-Outlook As subsidies for the poor continue to be under attack, a ground-up report from 10-states shows how well welfare schemes have worked over the last 10 years. Ahead of Elections 2014, rights-based welfare schemes are under attack. To those who argue ‘Dolenomics' doesn't work, a survey of five schemes in 10 states shows that the Rs 1,68,478 crore annually the nation spends is making a real and tangible difference on...

-The Times of India blog Between 2011 and 2017, the World Bank will spend $4 billion on rural development in India. Parmesh Shah, the bank's lead rural development specialist for South Asia, talks to Parakram Rautela about how that money is going to be spent and how they're working towards their ultimate aim - a world free of poverty Q. It's one thing to say that you want to eradicate world poverty...

-The Business Standard A sting, Operation Prime Minister, by a TV news channel had said opinion polls could be manipulated by research agencies The Election Commission (EC) of India cannot ban opinion polls ahead of elections; all it can do is remind the Union government about its long-pending request. And, this is what India's highest poll-conducting body is planning to do, following a TV news channel's sting operation code-named ‘Operation Prime Minister', which...

-The Indian Express ‘Infertility treatment' in a remote village of Satna district left Anju Kushwaha with 10 dead foetuses and no hope Doctors consider it unlikely they will ever see a case like hers again. Anju Kushwaha, 26, is sure she is never returning to them. The woman who carried and lost 10 foetuses - the maximum borne by a woman in India - is spent, in money, energy and hope. Working...

-The Business Standard Making the agriculture growth story sustainable Finance Minister P Chidambaram's claim in his interim Budget speech of "stellar performance" of the agriculture sector is based on numbers, though it needs to be analysed from different perspectives to get a true picture. There is no doubt that agricultural gross domestic product may grow by 4.6 per cent this year. The past 10 years' average, too, may work out close to...