The fourteenth Public Accounts Committee (2014-15) report, submitted to the 16th Lok Sabha in April this year, has found that despite various interim orders issued by the Supreme Court from time to time (based on a writ petition that was filed by People’s Union for Civil Liberties in April, 2001), the Government of India has failed to universalize the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme. This means India has to...

-The Economic Times BENGALURU: As the central government devolves more fiscal freedom to the states, they seem to be cutting allocations to social sectors, especially agriculture and allied areas in response, according to the initial findings of a study. The Narendra Modi administration wants to empower states further as part of a push toward cooperative federalism. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's February budget cut allocations to the states by more than half in...

-The Hindu For working India’s federal system, one has to go beyond brute parliamentary majorities and grapple with the multilevel government-opposition matrix, which is the architecture of Centre-State power-sharing Apart from the promise of providing a Congress-free India, the most frequent leitmotif of Mr. Modi’s electoral campaign was that he would usher in a new era for Indian federalism. Based on the idea that a state leader’s vision from below could transform...

-PTI In a letter to Niti Ayog Task Force Head Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Gandhi raised concerns about the reduced budgetary allocation to the ministry, saying it will impact programmes that tackle malnutrition, issues of women and child welfare schemes. Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has asked the Niti Aayog to postpone the decision on restructuring of funding pattern of social sector schemes to next fiscal year, citing lack of...

-Outlook Mumbai: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today hinted at more sops for the troubled farmers, saying the unseasonal rains in March have resulted in an "agrarian crisis". Jaitley asserted that the government is committed to allocate more resources to the farm sector, which he identified as the biggest challenge for high growth. "Agriculture is the biggest challenge and the unseasonal rains have resulted in an agrarian crisis," Jaitley said here this evening at...