-The Hindu There is no room for complacency that India has eliminated this crippling disease as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have recorded a high incidence of a condition symptomatic of it Identifying children who suddenly display muscle weakness, often not moving one or more of their limbs as a result, forms the cornerstone of polio surveillance. Such children could have “acute flaccid paralysis” (AFP) that is symptomatic of polio, a disease caused...

-The Times of India UPA-II's flagship direct cash transfer scheme has run into rough weather following warnings of a potential scam in the making, and evoking concerns of serious delays. Government functionaries have raised the red flag about how cash would be finally disbursed to beneficiaries and whether the National Population Register (NPR) would come into play in some states instead of the Unique Identification (UID) number to identify the end-users. Senior...

-The Hindu How gender sensitive are the government’s flagship programmes, probes a report to be released today Why is the concept of ‘citizen’ always a male? Why is the formulation of government policies always male centric leaving out the female counterpart that actually constitutes half the population and contributes in equal measure to the economy? Perhaps keeping this in mind, UN Women and economists have come up with a report on eight flagship...

-Outlook Almost half of the nearly 60 institutions and schemes run by the Centre are named after the Nehru-Gandhi family, while Mahatma Gandhi's name figures in just four of these. According to information released by the Ministry of Planning in response to an RTI query, 27 out of 58 institutions and schemes being run by the Centre are named after former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. As many as...

-The Times of India Even as the government promised to dole out Rs. 99,000 crore for such schemes in the current fiscal, the states have failed to utilize nearly Rs 30,000 crore meant for various flagship programmes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). "In 2012-13, about Rs 99,000 crore are being given to the states for rural development programmes. The responsibility for spending money on these programmes is entirely...