-The Times of India There is a saying in Harendragarh, a tribal village 50 km from Rajasthan’s Banswara town, that if a man eats the last rotla (chapatti) he will fall ill. So by default the last rotla, thinner than the rest and made from leftover dough along with the stale remains of the dal or vegetable made that day, would land on the plate of the woman of the house....

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, refused to attend a selection committee meeting on the Lokpal on Thursday, accusing the government of reducing a "scared procedure" to a "political pretence". In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kharge pointed out that he was invited to the meeting as a mere "special invitee" who would have no say in the selection. "The conduct of...

  Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) or cash transfer might appear attractive on papers, but in reality it is opposed by its beneficiaries when implemented. Something similar to this has happened in the Nagri block of Ranchi district, where cash is being transferred to the aadhaar seeded bank accounts of beneficiaries in lieu of providing subsidized foodgrains. Cash transfers in the public distribution system (PDS) have been in operation in the Nagri block...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: As on September 30, 2017, more than Rs 1.1 lakh crore was owed to banks by people or companies characterised as “wilful defaulters”, that is those who are unwilling to pay despite having the capacity to do so. TOI analysed more than 9,000 such accounts for which banks have filed lawsuits for recovery and found that the top 11 debtor groups, each with dues of...

-Livemint.com Centre is soon going to issue a revised set of guidelines to address current challenges faced by the crop insurance scheme, says Ashish Bhutani, joint secretary at the agriculture ministry New Delhi: The prime minister’s flagship crop insurance scheme, which has seen an impressive rise in coverage and sum assured since its launch in 2016, is facing a number of challenges that are delaying claim settlements for farmers, a senior agriculture...