Narendra Modi’s Gujarat is the only developed state in the country where the percentage of malnourished children is higher than the national average, a government report released today said. Gujarat has 44.6 per cent underweight children, compared to the country’s average of nearly 42 per cent. Six other states have a higher-than-average proportion of malnourished children but all of these are poor — Madhya Pradesh (60 per cent), followed by Jharkhand (56.5),...

-Rediff.com 1. Kerala The Human Development Index in the country rose by 21 per cent, according to a report which cautions that health, nutrition and sanitation remain the key challenges for India. India Human Development Report 2011, prepared by Institute of Applied Manpower Research, placed Kerala on top of the index for achieving highest literacy rate, quality health services and consumption expenditure of people. 2. Delhi Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Goa were placed at...

-The Indian Express   Over a month after introducing the Land Acquisition and Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill in Parliament, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Thursday reached out to the Opposition BJP seeking its cooperation for early passage of the Bill. Ramesh called on Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj to seek her support for expediting the Bill that has been referred to the Standing Committee of Parliament headed...

-PTI   Over a half of Indian women suffer from anaemia and a higher number of Muslim infants compared to national average (in 2005-06) lived beyond their first birthday, says a report released on Friday. The "India Human Development Report 2011", prepared by the Institute of Applied Manpower research, a Planning Commission body, says there is an increasing trend of anaemia among women of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Muslims. The report says Scheduled...

Centre delinks access to welfare schemes from poverty line NUMBER of people who can benefit from government’s welfare programmes is going to swell. Currently, the Central government caps the entitlements under most welfare programmes to those below the poverty line, which is as low as Rs 12/day/person for rural areas and Rs 18/day/person for urban areas. State governments have been opposing this mechanism. In future, the ongoing socio-economic and caste census...