-TheWire.in Jayalalithaa’s schemes – such as her canteens and baby care kits – may appear to be populist at first glance, but are actually quite entrenched in a welfare tradition. For development economists, Tamil Nadu offers many lessons in social democracy. The state has distinguished itself with visionary schemes – such as noon meals (known as the mid-day meal scheme nationally) and the Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy Maternity Benefits Scheme, which provides Rs...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A fisherman from Kerala today said the people's resignation in accepting the currency recall despite the distress was not a sign of support but a reflection of how difficult it was mobilise people strapped for cash. "This note-ban is an attack on people's movements," said T. Peter of the National Fishworkers' Forum at a public meeting on 'Does Demonetisation Tackle Black Money?' "People cannot even come out to protest...

-Livemint.com Nandan Nilekani, one of the brains behind the Unified Payments Interface, on the near-term challenges of going cashless While the government’s decision to scrap Rs500 and Rs1,000 bank notes has been met with resistance from some quarters and been called too abrupt, Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani backed it, saying it was needed to speed up the move to a cashless economy. “There is no question that this is a very bold...

-Scroll.in Built on the Wikipedia model and launched on November 3, Nyaaya also has guides for crime victims and accused. India has more than a thousand central laws, a larger number of state laws and a criminal justice system so complex, most of the population struggles to navigate it. A year ago, Delhi-based lawyer Srijoni Sen decided to make this system a little easier for the masses, one step at a time....

-Frontline Medecins Sans Frontieres warns that the free or regional trade agreements that are being negotiated, which seek to strengthen current patent regimes, are a potential threat to the developing world’s access to life-saving drugs, which it sources mostly from India. WHEN NELSON MANDELA’S GOVERNMENT passed the Medicines and Related Substances Control Act in 1997 to make medicines more accessible to the poor, 39 big pharmaceutical companies filed law suits in...