If you want to rank states, there are two broad roads to follow. First, you can administer questionnaires and respondents' reply to specific questions. However, this route presumes that respondents know about all the states you wish to rank. Typically, that doesn't happen. Respondents know about states they operate in (or are located in). Second, you can use objective data.

For most of us, Goa stands for fun and frolic, but there is a lot more to India's smallest state than its tropical beaches and casinos. While a coastline of almost 30 km helps the state attract over 2.5 million tourists a year, the state also has thriving industrial and mining activities.

Goa has utilised its tourism potential and resource base.

For a state that walked the path of development and industrialisation far later than its neighbouring states, Himachal Pradesh has done fairly well and has set high standards for itself for the future. "It's been a tough terrain," says Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal. "We have progressed inch by inch, rock by rock."

Education has a primary focus in the state.

History has a way of repeating itself. The adage gains special significance in case of Punjab, which, thanks to the seeds sown over the time, is reaping rich dividends today. With Punjab emerging as the best overall state since 2003, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal attributes its repeated success to Punjabis being "aggressive and progressive by nature".

Change is inevitable; it is truly the only constant. Often change is hard to detect, particularly in amorphous domains such as governance and development. Be assured though that India is changing, even if at a glacial pace. The Seventh India Today State of the States Report reveals that the gravity of growth is shifting to emerging geographies, even if gradually.

The World Bank offered to provide Bangladesh necessary supports for creating its social-safety net, alleviating poverty and developing infrastructures.
The assurance came from the World Bank president, Robert Zoellick, when he called on the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, at her suite at Hotel Grand Hyatt at 17:30pm (local time) Wednesday.

A United Nations program that has raised $1.2 billion over the past three years for the treatment of H.I.V./AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis through a small fee added to airline tickets sold in 15 countries is going global.

MUMBAI: In five years between 2002 and 2007, 30 BMC schools vanished from the city, stated a recently released United Nations Development Programme report on Mumbai.

DIBRUGARH, Sept 18

DHENKANAL: In a bid to sensitize school students and science lovers about significant contribution of Indian women scientists in various fields, Dhenkanal Science Centre will organise a