-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Congress trumpeted the constitution of seventh pay commission as another of its welfare measures in line with land and food bills, in what appeared a thinly-veiled attempt to milk the olive branch to government employees at the upcoming state and Lok Sabha polls. The surprise decision on the pay commission targetting middle-classes comes on the back of legislations to win over the poor and the...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: An expert committee under chief economic advisor Raghuram Rajan has identified 10 parameters for a new Composite Development Index, whose adoption by the Centre will change the way thousands of crores are transferred annually and can potentially set the stage for realignment of political forces in Bihar before the 2014 polls. The new index seeks to rate states on the basis of their distance from the...

-Economic and Political Weekly The Chhapra tragedy must ask us how we can improve public services, not scrap them altogether. In the aftermath of the ghastly tragedy in Chhapra, Bihar, where 22 children lost their lives after they consumed a government-provided school meal containing organophosphate pesticides, we must demand of the State a far greater commitment to administering large-scale welfare programmes that are meant to improve, not destroy the life of citizens....

-The Business Standard TN's share of grains to drop by 32%, poll-bound states like MP, Rajasthan too get rise in grains allocation Bihar and Uttar Pradesh the two politically crucial states are among the top three states which will get maximum increase in their annual foodgrains allocation as per the newly promulgated National Food Security Ordinance (NFSO). Rajasthan is the third. According to an internal assessment made by the food ministry, which was...

-Rediff.com While the Delhi and Haryana governments have declared that they are all set to roll-out the food security programme on August 20 -- Rajiv Gandhi's birth anniversary -- there is confusion among the chief ministers about the implementation of the ordinance which gives the right to people to receive adequate quantity of food grains at affordable prices. Anita Katyal reports. Although the ordinance has provided broad parameters that 75 per cent...