-The Hindu The direct cash transfer scheme launched a year ago in Kotkasim for providing kerosene subsidies has pushed legitimate beneficiaries out of the system The nondescript town of Kotkasim in the Alwar district of Rajasthan had its Peepli Live moment after it was chosen for a pilot experiment with “direct cash transfers” of kerosene subsidies. According to the district administration, the scheme led to net savings of 79 per cent in...

-The Times of India Houses built for the poor allotted to ineligible beneficiaries, diversion of over Rs 100 crore to unapproved ventures, and a huge lapse in completion of projects mark UPA's flagship programme for urban areas — the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has found serious lacunae and irregularities in the implementation of JNNURM in a nationwide audit that was tabled...

-The Hindu A recent survey in the Sunderbans region of West Bengal reveals an alarming trend of rising mental health problem among women Everyday, when Badal, a sturdy young man of Sunderbans returns home at dusk, he finds his mother, Kamala, sitting placidly in the verandah, staring into the distance with strangely unseeing eyes. The house, otherwise, is abuzz with activity. His daughter is bringing in the cows, his sons are clamouring...

-Mainstream Weekly Dr Binayak Sen, an internationally renowned medical practitioner and social activist (a leading figure in the People’s Union for Civil Liberties), was incarcerated in Chhattisgarh and held in detention in Raipur having been branded as a Maoist for his activities in defence of poor tribals in the State. He is now out on bail. The following is the text of the Arvind Narayan Das Memorial Lecture he delivered in...

-The Economic Times A ministerial panel working on changes to the Land Acquisition Bill has restored a provision that entails stiffer consent requirements for land acquisition for private companies and extending the legislation to all unfinished acquisitions from the day it becomes effective, clauses that are unlikely to make the bill popular with industry. The two clauses are among some 25 changes that have been made to the bill by the group...