-The Hindu With the era of cheap, bountiful water having been replaced by increasing supply-and-quality constraints, many international investors are beginning to view water as the new oil There is a popular, tongue-in-cheek saying in America - attributed to the writer Mark Twain, who lived through the early phase of the California Water Wars - that "whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over." It highlights the consequences, even if...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The next government at the Centre will have far less money to play with, thanks to something Chidambaram has done. He has transferred substantial control over spending on centrally-sponsored schemes such as employment guarantee and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to the states. In the coming year, the amount is Rs 3.4 lakh crore. State governments will be pleased. Political observers see it as a move to curry...

-PTI The previous record of 259.32 million tonnes was achieved in the 2011-12 crop year (July-June) India's farm sector is at its best today, with the country set to produce a record 263.2 million tonnes of foodgrains in the current crop year, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said. Pawar also said he is "the happiest agriculture minister in the world" to see this "stupendous performance" in the sector and the ability of...

-The Hindu Even though fair elections are held at regular intervals for State Assemblies and Parliament, they do not reflect the true consent of the people because a large number of women are missing from the electorate On her arrival in India recently, the words of Gloria Steinem, American feminist and leader of the women's liberation movement, sounded like bells tolling for all women in today's modern Indian society. "I came [to...

-Outlook Shillong: More than 18 years after it was rolled out in Meghalaya, the mid-day meal scheme has failed to keep children in schools or provide dietary nutrition - the two objectives of the centrally-sponsored scheme. A survey of the schools in the state where the scheme was launched in 1995 discovered that over 50 per cent children still suffered from stunted growth and that the food served is mostly deficient in...