-Outlook Andhra Pradesh today asked the Centre to increase the number of wage days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Scheme (MGNREGS) from the present 150 to 200 to benefit non-farm labour and marginalised sections of the society. In his speech at the National Development Council meeting which was read out by Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy emphasised the need for synchronising MGNREGS with agriculture...

-The Hindu How gender sensitive are the government’s flagship programmes, probes a report to be released today Why is the concept of ‘citizen’ always a male? Why is the formulation of government policies always male centric leaving out the female counterpart that actually constitutes half the population and contributes in equal measure to the economy? Perhaps keeping this in mind, UN Women and economists have come up with a report on eight flagship...

-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...

-The Times of India Crest Cash transfers have been described as the world's favourite new anti-poverty device. As India gets set to implement it, TOI-Crest finds out if the politics will ever be divorced from the cash The UPA government's ambitious plan to introduce direct cash transfers (DCT) by January 1, 2013 reflects both the political desperation of a beleaguered government and the urgent need to reform India's inefficient and corrupt public...

-The Indian Express Patna: Out of 534 block development officers posted across Bihar, 181 or one-third are currently facing probe — mostly for alleged misuse and misappropriation of fund meant for the Indira Awas Yojana. In fact, 58 BDOs face corruption charges for their dubious role in the implementation of IAY. This was revealed in an RTI query by Buxur resident Shiv Prakash Rai, who had asked for a list of...