Even as India once more self-declares its “arrival on the world stage” with a symbol for the Indian rupee, a global assessment presents a depressing picture of India’s actual economic performance. In a study whose conclusions were to be expected, the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHDI) has revealed that an appropriate index of poverty (and deprivation) finds its incidence in India and elsewhere to be much greater than...

Government on Thursday sanctioned funds for the second phase of the ambitious scheme to allocate unique identity numbers to 10 crore of the country's population. The Cabinet Committee on Unique Identification Authority of India, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved the commencement of Phase II of the scheme at an estimated cost of Rs 3023.01 crore. "Of this, an amount of Rs. 477.11 crore would be towards recurring...

The Rs 2-a-kg rice may have scripted a successful 'political' story in the State, but it has failed to translate into a successful 'anti-hunger' story. This is not a general assumption rather the scientific inference of a well-researched study by Orissa MDG Forum a joint venture of Unicef, Orissa, and Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar (XIMB) released here today. Majority of the tribal people in Bhatangpadar panchayat (site of the study) in...

The HRD ministry wants the midday meal (MDM) scheme to become a part of the proposed National Food Security Bill. The National Advisory Council (NAC), which is to meet here on Wednesday, has been trying to walk a tightrope between the politically advantageous act that brings in all nutrition schemes under its ambit and the overall foodgrain supply situation across the country. The NAC meeting is expected to see a...

Chidambaram to explain Centre's plan to deal with Maoist activities in a holistic manner Meet to iron out problems in coordination among States To discuss plan to redeploy paramilitary forces Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will preside over a meeting of Chief Ministers of Naxal-affected States here on Wednesday. Chief Ministers of Orissa, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar will attend the day-long meeting, which will discuss a fresh strategy to fight the...