-The Times of India In what could turn out to be its calling card for the 2014 general elections, the government is finalizing a Rs 7,000 crore scheme to give one mobile phone to every family living below the poverty line. Sources in the PMO said the scheme—Har Hath Mein Phone—expected to be announced by PM Manmohan Singh on August 15, will not only aim to give away mobiles to around six...

-The Times of India In a move that has angered the health ministry, the Planning Commission has asked for reversal of the long-standing public health policy from the 12th plan onwards ending governments' dominant role in providing health services and transiting to greater privatization of the health sector, something along the lines of the 'managed care' system which is followed in the US and Mexico. The health ministry has taken a tough...

-The Hindustan Times In 2009, when India had its worst drought in three decades in terms of rainfall, the country managed to produce a million more tonnes of foodgrains than it did in 2007, a normal year. Droughts, such as the one that has now settled in nearly half of the country, are no longer the disaster they used to be, thanks to one of the world's most efficient drought management systems.   Largely indigenous...

-The Indian Express New NSS data affirms that GDP growth remains the best way to tackle poverty Amid the pervasive economic gloom, provisional data from the 68th round of the National Sample Survey Office’s just-concluded household consumer expenditure survey offers a sliver of good news. According to it, average inflation-adjusted expenditure for July 2011-June 2012 rose by about 4.5 per cent in two years, with the poorest 10 per cent of the...

-The Hindustan Times The UPA government’s economic policies have resulted in record reduction of poverty over the last two years, with the individual’s monthly expenditure rising by around 18% per annum, the highest since 1987, government data released a week before the Parliament’s monsoon session claimed. The government’s National Sample Survey Organisation released the provisional data of the Household Consumer Expenditure Survey for 2011-12 on Wednesday. The study is the most crucial...