-Economic and Political Weekly   This paper quantifies the improvements in the public distribution system in rural India after 2004-05 using data from three rounds of surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey. It finds that Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh continue to be the leading performers, but early movers such as Odisha saw improvements in the functioning of the PDS between 2004-05 and 2009-10. In late movers such as Bihar and...

-The Hindustan Times   An increASIng number of candidates facing criminal charges are being fielded by India's political parties at all levels of elections, including state polls, data from over a 10-year period shows. Underlining the seriousness of the issue, two new studies suggest stronger correlation between wealth, crime and winning ability. Overall 17% of the candidates contesting the 2014 elections have a criminal background, up from 15% in 2009, when the previous...

-Live Mint   India had the highest number of maternal deaths according to the latest UN report   New Delhi: India had the highest number of maternal deaths, accounting for almost a fifth of the global total in 2013, according to the latest UN report.   In 2013, maternal deaths in India stood at 50,000, or 17% of such deaths across the world, the report said. Global maternal mortality has, however, dropped 45% in 2013 compared...

-Frontline   A Delhi High Court verdict says the State government is bound to ensure that poor and vulnerable sections of society have access to treatment for rare and chronic diseases. SEVEN-YEAR-OLD Mohammed Ahmed Khan looked on helplessly as his father, Sirajuddin, narrated the sordid tale of the loss of four of his children to Gaucher's disease, a rare genetic disease that requires lifelong, exorbitantly expensive enzyme replacement therapy. Sirajuddin, a rickshaw...

-The United Nations   ReleASIng new statistics today, the United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU) announced that by end 2014, there will be nearly three billion Internet users - two-thirds of them from the developing world - with mobile-broadband penetration approaching 32 per cent. "The newly released ICT [information and communications technology] figures confirm once again that information and communication technologies continue to be the key drivers of the information society," said Hamadoun...