-The Hindu Chennai: In an indication of poor economic growth taking its toll on the job market, an estimated 12 million people may be forced to look for low-quality, low productivity rural or agriculture jobs over seven years, a reversal of old trend of migration from farm to non-farm employment opportunities, pointed out a report of CRISIL Research. Job generation in the non-farm sector will slow down sharply in the coming...

In its latest report, the Statistical Year Book, India 2014 conveys that India is clearly on track to attain the MDG-2 (achieve universal primary education) and MDG-8 (develop a global partnership for development). However, the results are either mixed or poor in terms of India's performance in achieving the rest of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The chart below provides the MDG scenario from a bird's eye view.   The new...

-The Week A revolutionary farming system is working wonders in Nalanda district Nalanda: If not for an agricultural technique known as SRI (system of rice intensification), Sumant Kumar of Darveshpura in Bihar's Nalanda district would have remained a faceless farmer. In 2012, with the help of the state agriculture department, he tried out SRI on an acre that usually bore only modest yields. It worked, and Sumant got a bumper harvest. An...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In the election year and with more complaints of "poor condition" of highways pouring in, the road transport ministry wants finance ministry not to reduce the allocation for road maintenance. The ministry has asked finance minister P Chidambaram to avoid reduction of "non-planned" expenditure since the allocation of Rs 2,000 crore for upkeep of highways is inadequate. Sources said that highways minister wrote a letter to...

-Outlook Ahmedabad: Gujarat has done a little worse than the national average when it comes to achieving decline in the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), according to the Union Health Ministry. TFR, which signifies the number of children born per woman, fell from 2.8 in 2005 to 2.4 in 2011 in the state, as per the Sample Registration System (SRS) data. The national decline in TFR in this period...