-Outlook Foodgrains production in 2012-13 will be lower than last year's record output of 257.44 million tonnes but availability would be sufficient to meet domestic demand, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said today. Addressing the Economic Editors Conference, he said the government would make efforts to compensate the projected fall in kharif foodgrains output during the ongoing rabi season. "This year, production will definitely be less than last year. Last year was exceptional year,...

-The Economic Times A new book by Bibek Debroy on Gujarat looks at how this much-talked about state has performed in economic terms. The author argues history, luck and administrative clarity have been the determining factors. There has been a discernible pickup in Gujarat's growth performance since the 10th Plan (2002-07), the five-year Plans being natural periods for breaking up the timeline. It's tempting to argue that there is nothing exceptional in...

-The Times of India India is fast earning the label of a country unsafe for children, with an alarming 24% increase in crimes against children in 2011 compared to the previous year. Nearly 33,100 cases were reported in 2011 against 26,694 cases in 2010. Uttar Pradesh accounted for 16.6% of total crimes against children in 2011, followed by Madhya Pradesh (13.2%), Delhi (12.8%), maharashtra (10.2%), Bihar (6.7%) and Andhra Pradesh (6.7%). maharashtra accounted...

-NDTV A letter written by BJP president Nitin Gadkari lobbying for contractors building a mega-dam project in maharashtra has the Congress demanding his resignation, and the BJP on the defensive. Written on July 30 to Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, Mr Gadkari asks for Rs. 400 crores to be released to the contractors hired for the Gosikhurd dam in Vidarbha. The main contractor is Ajay Sancheti, a BJP member of the...

-Mid Day 'Mafia' set up these establishments across the state to usurp government grants, reveals report submitted by state child rights commission; many of them were being run as hostels and coaching centre Corruption is now so rampant in every sphere in this country that it has become a child’s play for the perpetrators. MiD DAY has learnt that the Congress-led Democratic Front government is sitting on a sensational report submitted by...