-The Telegraph The economic survey has challenged an international assessment that has ranked India 125, or near-bottom, among 132 countries on environmental performance, but has acknowledged that air pollution has increased to alarming levels. The survey, released by the Union government today, has questioned the methodology of the Environmental Performance Index 2012 that has assigned air quality in India a rank of 132, the worst in the world, and similarly low ranks...

-PTI India has become the fourth largest economy in the world because of strong economic growth but still has a low per capita income, the Economic Survey for 2011-12 said Thursday. “India has emerged as the fourth largest economy globally with a high growth rate and has improved its global ranking in terms of per capita income. Yet, the fact remains that its per capita income continues to be quite low,” it...

A report on ‘State of Indian Agriculture 2011-12’, tabled in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, has called for reforms to ensure that the sector grows in tandem with the overall GDP of the country. The report says that “achieving an 8-9% rate of growth in the overall GDP may not deliver much in terms of poverty reduction unless agricultural growth accelerates”. Admitting that the sector has undergone ‘significant structural changes’ in...

The latest round of data on the 2011 Census shows that the country is exhibiting distinct signs of trading up as material living conditions improve for large sections of the population. Although this aggregate picture is not uniform across the country, analysts believe that the upward material mobility in society is creating the basis of a new consumer boom in the economy—serving up a perfect backdrop ahead of the presentation of...

-PTI A demand was raised in Rajya Sabha today that the Government should put in place a strong surveillance network to monitor inflow of foreign funds to NGOs besides creating a data base in the interest of national security.  "Government should establish a data base of NGOs to whom foreign contribution is increasing day by day. There are reports that funds are being utilised to fuel unrest in government projects," B S...