-The Hindu ‘Report goes against the provisions of Constitution' THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will convey to the Centre Kerala's objections to the Raghuram Rajan Committee report on evolving a composite development index of States, during his visit to New Delhi on Friday. The Chief Minister, who left for New Delhi via Bangalore on Thursday, will call on ailing Defence Minister A.K. Antony, hold political discussions with the Congress high command, and meet...

-The Economic Times I have often been asked how Chhattisgarh manages the contradictory pulls of sound fiscal health and welfare schemes. How did we manage to roll out food and nutrition security to not just the most needy among us but to almost the entire population of a state that has had a history of malnutrition and neglect, without jeopardising Chhattisgarh's finances? As finance minister for the last eight years, I have...

-The Indian Express In Gujarat, growth relies on indebtedness. And relegates development. The Gujarat pattern of development has often been arraigned from the left because of its social deficits. Indeed, the state's social indicators do not match its economic performance. With 23 per cent of its citizens living below the poverty line in 2010, Gujarat does better than the Indian average - 29.8 per cent - but it reduced this proportion by...

-PTI This is to make these bodies self-reliant and empowered with more rights to make inclusive growth in future Jaipur: Empowering elected bodies right from the grass root level on the recommendations of State Finance Commission (SFC), the Government of Rajasthan had made available a sum of Rs 1305.55 crore under "devolution of funds" to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) during 2012-13 for their inclusive growth. ...

-Outlook Bhubaneswar: A World Bank team has offered to provide technical assistance, global expertise and logistic support to Odisha and its mining sector, official sources said today. This was conveyed by the five-member World Bank Team led by Vikram Menon, State Programme Coordinator, to the state government while wrapping up its visit here yesterday. "The team expressed its willingness to provide and utilise non-lending technical assistance and world-class expertise in the state mining...