-The Times of India   RAIPUR: In a move that will benefit an estimated seven lakh destitute of single-member ration cardholders in the state. Chhattisgarh government has decided to give 10kg free rice per month under public distribution system. Earlier, destitute were required to pay Rs 1 per kg. The order has already been implemented and officials concerned have started the verification process, said sources. According to circular issued by food, civil...

-The Indian Express   We need better primary health centres more than AIIMS-like institutions. The ministry of health is reportedly planning to open 10 more AIIMS-like institutes as well as cancer centres in different states. Creating new cancer centres is desirable, given the burden of the disease and the inadequate number of treatment centres. Today, cancer is one of the main causes of premature mortality in our country, and the 25 regional cancer...

-The Hindustan Times   Bhatinda: With the paddy transplantation season set to start from June 10 across the state officially, farmers have started search for the labour and are making rounds of railway stations and bargaining hard with the migrant workers to fix the deal.   As the farmers had faced acute shortage of workforce in the last paddy season in the state, they are making sure that they do not have to...

-The Hindustan Times   The national rural employment guarantee in a new format will have more funds for asset creation, penalty for late disbursal of funds by the Centre and removing the five-km restriction for seeking work. Working on inputs from state governments, the Centre would be revamping the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) with an aim to create productive assets. Government officials said that some of the likely changes...

-The Business Standard     They were unimpressed by the UPA's misguided socialism, but they worry about the new regime's free-market orientation too Consider this paradox. The Congress Party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was decimated in the elections in spite of several years of good monsoon and rising agricultural production. Consider another paradox. This was the regime that implemented policies that were presumed to be pro-farmer: the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the...