-The Economic Times The government, reportedly, is creating a new composite development index to rank states that use new, more comprehensive criteria. Since the 12th Finance Commission recommended special grants for backward regions, in addition to special allocation of Plan funds to so-called Special Category states, there has been some enthusiasm among state leaders for accentuating their respective state's backwardness. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has invested a lot of political...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: An expert committee under chief economic advisor Raghuram Rajan has identified 10 parameters for a new Composite Development Index, whose adoption by the Centre will change the way thousands of crores are transferred annually and can potentially set the stage for realignment of political forces in Bihar before the 2014 polls. The new index seeks to rate states on the basis of their distance from the...

-The Economic Times Recently, we were witness to a noisy spat between economists Amartya Sen and Jagdish Bhagwati. Some commentators linked this to a Congress-versus-BJP fight over development models. Sen, the advocate of investment in education, health and nutrition as necessary for economic growth, was presumed to speak for the Congress. Bhagwati, the proponent of growthfirst model, was seen to be batting for the BJP. Indeed, Bhagwati has cited Gujarat as...

-The Hindu Younger daughters-in-law in rural families have shorter children on average, says research There is new evidence that the unequal social status of women could play a significant - and as yet ignored - role in explaining India's "inexplicably" high under-nutrition levels. For its per capita income, India has stubbornly higher than expected levels of stunting and under-weight among children and adults - the so-called "Asian enigma" which, with countries like...

-The Indian Express The proposed bill makes false promises. The need is to directly address problems of drinking water availability, sanitation, maternal health and childcare The Food Security Bill (2013, FSB) promulgated recently by an ordinance is expected to be debated in Parliament soon. The intention behind the FSB is noble, to eradicate hunger from the country, but the means adopted need serious reconsideration. FSB, under the targeted public distribution system (TPDS),...