-The Economic Times Something interesting happened in Mumbai last month. For the first time ever, Harvard Business School stepped out of its Boston campus to bring its leadership and corporate accountability programme for senior corporate executives to India. The programme focuses on promoting socially and financially responsible corporate conduct. In an environment where scams and business scandals are making headlines every day, the turnout for the four-day programme was expectedly impressive. "Corruption...

-The Economic Times The government is likely to shoot down the department of financial services’ (DFS) plan to appoint common banking correspondent companies for transferring cash to poor people, and replace it with a countrywide network of ‘micro ATMs’, as it seeks to finalise the last-mile payment architecture for cash transfers.   In a meeting on Monday evening, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, UIDAI Chairman Nandan Nilekani, and Planning Commission officials met Finance...

-The Hindu While Gujarat’s GDP growth in the last two decades has been notable, it is not reflected in employment, wages, health or education There is a widespread belief that Gujarat is a shining star on the Indian growth horizon and that all other States would do a great service to Indian masses by emulating the model of development that Gujarat embarked upon under the stewardship of Narendra Modi. A recent study,...

-The Telegraph Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s ambitious plan to replace the leak-prone subsidy regime with direct cash transfers to bank accounts of beneficiaries may get delayed in Bengal because of tardy progress of biometric enrolment of residents in the National Population Register (NPR). Data available with the state’s directorate of census operations, which is overseeing NPR biometric enrolment, show that only 18.8 per cent of the population has been covered under the...

-Rediff.com In a move that shows the urgency and seriousness with which the UPA 2 is planning the execution of first phase of direct cash transfer scheme before the January 1, 2013, deadline it has set for itself, the Union government has notified formation of two core committees -- called Mission Mode Committees -- tasked with rollout of the scheme. One can imagine the urgency and importance accorded to the direct...