-The Business Standard The Union Budget shows the charitable instincts of the government continuing to overwhelm it - though some would call it part inefficiency and part helplessness. The exemptions given to citizens on the tax they ought to pay have been exceeding the Plan expenditure, and even the total fiscal deficit as it did in 2012-13. This has prompted criticism from the Left parties and activists, who view it as evidence...

-Live Mint Concerns raised over the efficiency of banking networks and on-the-ground preparations for the scheme A section of the Sonia Gandhi -led National Advisory Council (NAC) is not happy with the government “rushing into” the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme, expected to be the flagship programme of the ruling Congress party in the national election scheduled for next year. At a meeting of the NAC on Tuesday, where Unique Identification Authority of...

-The Hindu Hyderabad: The appointment of Information Commissioners in Andhra Pradesh was going on in PPP (public-private partnership) mode despite the public protest and the Governor’s opposition, former Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh remarked here on Sunday. Speaking at the fourth national convention of the National Campaign for the People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) here, he said the Information Commission in AP was now packed with politicians against the spirit of the...

-Tehelka Feminism cannot be a moving force if it is not grounded in the lived experiences of its patrons I HAVE always been conscious of the inequalities of gender and caste. A series of matriarchal, independent women in my family had been asserting and stretching their roles in society even before I was born. My great grandmother, Neelamma, set aside her caste prejudices to get her younger daughter — my grandmother...

-The Hindu Jaipur: On Thursday, several people in Jaipur celebrated the Valentine’s Day in a way it has never been done before, as they gathered in the heart of the city to pledge an end to violence against women under the global “One Billion Rising” campaign. “I too, as a woman, have come to lend my voice and express solidarity to end violence against women from the face of the earth,” Rajasthan...