-The Hindustan Times Indore/ Alirajpur (Madhya Pradesh): The fist is not always the manifestation of fury. In a remote village of Madhya Pradesh's Alirajpur district, it is the symbol of compassion and the desire to help the needy. In a dual fight against hunger and unscrupulous moneylenders, a group of women of Sakdi village in Sondwa block -- 250 kms west of Indore - collect fistfuls of grain in every meeting...

-Outlook Mumbai: To empower women under the National Rural Livelihood Mission, there is a need to link women's self help groups (WSHGs) to banks, Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh said. Ramesh, who was in Mumbai to attend an event 'Maharashtra State Rural Livelihood Forum' organised by the state government, said the objective of the mission shall not be limited to forming SHGs under the mission but it is necessary to...

-The Hindu The report of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)-appointed Committee on Comprehensive Financial Services for Small Business and Low Income Households has been placed on the central bank's website for comments. Considering the voluminous nature of the report and even more pertinently its complex and, detailed treatment of the subject, the deadline for receiving comments, now set at January 24, would, in all probability, need to be extended. The report packs...

A new report on India's housing sector confirms with facts and figures what has been suspected all along: that despite growing demand for affordable housing, supply side responses have been weak and sluggish. This means even though the housing sector can directly impact employment and income generation, and has multiple forward and backward linkages with various industries, it needs innovative ideas, pro-poor thinking and policy stimulus. (See link below for...

-Outlook A surge in food prices ripped common man's pockets as the UPA government paid for its failure in the assembly polls in four states and may feel the heat in next year's general elections as well if it is not controlled. Prices of kitchen essentials such as onions spiked to a record Rs 100 per kg and tomatoes touched Rs 80 in some states during the year, pushing the food inflation...