India spends more on programs for the poor than most developing countries, but it has failed to eradicate poverty because of widespread corruption and faulty government Administration, the World Bank said Wednesday. “India is not getting the ‘bang for the rupee’ that its significant expenditure would seem to warrant, and the needs of important population groups remain only party addressed,” John D. Blomquist, lead economist at the World Bank, wrote in...

Mass leaders in India have a tradition of broaching BSP —bijli, sadak and pani — issues to strike a chord during election rallies. However, in almost each of her 150-plus rallies across the state in the election season, Mamata Banerjee deviated from the conventional mix and squeezed into her speech phrases like debt burden, public finance and economic recovery. Whether such esoteric terms found resonance or not, Mamata did get across the...

-The Telegraph   Smoke from cigarettes, diesel and burning trees contains a chemical similar to the gas that had leaked from a pesticide factory in Bhopal in 1984 and has been implicated in heart disease, cataract, and rheumatoid arthritis, US scientists said today. The researchers who developed an instrument to measure gaseous acids in the atmosphere have found traces of the chemical called isocyanic acid that is produced during the burning...

Amidst protest from anti-Posco activists, Orissa government on Wednesday resumed land acquisition work for Korean steel major’s proposed $12,000 (Rs 54,000 crore) steel plant near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district, following union ministry for environment and forest’s final forest clearance to the project on May 2. Jagatsinghpur collector NC Jena said the teams comprising officials from the revenue department and Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IIDO) were involved in the land acquisition process....

-PTI   Orissa government's move to resume land acquisition for Posco steel plant from Wednesday faced trouble today with villagers supporting the project announcing non-cooperation and opponents demanding relocation of the proposed plant site from the fertile land. "Though we want establishment of Posco steel plant here, we will not cooperate with the Administration''s efforts of land acquisition process unless our demands are fulfilled," United Action Committee (UAC) president Anadi Charan Rout...