-PTI GANDHINAGAR (Gujarat): World Bank on Sunday said India can grow at 6.4 per cent in 2015 and accelerate further next year, but cautioned that an enduring "bias" on the basis of caste and other factors can impede prosperity. The government, however, is well aware of this issue and the World Bank sees India as "a bright spot in an otherwise mediocre global economic outlook," the multilateral lending agency's president Jim Yong...

-The Hindu The very process of development and change in India may be generating new forms of social and economic competition that manifest themselves in terms of social bias Popular debate around social biases in India is structured around two competing narratives. One view holds that as an urbanising country with rapid economic growth over the past few decades, the importance of ascriptive identities such as caste and religion is gradually eroding....

-The Times of India BAREILLY: Farmers already owning more than 80 bighas of land in Meerganj tehsil and driving SUVs were given allotment of land meant for the poor, under government schemes. The divisional commissioner was reportedly surprised on receiving the information and has asked for a probe into the matter. The matter came to light when residents of Asadnagar Sisauna village, under Meerganj tehsil, reported large irregularities in the distribution of patta...

-Business Standard The ordinance has returned near absolute power of discretion in land acquisition, except in tribal areas, into the hands of the bureaucracy yet again Even after the National Democratic Alliance's land ordinance, governments will still need the consent of tribal gram sabhas in all Schedule V and VI areas of the country before acquiring land for themselves or for public-private projects. While the land ordinance has done away with the need...

The agrarian crisis is far from over. Amidst news of farmers' suicide reported from parts of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, an official document released in December by the National Sample Survey Organisation states that nearly 52% of India's agricultural households were indebted during July, 2012 - June, 2013. The average amount of outstanding loan per agricultural household in India was Rs. 47000 (see link below). Based on a survey of...