-The Times of India Gujarat's much-touted Chiranjeevi Yojana, launched in 2006 to reduce maternal and infant mortality rates in BPL households, has not had any significant impact, says a new study by Duke University. The programme, which subsidizes the cost of delivery at designated private sector hospitals, has not led to increased probability of institutional child-delivery. Also, analyses of household expenditure of women who used the subsidized delivery scheme in private hospitals...

-The Business Standard Deadline extended by three months to March 31 for submitting report After a push from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), a committee headed by Planning Commission member Saumitra Chaudhuri seems to be giving its full attention in moving towards Producers Price Index (PPI) that will give accurate calculation of movement of inflation. To help the panel finish its task, the government has extended its deadline by...

-The Hindu Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): The government is considering a proposal to exempt stamp duty on agricultural loans issued by commercial banks. Finance Minister K.M. Mani told a meeting of the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) here on Monday that a decision on the issue would be taken soon after assessing the financial implications. Pointing to the substantial share of commercial banks in primary sector credit, the last meeting of the SLBC had...

-The Telegraph Networks of private hospitals across India today said they would stop providing cashless services to beneficiaries of government-funded healthcare schemes from January 15 next year, citing delays in payments and "low" charges set by the government. Members of the Association of Healthcare Providers of India (AHPI) said beneficiaries of the Central Government Health Scheme would need to pay for any treatment they seek from that date onwards and seek reimbursement...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Recruitment of minorities in central government services fell from 11.56% of total hires in 2010-11 to just 6.89% in 2012-13, according to data collected from nearly 70 Union ministries and departments. The government, which released the data in reply to a Parliament question on Thursday, has blamed the falling recruitment levels of minority candidates, which depends on the number of applications received and percentage of qualifying...