-Press Release Pension Parishad Pension Parishad members have decried the manner in which the UPA-II government is appeasing the credit rating agencies and captains of finance and industry while ignoring millions of elderly and deprived people of their right to social security in this country New Delhi, 17 February 2014: Describing the Interim Budget for 2014-15 "as an absolute let-down", Nikhil Dey, speaking on behalf of the Pension...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The next government at the Centre will have far less money to play with, thanks to something Chidambaram has done. He has transferred substantial control over spending on centrally-sponsored schemes such as employment guarantee and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to the states. In the coming year, the amount is Rs 3.4 lakh crore. State governments will be pleased. Political observers see it as a move to curry...

-The Hindu Increased rebel activity made it impossible for anyone to commute outside Jagargunda unless they left permanently, as the original inhabitants and the new entrants were marked as Salwa Judum supporters, and overtly boycotted by the Maoist-controlled villages surrounding the enclave. In Jagargunda, a large village in south Chhattisgarh, the villagers have been waiting for their winter rations for more than two months. Ordinarily, this would not be news but Jagargunda...

-The Business Standard Chidambaram may announce higher fund allocation for the social sector, with focus on education, food, women and rural masses In his last Budget speech as finance minister in the UPA-II government, P Chidambaram will have a lot to say on Monday but much of it is likely to be high on intent and low on content. Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, interim Budget 2014-15 is likely to be...

-DNA The government's lack of focus on agriculture shows its lopsided priorities. In the coming months, about 1.5 crore farmers who quit agriculture in the past seven years, are likely to trudge back into the villages. In normal circumstances such a massive reverse migration - from the cities back to the villages - would have been a sign of inclusive growth. But economists are taking this U-turn as a sign of...