-The Hindustan Times Even after more than two decades of India's Look East policy, a UN study has put Mumbai and Delhi much below Asian Cities such as Bangkok, Hanoi, Beijing, Jakarta or Manila in terms of prosperity. The United Nations Human Settlements Programme has described the two Indian Cities as "moderately prosperous". The new city prosperity index, released on Wednesday, has tracked each on the basis of its performance on five key...

-The Hindustan Times The big difference within the Cabinet over the land acquisition bill revolves around the role of the state. Since land is to be acquired for infrastructure projects - India is relying on the private sector to come up with half the $1 trillion it will need to build ports, highways and power plants in the next five years - positions on either side of the debate are deeply...

-DNA Amid the controversy over allocation of resources for biodiversity by developed and developing nations, India has decided to allocate $50 million (about Rs 275 crore) towards biodiversity conservation. In addition, the country would also allocate similar amount to help other developing nations conserve biodiversity. Addressing the representatives of about 190 countries at the opening plenary of the high-level segment of the 11th Conference of Parties (COP-11) on the Convention on Biological...

-The Hindu ‘Vision document mooted to designate them as ‘separate urban natural resources’ The Urban Development Ministry has constituted a working group to suggest ways to preserve water bodies. Rapid disappearance of water bodies from the urban landscape has sounded an alarm vis-à-vis water shortfall and has also put a considerable strain on States’ spending to meet the demand for water. A case in point is Bangalore. Despite having a Lake Development Authority that...

-The Times of India Giving a new lease of life to various recommendations on police reforms including abolition of 'orderly' system in police force and evaluating quality of service at police stations by citizens, the Centre has written to states asking them to take action on several 'measures' relating to over four dozen 'functional areas' of policing which may help in improving 'law and order' machinery. Though a number of suggestions had...