-Live Mint This week marks the completion of six years of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Six years is not a long period of time for any meaningful evaluation of a programme of such nature. However, even within this short period of time, the programme has attracted considerable attention. One part of this is the criticism of how the programme involved considerable leakages, did not create productive...

Goa and Kerala seem to be the best place to be born in India, while Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha are the worst. According to the latest Union health ministry data, Goa recorded the lowest infant mortality rate - 10 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, followed by Kerala at 13. MP recorded the highest IMR at 62, followed by UP (61) and Odisha (61).  MP, which has the highest IMR,...

-The United Nations A United Nations official today urged Asian countries to commit to achieving sustainable energy for all their citizens by 2030 by increasing access to and the efficiency of renewable energy sources. “Reaching the Goal of sustainable energy for all will require action by all countries and all sectors to shape the policy and investment decisions needed for a brighter energy future,” said Director-General of the UN Industrial Development Organization...

-Press Information Bureau As per the latest Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin, December 2011 released by the Registrar General of India (RGI), it is noted that  Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) has dropped further by  3 points from 50 to 47 infants deaths per 1000 live births during 2010.  The IMR for rural areas has dropped by 4 points from 55 to 51 infant deaths per 1000 live births while the Urban...

-The Telegraph     A non-government environmental agency claimed today that it has uncovered a scam in the solar power mission where, it said, a private firm has used front companies to circumvent government rules for solar power projects. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said its three-month-long investigation suggested that the company had used unfair practices to grab lucrative projects under the first phase of the solar mission that hopes to add...