India has dropped two spots to 51st in the global competitiveness ranking released by the World Economic Forum, while China improved to 29th. India fell due to poor performance in social sectors like education, health, and infrastructure, despite doing well in financial markets. There are disparities between rural and urban India, with widespread poverty, poor social services, and infrastructure in rural areas contrasting with rapid urban growth. China was praised for making progress against poverty and improving access to education and healthcare. The Indian government plans to rent out computers in rural areas for 15 rupees per day to enable access, but acknowledges issues around reliable power and maintenance may limit adoption.

1. The Economic Times (weekly news) Submitted by: Jaisna MBA 2 (C)

3. There are two Indias," said Thierry Geiger, an associate director at WEF-world economic forum. "While there is widespread poverty, poor health and education facilities and poor infrastructure in rural India, the other India is experiencing rapid growth,“ He praised China, which climbed up to 27th position from 29th last year, for making a dent in poverty and for improving overall access to education and health, suggesting that India is far from making a noticeable impact in these two areas.

4. Monsoon rains 26 pct above normal in past week India's vital monsoon rains were 26 percent above normal in the week to Sept. 8, compared with 16 percent above normal in the previous week, the weather office said on Thursday. The weekly reading reflects above-average showers over most parts of the country, except in the eastern region.

5. Total rainfall since June 1 was 1 percent above normal, it said. The June-September monsoon rains, which deliver 75 percent to 90 percent of India's rainfall, is vital for its farm output and economic growth, as only 40 percent of the country's farms are irrigated.

6. Canada wants more talented Indians: Minister India has emerged as one of the top source countries of immigration to Canada and Ottawa is looking forward to more number of talented Indians who can contribute to its development. In 2009, India was the top source country of immigration to Canada and obviously Punjab was leading on this front," Canadian Citizenship, Immigrationand Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney told reporters here on Thursday evening.

7. We are maintaining a unique immigration programme as compared to other developed countries like the US, Britain and Australia. All of them have put a cut on the number of new immigrants but we have not done this," he stated. To help Indian students settle in Canada after completing their studies, we have launched Canadian Experience Class (CEC) scheme. Last year, nearly 3,500 students availed this scheme and this year we are expecting around 500 Indian students to go for it," he said.

8. Govt to rent out computers in rural areas at Rs 15 a day The government’s new move to rent computers, but admits there is a huge power and maintenance problem which prevents PC buying in rural areas. “It costs about 16,000 for power over five years, to run a desktop PC. For adult education , renting computers for a few hours may be a good idea,”

9. HCL in 2006 had launched a Community PC with an innovative power management system called RP2 that switches the computer to a power battery. The battery can be charged by using bicycle peddle power. But that computer too failed to see heightened demand in rural India. Clearly, the government needs to create a utility-based demand before it can work out these models for rural areas.