-The United Nations Almost 870 million people, or one in eight, are suffering from chronic malnutrition, according to a new United Nations report released today, which shows a sharp decline in the number of undernourished people over the past two decades, but warns that immediate action is still needed to tackle hunger particularly in developing countries. The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012 (SOFI), which was jointly published by the Food and...

-PTI The government should only in exceptional cases permit acquisition of farm land for non- agriculture purposes like setting up of industries and housing projects, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said on Tuesday. Mr. Pawar, who heads the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Land acquisition bill, said there is a pressure on farm land because of rising population. He said the government would ensure Agricultural land having high yields is not allowed for...

-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 Hindu Property empire was built on soft loans handed out in unusual circumstances, documents show In February, as rumours of the ambitions of Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law swirled amidst the heat and dust of the election campaign in Uttar Pradesh, her daughter Priyanka moved to scotch speculation about Robert Vadra’s possible political future. “He’s a successful businessman,” the younger Ms. Gandhi said of her husband, “who is not interested in changing...

-The Times of India BHOPAL: The Lokayukta on Sunday raided the residence of a village school headmaster in Mandsaur and recovered undisclosed assets amounting to more than Rs 2.5 crore. The headmaster of the government middle school in Amlavad village, Ram Dayal Joshi (45), joined service in 1995. In 17 years since he became a school teacher, he amassed wealth including eight hectares of Agricultural land, a huge plot in Urban...