-Deccan Herald System overhaul: Transparency measures with strong accountability mechanisms can usher in change The National Food Security Act (NFSA) passed in 2013 gives statutory backing to the Public Distribution System (PDS). Up to 75% of the rural Population and 50% of the urban Population is entitled to receive food grain under the Act. Beneficiaries are categorised into priority households, entitled to 5 kg of subsidised grains per person per month, and Antyodaya...

-The Times of India BHUBANESWAR: The state government has decided to help farmers to take up construction of pigsty under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). A farmer can construct piggery shelter of 21 square metre at a cost of Rs 50,000 for four pigs under the scheme to be executed by the panchayat samiti. This decision was taken in view of the breakout of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in Malkangiri...

-TheWire.in More than 550 jobs were lost each day in the last four years in India, placing it behind Bangladesh and Vietnam in terms of job creation. The sheer pressure of poverty means that job creation will always be high on the agenda of any government. In India, significant public resources have been invested to encash the demographic dividend and prevent it from becoming a burden. But the results have been far...

-The Asian Age Replacing income-tax with a banking transaction tax is an unworkable idea. The poor will end up paying a lot more: Subhanil Chowdhury The idea that all taxes in India should be abolished, except import duty, and replaced by a bank transaction tax (BTT) is a deeply flawed one for a number of reasons. First, there are only few countries in the world that do not have income-tax — oil rich...

The term 'development' holds a positive connotation for most policymakers. However, there are examples abound, which indicates that development also cause enormous misery to the people, particularly the poor and the marginalized. Take for instance, the organizing of 2010 Commonwealth Games, due to which massive infrastructural development in the national capital was undertaken when Sheila Dikshit was the Chief Minister of Delhi. It has been estimated that almost 2 lakh...