-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is leveraging his politically 'unattached' status to seek higher wages for his people under the Centre's rural employment guarantee scheme. Kumar, being wooed by the Congress after he parted ways with the BJP, has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying that the state plans to raise NREGA payments to align them with the statutory minimum wage. "Notification of lower wage rates...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Rising apprehension that food inflation may finally begin to bite in electoral terms has seen the Manmohan Singh government press the panic button as retail prices of cereals, vegetables and pulses soar in comparison to last year. Persistent high inflation, particularly in food, is gnawing the government ahead of assembly polls in four major states later this year and the 2014 Lok Sabha election, a concern...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre is planning to increase cash incentives for private builders willing to construct houses for economically weaker sections in partnership with it. Under the Affordable Housing in Partnership Scheme floated in 2009, the Centre was to pay private builders Rs 50,000 per dwelling unit or 25 per cent of the cost of civic services, whichever was less. Since the scheme found few takers, it is planning to...

-The Indian Express Greater economic growth, not more subsidy, has resulted in poverty falling like never before Given how poverty levels have fallen sharply, from 37.2 per cent of the population in 2004-05 to 21.9 per cent in 2011-12, the question is whether this is due to rising economic growth or a more sprawling subsidy regime. Since the government plans to bring in the Food Security Bill, it is easy to guess...

-The United Nations Only one-third of the world's countries have national strategies for viral hepatitis, the United Nations health agency today said urging Governments to scale up measures to tackle this ‘silent epidemic,' in particular the five types that, over time, cause chronic and debilitating illnesses. "The fact that many hepatitis B and C infections are silent, causing no symptoms until there is severe damage to the liver, points to the urgent...