-The Hindu Confining it to just the Ministry of Rural Development would be the most retrograde step in democratic decentralisation in over a quarter century. If, as The Hindu’s exclusive on Wednesday indicates, Prime Minister Narendra Modi were to close down the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, it would confirm one’s worst fears about his government’s hypocritical approach to grass-roots democracy for grass-roots development. This was a lacuna that was evident in the ‘Gujarat...

-The Hindu By asking five prominent private Hospitals in the national capital to deposit nearly Rs.600 crore to compensate for their failure to treat poor patients, the Delhi government has drawn attention to the social obligation of healthcare providers in the corporate sector as well as the need for timely enforcement of applicable regulations. According to the Kejriwal government, trusts and registered societies to which public land was allotted to establish...

Although public goods are meant for everyone to enable living life with human dignity, certain groups are systematically deprived to access them, says a new report from the Centre for Equity Studies -- a NGO based in Delhi. Put differently, not all sections of the society are able to access or enjoy public goods and services on an equal footing, despite social justice being one of the key provisions of...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party government has ordered five top private Hospitals in Delhi to deposit "unwarranted profits" of more than Rs 600 crore made by denying treatment to the poor. The government order says Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, Max Super Specialty Hospital (Saket), Shanti Mukand Hospital, Dharamshila Cancer Hospital and Pushpawati Singhania Research Institute were allotted land at concessional rates on the condition that they treat...

-PTI The state government says that approximately 1 lakh people beneficiaries will be identified from the state. Kolkata: In a first, the West Bengal government has decided to provide rice at Rs two per kg to sex workers and poor HIV patients in the state. “This project is the brainchild of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. For the first time in the country, a state government has decided that sex workers and poor HIV...