Hopes of an early respite from mounting price pressures have been belied by inflation numbers released on Wednesday. The wholesale price index for June 2010 is up 10.55% against a rise of 10.16% in May. Worse, the number for April has been revised up from 9.59% to a 19-month high of 11.23%. If the same order of revision continues , the June number could well cross 12%, a dangerously high...

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Oxford University today launched a new index to measure poverty levels which they said give a “multidimensional” picture of people living in hardship, and could help target development resources more effectively. The new measure, the Multidimensional Poverty Index, or MPI, was developed and applied by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) with UNDP support, the two institutions said in a joint...

India is incredible (after shining), with the fastest growth rate, an emerging demographic dividend and innovative brains for the globe. But the vast majority in rural India — employed in agriculture, small-scale and tiny industries, self-employed, and with no assets — does not find it so. This government, claiming inclusive growth for the grossly deprived and poor, has not taken actions to bring down prices of essential food items, unprecedented...

UK Prime Minister David Cameron may scale down the £250 million British aid given to India annually, saying wealthy local residents could do more to help their poor countrymen. Cameron is under pressure to reduce foreign assistance to India. International development secretary Andrew Mitchell has signalled that the “£250 million of public money spent annually on nuclear-armed India could be scaled back”. He said the rich NRI population of Britain could do more...

Homoeopathic medicine Belladonna is effective in preventing Japanese Encephalitis (JE), a recent study conducted by the Kolkata-based School of Tropical Medicine has shown. Belladonna is derived from a plant A. belladonna which is also source of the drug atropine. Conducted in collaboration with the Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH) under the Department of AYUSH, researchers claim to have found a probable role for Belladonna in preventing JE virus infection. The...