-The Economic Times Ram Kishen, 52, half-blind and half- starved, holds in his gnarled hands the reason for his hunger: a tattered card entitling him to subsidised rations that now serves as a symbol of India's biggest food heist. Kishen has had nothing from the village shop for 15 months. Yet 20 minutes' drive from Satnapur, past bone-dry fields and tiny hamlets where children with distended bellies play, a government storage facility...

-The Hindu An anthology of independent evaluations of MGNREGA shows that it has provided income security, improved health, narrowed the gender gap and created useful assets   In the midst of the debates that prevail in this country over the feasibility of the world’s largest public works programme, the MGNREGA Sameeksha — an anthology of independent research studies and analysis on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, from 2006-2012 — is...

-The Times of India Criticized for tardy probe progress coupled with acute shortage of officers to investigate cases, the CBI got a relief in National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam investigations as the Uttar Pradesh government has constituted a special court for all the health scheme fraud cases. The UP government issued a notification on August 28, constituting a Special Court especially for NRHM cases in Ghaziabad. The court of Session Judge...

-PTI Warning the Uttar Pradesh government of another food grains scam, the BSP today claimed massive irregularities have come to light in wheat purchases in five districts of the state. "There is every possibility of another food grains scam like the one in 2003-2004 and 2005-2006 worth Rs 50,000 crores which is being investigated by the CBI with reports of the wheat purchased till June 30, 2012 in Gorakhpur, Faizabad, Sitapur, Allahabad...

-Down to Earth Centre drafts guidelines to regulate clinical establishments; Indian Medical Association resists After expressing resentment over the Centre’s efforts to regulate medical education, doctors are now up in arms against its move to regulate clinical establishments that are flourishing without any accountability. The Indian Medical Association (IMA), the largest body of doctors in the country, is threatening to sue several state governments if they enforce the Clinical Establishments (Registration and...