-The Indian Express International experience points to the dangers in moving towards a system of health insurance coverage. Improving government services is the answer. Last month, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan offered a glimpse into the new government's universal health assurance scheme, of which insurance will be an important component. Health insurance is also part of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, the NDA government's financial inclusion programme. But international experience does...

-The Business Standard Ministers in the Narendra Modi government have been busy making presentations on their 100 days of work. But what these presentations do not mention is that decisions by ministers have been few, with plenty of papers and files moving to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), which is increasingly emerging as a centralised clearance point, even for routine and ordinary issues. Though policy paralysis was a term used freely...

-The Business Standard Forest Rights Act being reinterpreted to avoid amendment Led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is discussing possible ways to do away with the mandatory requirement of securing consent from tribal gram sabhas (village councils) before cutting down their forests for industrial purposes. The deliberations, on among various ministries, are for zeroing in on such a way that the requirement is removed without...

-The Indian Express The Modi government's efforts to fight inflation by releasing additional amounts of grain to states under the targeted public distribution system (TPDS) is threatening to unravel, as states are ill-equipped to handle extra allocations. While there are few takers among the states for the extra rice allocated under TPDS, the offloading of wheat stocks with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to bulk buyers has taken off. Analysts say...

-Press Information Bureau/ Ministry of Agriculture Union Minister for Agriculture, Shri Radha Mohan Singh had a meeting with DG, FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) here today. Apprising FAO of the significant strides made by India in agriculture and allied sectors during last few years, he said that India has not only achieved self sufficiency in food but also did extremely well in horticulture, dairying, milk production, fisheries, post harvest management and...