-Down to Earth Industrial houses use tribals as fronts to amass tribal land in Chhattisgarh Ram Singh’s neighbours tease him by calling him Crorepati Singh. The 40-year-old Gond tribal from Parsada village in Raipur district of Chhattisgarh has hardly any landholding and depends on the government’s employment guarantee schemes to feed his family. But according to official documents, Singh has recently purchased land worth Rs 1.5 crore from a dozen of tribals...

-IANS The government's plan to replace the public distribution system (PDS) with direct cash transfer into people's accounts under the proposed Food Security Bill is not getting any takers, some social activists said here Friday. According to the proposal, the PDS through which subsidised foodgrains are made available to people will be replaced with direct cash subsidies where a fixed amount will be transferred into people's bank accounts each month. Talking to media...

CHENNAI: Government officials in Tamil Nadu can now sit in their air-conditioned offices and keep tabs on clogged up water bodies and channels in remote villages using satellite technology. Criticized by many for corruption and inefficiency, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has been given a scientific make-over in the state with GIS (geographic information system) mapping being used to organize the works as well as to...

-The Hindu A full week after the Andhra Pradesh High Court quashed the 4.5 per cent job and education sub-quota for minorities, suspense continues on the status of those aspiring to get into the IITs under the sub-quota. Said Sahique Mustafa whose minority rank of 203 all but guaranteed him an IIT seat: “Last week my family was celebrating. Today, I have no hope.” On Thursday morning, Law and Minority Affairs Minister Salman...

-The Business Standard    Draft health insurance guidelines must not remain on paper The insurance regulator’s draft guidelines on health insurance were necessary, given the segment has been plagued with high loss ratios, low penetration and persistent customer complaints. The draft, which proposes changes in every facet – product structure, renewability and claims settlement – is a thoroughly pro-customer document and seeks to plug the various loopholes that have been used to make...