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KOLKATA: It seems New Delhi adopts one policy to maintain public order in North Bengal, and another policy for the North East.

Politics, especially electoral, has the uncanny habit of kicking up new controversies besides fuelling the ongoing ones. Punjab where the Assembly poll is due in less than two years is witnessing such a scenario. The ruling Akali-BJP leadership has started vociferously voicing demands which not only have far-reaching implications for the state's crippled economy but have also fueled controversies over centre-state and inter-state relations.

The certain political compulsions at the fag end of the 20th century India had prompted the then Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government to take a new path towards Rural India. On the insistence of some well-intentioned planners, the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee agreed to the plan, which was christened as Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). It was rightly felt that we couldn't uplift the rural India without connecting the villages with all weathered roads in the absence of which village people were greatly suffering on account of non-access or untimely access to health, education, transport and many other essential facilities.

The quantum leap in wind power in Asia will come from India as all favourable conditions in terms of potential, technical and support facilities, favourable policy and regulatory environment, robust manufacturing base, and investor confidence are available for an accelerated growth of wind sector in the country. This was stated by Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Dr. Farooq Abdullah who visited Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquarters in Manila, Philippines today to participate in the Asian Clean Energy Forum. He observed that wind has emerged a major source of clean energy with India alone having an estimated potential of about 48,000 MW and emphasized the need to encourage and take it to greater heights.

WASHINGTON - At its first meeting, the Haiti Reconstruction Fund allocated US $30 million to help the Government of Haiti fill its budget gap to provide vital services and social assistance.

BEIJING - China's economy has continued to grow robustly, with some softening recently, according to the World Bank's latest China Quarterly Update.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The determined efforts of the Indian Union Muslim League, the no. 2 constituent of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, to extend its areas of influence, have run into rough weather.

BHOPAL: The ghost of the Union Carbide has caused cracks in both the major political parties of Madhya Pradesh. After the judgment in the UCC case, delivered by the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal on June 7, Moti Singh - who was the Collector of Bhopal at the time of the gas tragedy - disclosed that the UCC chairperson Warren Anderson was set free on the orders of the then Chief Secretary Brahmaswaroop, who passed away a couple of years back. That set the ball rolling.

New York: The United Nations labour agency has stressed that job creation must be the priority of policies geared towards economic recovery, saying more than 210 million workers globally cannot find jobs - the highest worldwide figure ever recorded for unemployment.

New York: Gaps in the implementation of measles control strategies as a result of inadequate financial commitments from governments and partners have led to a dramatic increase in cases of measles in Eastern and Southern Africa. This shortage in donor support could reverse recent gains that had been made in reducing mortality from this highly contagious disease.