-New Indian Express Bhubaneswar: The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has expressed deep concern over the issue of migration of tribals to states like Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu due to poor implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) Programme in Odisha. The number of tribal beneficiaries of MGNREGA in the State has reduced by half in 2011-12 in comparison to that of 2010-11. As a result, tribals from...

-Counter Currents The Aadhaar scheme of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is to provide India's billion-plus people with a unique identification number. Enrolling into the scheme was and still is not mandatory, though it was mentioned that it would be difficult for people to access public services in the absence of enrolment. The scheme requires individuals to provide their photograph, fingerprints and iris scan together with documentary personal information,...

-Live Mint The project is part of the country’s ambitious cash-transfer plan for selected welfare programmes Bangalore: Karnataka will start transferring cash directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries of India’s rural job guarantee scheme on a pilot basis in seven districts later this year, the state government said. This is part of the country’s ambitious cash-transfer plan for selected welfare programmes that the central government wants to eventually adopt across the...

-The Hindu Effective spending, reworking the affiliation system and breaking academic bureaucracy are key to better universities Although Indian higher education suffers from many dysfunctionalities and the system overall is characterised by “pinnacles of excellence in a sea of mediocrity”, it does reasonably well by some international comparisons. Here are a few examples: — India is a global leader in terms of GDP spent by public and private sources on higher education. India...

-Outlook This could be the UPA’s worst cut to its beloved aam admi. Healthcare has virtually been handed over to privateers. Not For Those Who Need It Most Govt seems to have abandoned healthcare to the private sector Diagnosing An Ailing Republic     70 per cent of India still lives in the villages, where only two per cent of qualified allopathic doctors are available     Due to lack of access to medical care, rural India...