-The Economic Times Justice JS Verma says women remain unsafe because of poor governance, not dearth of laws, in an interview with ET. The former Chief Justice of India, who headed the three-member committee to suggest measures for a safer environment for women, had submitted his panel's report in just 29 days, and wants the government to act in the SAMe time: * Do you expect the govt to implement your recommendations...

-The Business Standard The government runs out of money for fertiliser subsidy The government, according to recent newspaper reports, finds itself unable to clear the mounting subsidy dues of the fertiliser industry — the budgetary allocation for this purpose has already exhausted. This is as much a reflection on the shocking flaws in the Budget-making exercise for this financial year as on India’s misguided fertiliser subsidy policy. The arrears payable to...

-The Hoot The media welcomed the UID's promise of giving an identity to those outside the system, but has failed to track its failure to do so. On January 1, the Indian government announced roll out of its ambitious cash transfer scheme  in 20 districts of the country based on unique identification (UID), also called Aadhaar. The media, while presenting the pros and cons of cash transfer, also mentioned that...

-Economic and Political Weekly A cost-benefi t analysis by the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy of the benefits from Aadhaar integration with seven schemes throws up huge benefi ts that are based almost entirely on unrealistic assumptions. Further, the report does not take into account alternative technologies that could achieve the SAMe or similar savings, possibly at lower cost. Reetika Khera (reetika.khera@gmail.com) is at the Institute of Economic Growth on...

-Deccan Herald Bangalore: The Right to Education (RTE) task force has received 30 complaints from parents so far since admissions under the Act started on January 5, on schools denying admission to children under the RTE provision. The parents have alleged that the schools they approached to admit their children gave lame excuses and denied admissions. A resident of Banaswadi said she wanted to admit her four-year-old son to a prestigious school...