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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The totally unhelpful attitude of the Planning Commission has put a big question mark on the Kochi metro rail project.

Unlike the 11th five-year plan, launched in 2007 with gusto with a 9 per cent growth target, in an extended phase of global economic expansion, a post-crisis world poses formidable challenges for all nations, advanced, emerging and other developing countries, as India aims to embark on a no less ambitious 12th plan. The question should be are we addressing our own basic needs?

LUCKNOW: Much significance is being attached to the forthcoming visit of Anna Hazare to Uttar Pradesh later this week. His three day visit beginning April 29 will end in Lucknow where a huge rally has been planned at the Jhulelal Park along the banks of Gomati river on May 1.

Perhaps no single individual act has recently galvanised so many Indians as the fast by social activist Anna Hazare on the Lokpal (ombudsman) Bill. Although the mobilisation was far from spontaneous, and driven by highly charged—at times hysterical—24x7 television coverage, it’s incontestable that Mr Hazare electrified the normally apolitical upper middle class into taking to the streets and enthusiastically canvassing support for solidarity actions, including candle-light vigils. He could do so because he tapped into pervasive revulsion against corruption.

That the Gujarat riots of 2002 were a state-sponsored massacre of a targeted community has always been known to politicians, particularly in the BJP whose longstanding anti-Muslim outlook has never been a secret. However, Atal Behari Vajpayee was the only person who acknowledged his own party’s culpability when he said that some in the BJP were driven by their emotions – bhavnao se parichalit thhey – during the outbreak.

Haryana is witnessing diametrically opposite trends in socio-economic arena. On the one hand, its performance in the development field has been widely acknowledged. On the other, caste conflicts, honour killings and khap panchayats unlawful actions have acquired menacing dimensions evoking universal condemnation and tarnishing Haryana’s image.

NEW DELHI: India and Pakistan have initiated moves to improve trade relations between the two countries and as a part of this, a meeting has been convened at Islamabad on April 27 and 28 between the commerce secretaries of the two countries. Indian officials are hopeful of taking some concrete steps to step up bilateral trade between the two countries as a result of this meeting.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today completed the first review of Honduras' economic performance under a program that combines two different IMF credit lines, the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) and the Stand-By Credit Facility (SCF). Upon completion of the review, a total equivalent to SDR 51.8 million (about US$ 83.4 million) becomes immediately available for disbursement, but the Honduran authorities plan to continue treating the financing as precautionary.

New York: Countries in sub-Saharan Africa have been increasing expenditure on education by six per cent every year over the past decade, but many are still lagging in efforts to provide children with quality primary education, the United Nations agency tasked with promoting universal education says in a report unveiled today.

New York: The post-electoral crisis in Côte d’Ivoire may have ended but thousands of civilians are still suffering from the consequences of the four months of turmoil that engulfed the West African nation and require increased humanitarian assistance, the United Nations said today.