Brajendra Ghosh (45), a farmer, committed suicide allegedly by consuming pesticide at Durmut village in Mangalkote on Sunday morning. He was declared dead on arrival at the Katwa Hospital. In the recent past, several cases of farmer suicides have come to LIGht. But this is the first such case due to debt in the rice bowl of the state after the new government led by Mamata Banerjee stormed into power....

-The Times of India   For a government harping on transparency and accountability, a glance through the websites of various departments brings to the fore the pathetic state of the implementation of the RTI Act. Incidentally, it was Rajasthan that laid the foundation for this law. A survey by the Suchna Evum Rozgar Ka Adhikar Abhiyan, based on the websites of 64 government departments, shows that there are at least 17...

The current perception that cash transfers can replace public provision of basic goods and services and become a catch-all solution for poverty reduction is false. Where cash transfers have helped to reduce poverty, they have added to public provision, not replaced it. For crucial items like food, direct provision protects poor consumers from rising prices and is part of a broader strategy to ensure domestic supply. Problems like targeting errors...

Cash transfers are now suggested by many as a silver bullet for addressing the problems that plague India’s anti-poverty programmes. This article argues instead for evidence-based policy and informed public debate to clarify the place, prospects and problems of cash transfers in India. By drawing on key empirical findings from academic and grey literature across the world an attempt is made to draw attention to three aspects of cash transfers...

Dr Binayak Sen has given a double blow to the state administration of Chattisgarh. First, the Supreme Court rejected the sedition charges levelled against him for which the state courts found him guilty. And then he was appointed to the 40-member steering committee on health in the planning commission. The Chattisgarh government has been vocally protesting against Sen's appointment, saying that he still remains a convict out on bail and should...