“With Delhi having a malnutrition rate of 47 per cent among the urban poor and 35 per cent in the city, the rate of malnutrition is far worse than even sub-Sahara,” stated experts at a consultation on “Declining quality of life of the young child in Delhi' organised by non-government organisation Delhi Forces in the Capital earlier this week. The consultation follows a Jan Sunvai, a collaborative effort of Delhi Forces...

Could the Great Indian Middle Class be the Great Indian Mythical Class? A proposed new international definition of what constitutes the middle class in a developing country has thrown up a startling conclusion by global standards, India has no middle class. Noted economist Nancy Birdsall, president of the Center for Global Development, has proposed a new definition of the middle class for developing countries in a forthcoming World Bank publication,...

For years, they have been waking up early and starting late. But India's northeast, which sees sunrise almost two hours before Mumbai, has decided it's time to set the clock right. The region's demand for a separate time zone has never been more vociferous April is usually the cruelest month for India's northeastern states. Cyclonic storms lash the region with vengeance and rip apart homes and hopes. But in all...

It has quickly adapted itself to open information culture: experts  “Indian Act seems to have emerged from grass roots; Pakistan's an executive initiative” Very little RTI awareness among common people in the region India's success with getting the Right to Information Act up and running came in for much praise on Wednesday at a regional workshop organised jointly by the Indian Institute of Public Administration and the World Bank-funded Governance Partnership Facility. The...

Is India’s brand new Seed Bill capable of protecting the farmers' livelihoods? Or will it compromise their interest by allowing multinational seed companies to have a free run of the Indian seed market? The new Bill seeks to regulate the seed market and improve the quality of seeds as well as to harmonise and update the old policies in line with the current international practices for production, supply and for...