-The Telegraph New Delhi: India continues to lag on human development indicators in spite of a slew of welfare programmes, with a UNDP report released today ranking it 135th among 187 countries that were judged on progress in areas such as life expectancy, education, income and employment.   Analysts blame India's poor performance on lack of accountability in implementation of the welfare programmes. Former National Advisory Council member N.C. Saxena said state governments...

-The Times of India Improvement in human development measures has slowed down in the past few years, according to the 2014 Human Development Report (HDR) released on 24 July in Tokyo. The human development index (HDI), a measure derived from life expectancy, education levels and incomes, barely grew from 0.700 in 2012 to 0.702 in 2013. Even that small improvement could be at risk of getting reversed given the bleak picture of...

-The Hindu   The NDA's first budget has thrown a few sops in the direction of the environment and the millions dependent on it. But much like its predecessors, in painting the big picture it remains embarrassingly devoid of innovative ideas on how to move India towards ecological sustainability and justice "While 2015 will be a landmark year for sustainable development and climate change policy, 2014 is the last chance for all stakeholders...

-The Pioneer India's water distribution and consumption systems must be sustainable, drought-proofed, and adapted to climate change. Then the country can move from ‘drought-relief' status to a position where it has relief from droughts The Indian Meteorological Department is still unsure of the timing and the intensity of El Niño, further raising the grim prospect of insufficient monsoons and an imminent drought poised to affect many parts of the country. According...

-The Hindu Quantum of rice distributed meets our food requirements, say beneficiaries Mysore (Karnataka): Below the poverty line cardholders Honnamma, Nagarathna and Parvathamma are univocal in their support for Anna Bhagya, the flagship programme of the State government. The scheme has guaranteed food for their families at a subsidised cost, they say. The quality of rice distributed (at Re. 1 a kg) under the scheme is better than that distributed earlier at Rs....