-The Telegraph Bhubaneswar: The state government has opposed the Shanta Kumar Committee's recommendation for direct cash transfer through the public distribution system (PDS) instead of subsidised food grain supply to the beneficiaries. Officially, the state's opposition is based on the argument that cash transfer would affect farmers, as procurement from them would stop. However, sources said the state was worried about the move's fallout on its scheme providing rice to the poor...

-The Indian Express Bhubaneshwar: Despite three central PSUs backing out at the last moment from Orissa government's Rs 5-a-meal Aahar scheme, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday launched the scheme for simultaneously at Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. "The new Aahar Yojana is an excellent scheme to help poor people in the city. This is an excellent proof of our initiative for the poor," said Naveen, after pouring out steaming rice on to the...

-Frontline Interview with Congress leader Jairam Ramesh by TK Rajalakshmi THE Congress has been firm in its opposition to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015. The Ministry for Rural Development under Jairam Ramesh in the previous UPA government drafted the 2013 Land Acquisition Bill, which the NDA government now seeks to amend. Excerpts from an interview with Jairam Ramesh: * Is your party...

-The Hindu The land bill passed by the Lok Sabha and pending before the Rajya Sabha has no chance of being cleared before April 5. The Union Cabinet on Tuesday discussed re-promulgation of the Land Acquisition Ordinance but refrained from making an official announcement on the decision taken. Senior Cabinet sources told The Hindu that the government is determined to re-issue the ordinance in its changed form following amendments to the Bill introduced...

-Tehelka Shamefully, in India, a large percentage of the population still defecates in the open. However, a village in Tamil Nadu has scripted a rare success story by becoming an Open Defecation-Free Village. Nisha Ponthathil documents how the people of Amarambedu near Chennai triumphed over habit with a little help from the civil society Twenty-nine-year-old R Karthick, a resident of Amarambedu village, situated about 65 kilometres away from Tamil Nadu's capital Chennai,...