-The Indian Express The budget will reveal whether the BJP is committed to this transformative programme. Mohandas Pai, currently an advisor to the BJP government in Rajasthan, was asked on television how the government could "control" social sector expenditure, more specifically on the MGNREGA. He answered that the NDA should simply learn from and follow former Union minister P. Chidambaram's policy of "benign neglect". Clarifying further, he explained how the UPA...

-The Times of India   Last month's general election brought the role of media under the spotlight. Media faced severe criticism from political parties, intellectuals and industry insiders for allegedly being partisan during elections. A large section of mainstream media has been castigated as "paid media" by social media enthusiasts. In this context, however, a great deal of work already exists in the political economy literature analyzing the real effects of having a...

-Live Mint   Voters who gave the Congress its worst drubbing did not reject its welfare agenda, but its performance There are many who interpret the emphatic rejection of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the significant endorsement of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the elections of 2014 as a mandate to end the architecture of rights-based legislation for social and economic welfare constructed during the 10-year UPA regime. Commentators opposed...

-Down to Earth   Ministry of panchayati raj plans to develop model panchayats in different states through integrated development President Pranab Mukherjee's address to parliamentarians on Monday and the brain-storming sessions carried out by the new prime minister, Narendra Modi, with officials of different ministries indicate changes in the way rural development schemes will be implemented in the country. Each department in the rural development ministry has organised workshops with states to evolve the...

-Outlook   The UPA-II government spent nearly Rs 187 crore to publicise schemes under the 'Bharat Nirman' programme in the election year 2013-14. According to an RTI response by the Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity, the Manmohan Singh-led government spent Rs 186.98 crore in the election year 2013-14. Giving details of Bharat Nirman campaign of UPA-2, DAVP said in 2013-14, the election year, Rs 186.98 crore were spent whereas in 2012-13, the figure...