-The Business Standard Full country coverage, in stages, by April 2014 UIDAI, FinMin given prime responsibility to work with ministries, states for national coverage The government today made its intention clear of exploiting an Aadhaar-based direct cash transfer system as a political plank in the next Lok Sabha polls, due in 2014. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today cleared the schedule for implementation from January 1 of government subsidies and entitlements to beneficiaries...

-Live Mint The prime source of financing will be from general taxation or public exchequer, says Planning Commission Government-run hospitals may stop charging for primary services such as investigative tests as India attempts to provide universal health coverage to all its citizens. “No fee of any kind would be levied on primary healthcare services with the prime source of financing being from general taxation/public exchequer,” the Planning Commission says in its latest health...

-The Indian Express The Planning Commission has proposed to train registered medical practitioners, commonly referred to as quacks, to ensure universal health coverage reaches even the remote populations. “Affordability, accessibility and quality are three pillars of UHC. The challenge is to fill the gaps especially in rural areas where there is a problem of trained manpower. We would like to train traditional midwives and RMPs — some people call them jholawala doctors...

-Bloomberg It wasn't the Gettsyburg Address -- unless it's poker faces we're comparing. Future historians aren't going to be parsing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech for hidden meanings, and rhetoricians won't be delighting in the majesty of its style and the compression of its effects. It inflamed no passions, as did Mitt Romney's words about the "47 percent," and asserted no big idea or thesis, unless there was one contained in the...

-The Hindu Building ‘capitalism with Indian characteristics’ means decisions cannot ignore concerns of voters and communities As the economy slows down and the rupee wilts, Manmohan Singh has bitten the ‘reforms’ bullet with both eyes on the credit rating agencies whose negative reports have done much to dampen the ‘animal spirits’ of investors, foreign and native. Last November, when the Congress party made a push to introduce foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail,...