-The Economic Times Sometimes, putting one and one together does make 11, but many of us seem hardwired in our thoughts to assume rural income growth is a zero-sum game. For example, some people believe subsidies have driven the 15-20 per cent a-year growth in rural wages over the last five years. They come up with "explanations", including "people are selling land and consuming", "rising minimum support prices", and "NREGA is...

-Economic and Political Weekly The rising prices of two product groups - primary articles and fuel - have been responsible for the build-up in headline inflation between December 2009 and August 2013. The most worrisome aspect is the high inflation in a majority of food articles in the last six years or so despite a favourable domestic food supply situation and low global food prices. Based on the analysis of the...

-Outlook New Delhi: Out of all the members of the animal kingdom, goats are clearly the most in demand at present. And it's not just because of Eid-ul-Azha, claims a report by Sowmiya Ashok in the Hindu Goat's milk is supposedly effective in bringing up the blood platelet count and hence is often used to treat persons suffering from dengue. With the rising number of dengue cases in Delhi, the goats are...

-Down to Earth   This defies logic. Despite rapid economic growth, India has often been placed below sub-Saharan African countries that have very high number of malnourished children. But the government has no data to clarify its position. In the first week of September, Parliament’s Committee on Estimates criticised the government, saying: “The committee is surprised to note that in the modern era of Information and Technology, there is no recent official...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Congress trumpeted the constitution of seventh pay commission as another of its welfare measures in line with land and food bills, in what appeared a thinly-veiled attempt to milk the olive branch to government employees at the upcoming state and Lok Sabha polls. The surprise decision on the pay commission targetting middle-classes comes on the back of legislations to win over the poor and the...