which began in 2004. However, one-third of PDS rice consumption growth in Chhattisgarh took place before 2004. This finding suggests that the pre-2004 reforms...