-The Hindu Chennai: Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said the cash transfer scheme, aiming at crediting subsidy amount directly to the bank accounts of beneficiaries, would be fully implemented throughout the country by December 2013. “Beneficiaries of 39 schemes will get their money transferred to their bank accounts directly,” Mr. Chidambaram said, while participating in the centenary celebrations of former Assembly Speaker S. Chellapandian on Sunday. He said the “your-money-in-your-hands” scheme would...

-Tehelka While Delhi government says it will eliminate leakages in the supply chain of food distribution, activists say it will take away the rights of the poor who require food entitlements rather than cash When Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit fumbled a bit in front of 5,000 people while delivering her speech at the launch of Annshree Yojna, the audience let out a collective gasp and began murmuring loudly. Dikshit had...

-The Hindu The incorporation of the Aadhar number in the electoral rolls will help to minimise malpractices and enable more people to participate in elections Every October, the Election Commission begins the annual exercise of revising the electoral rolls with the following January 1 as the effective date. This October, there was another important news — the launching of Aadhar enabled service delivery in Dudu in Rajasthan. The EC and Aadhar can...

-Oxfam Blog As Oxfam’s two week online debate on the future of agriculture gets under way, John Ambler of Oxfam America imagines how it could all turn out right in the end. It is now 2050.  Globally, we are 9 billion strong.  Only 20% of us are directly involved in agriculture, and poor country economies have diversified.  Yet we all have enough food.  Technological innovation has played its part, but increased production...

-The Times of India An average Indian man's life expectancy (LE) at birth has increased by nearly 15 years in the last 40 years, while an average Indian woman is living over 18 years longer than what she did four decades ago. The world population's life span has gained more than a decade since 1970 - from 56.4 years in 1970 to 67.5 years in 2010 for an average male and from...