-Live Mint Attempt to broad-base direct benefits transfer plan may help shore up the Congress’s standing among rural population The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government plans to include its flagship rural job guarantee programme in the second phase of its ambitious direct benefits transfer (DBT) plan, under which beneficiaries of social welfare programmes will receive money directly in their Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. The attempt to broad-base the cash transfer plan before several...

-The Indian Express The coal ministry is likely to tell the Supreme Court that allocations made through the screening committee route were "unimpeachable and unquestionable". A day after the Supreme Court rapped the government saying all coal blocks allocated during 2006-09 can be summarily de-allocated if breach of procedures in the defined allocation process is established, coal ministry officials are sure they can defend the policy. They aim to include the comments of...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: Barely one out of 10 police personnel in the state is a woman against the mandated minimum of three. The appalling ratio appears grave at a time when crimes against women have seen a jump. State home department norms require that at least 30% posts in the police force be filled by women, barring the top positions peopled by the Indian Police Service cadre. But women make...

-The Indian Express   The chickens have come home to roost for the UPA government and Krishna Tirath’s women and child development ministry. Tirath has to defend the bar of 18 years for consensual sex set by the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 that her ministry anchored barely a few months back. And it is the collective responsibility of the UPA government to overcome her resistance and ensure that...

-The Hindustan Times The Centre and the CBI faced off before the Supreme Court over the coal scam on Tuesday, with the investigating agency pointing out flaws in the coal block allocation process. To ensure there is no political interference, the court asked the investigating agency not to share its probe report with the government. This is the first time the Central Bureau of Investigation has pointed out irregularities in coal block...