-Economic and Political Weekly The many schemes that have been announced in the name of social security are limited in scope and the quantum of security they prefer. The promotional schemes will also be linked to the market and will benefit the insurance Companies. In the meanwhile, basic social security programmes are either ignored or provided limited funding K P Kannan (kannankp123@gmail.com) is Visiting Professor at the Institute for Human Development, New...

-The Times of India KOLKATA: A potato glut and plunging prices have triggered suicides in Bengal's Hooghly, Burdwan and Bankura districts. Hooghly alone reported six of them. Prices have crashed, one kg of the tuber selling for Rs 3 to Rs 4. With the pressure unlikely to ease in the near future, peasants face an uncertain future and are agitating. In 2013, Bengal's farmers reaped a good harvest of 85 lakh tonnes...

-The Times of India CHANDIGARH: Five Companies, including Robert Vadra's Skylight Hospitality, bought licences to build colonies from the Haryana government for Rs 52.26 crore. They went on to sell these licences to other Companies at a massive premium and collectively earned Rs 267.47 crore in a short span of time. But the profit of Rs 215.21 crore wasn't shared with the department of town and country planning despite bilateral agreements...

-The Hindu For two years, national political parties have defied the RTI Act that they themselves passed. They have not sought legal remedy either by appealing against the CIC order declaring them to be Public Authorities. If lawmakers defy the law in this fashion, it sets a bad precedent. Political parties should be more accountable if they break the law, not less Six national parties in India, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),...

-Business Standard Sector players await government's decision on future of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana The government-sponsored Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) is set to undergo a overhaul with a proposal to have only public general insurers manage the scheme through a trust-like structure. Sources said the bids that would have been considered for new contracts have been left unopened as the stakeholders are awaiting the government's decision on its future progress. A senior public...