-The Telegraph C. Rangarajan today defended his calculation that three out of 10 in India are poor, saying the poverty numbers provided by him were not conservative estimates and the methodology was on a par with global standards. The expert group headed by Rangarajan dismissed the Suresh Tendulkar committee's methodology and estimated that the number of poor in India was much higher in 2011-12 at 29.5 per cent of the population. The BJP-led...

-The Hindustan Times   India's national poverty line continues to be the lowest among the BRICS countries, even after the upward revision recommended by the panel headed by former RBI governor C Rangarajan - Rs. 32 per capita per day in rural areas (Rs 11,660 a year) and Rs. 47 per capita per day (Rs 16,884 a year) for urban areas. In dollar terms, it works out to $194 per capita annually for...

-The Indian Express Goa, with just 6.3% of its population under the poverty line, tops the list: Panel. Nearly half of Chhattisgarh's population has been estimated to be below the poverty line, according to the new definition of poverty. In contrast, Goa, with just 6.3 per cent of its residents under the poverty line, tops the list of states with the lowest poverty count. The findings are a part of the new poverty estimates...

-Economic and Political Weekly     Sustained and focused efforts have to be made by the Tamil Nadu state government to provide relief and rehabilitation to the drought affected people of the state. S Rajendran (myrajendran@gmail.com) is with the Department of Economics, Periyar University, Salem, Tamil Nadu. Due to the failure of the north-east monsoon in December 2013, Tamil Nadu is witnessing drought like conditions this year, leading to poor agricultural productivity, rural distress,...

 -AFP   GENEVA: Indian law enforcement and justice authorities have shirked their responsibility to fight sex attacks, a UN child rights watchdog said on Thursday, amid uproar over the horrific gang-rape and lynching of two girls.   "There has been a dereliction of duty in relation to rape cases," said Benyam Mezmur, deputy chairman of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. India has been struggling to overcome its reputation for sexual violence...