-The Times of India BANGALORE: The Karnataka high court has wondered whether any family can survive on an annual income of less than Rs 11,800, the ceiling to apply for BDA sites under economically weaker sections (EWS) category. Observing that the government must revise the ceiling for all categories every year, the high court has said a beneficiary must not pay for government's failure. "The Rs 11,800 ceiling was fixed long ago. The...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre is planning to increase cash incentives for private builders willing to construct houses for economically weaker sections in partnership with it. Under the Affordable Housing in Partnership Scheme floated in 2009, the Centre was to pay private builders Rs 50,000 per dwelling unit or 25 per cent of the cost of civic services, whichever was less. Since the scheme found few takers, it is planning to...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Eager to make an impact on the electorate by expediting enrolments under its flagship cash-for-food programme Annshree Yojana, the Delhi government is exploring the option of tying up with the postal department to speed up opening of Aadhaar-enabled, zero-balance accounts for beneficiaries from economically weaker sections not covered by the public distribution system. A total of 45,000 beneficiaries have been enrolled under the scheme launched in...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Wednesday sought a reply from Delhi government on a petition accusing it of failing to provide free books and uniforms to students belonging to economically weaker sections in unaided private schools which is in violation of right to education. Issuing notice to the Delhi government and its education department, a division bench of Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice Jayant Nath...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The UPA is strenuously denying that this campaign is its earthy version of the NDA's "India Shining" campaign, but few are buying the denials. Launched as a "multi-media" campaign to highlight its achievements in two successive terms at the Center, it has been christened by political observers are UPA's " Bharat Smiling" campaign. The spirit of the campaign, says the publicity material given out by the...