-Outlook As subsidies for the poor continue to be under attack, a ground-up report from 10-states shows how well welfare schemes have worked over the last 10 years. Ahead of Elections 2014, rights-based welfare schemes are under attack. To those who argue ‘Dolenomics' doesn't work, a survey of five schemes in 10 states shows that the Rs 1,68,478 crore annually the nation spends is making a real and tangible difference on...

-The Hindu     Even a cursory look at how Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have fared will tell us how the mere formation of a smaller State is no guarantee for better lives for those groups for whom these States have been created Smaller States have been the new political mode of addressing basic issues that were otherwise left unresolved. However, fighting for a new state and reconstructing on a more sustainable democratic content...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: After registering five FIRs in the alleged irregularities in implementation of centrally-sponsored Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Uttar Pradesh during the rule of Mayawati-led BSP, the Central Bureau of Investigation has reportedly collected important documents related to the scheme from five districts in the state. The agency is expected to call for questioning some senior bureaucrats who were in charge of...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation will soon start a probe into alleged misappropriation of funds under MNREGA in seven districts of Uttar Pradesh. The agency will probe alleged financial irregularities and abuse of power in implementation of the centrally-sponsored rural employment scheme in the state during 2007-10 in seven districts, CBI sources said. The decision comes after the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court directed...

-The Times of India NAGPUR: Maharashtra government disclosed that it had incurred a expenditure of Rs 3.71 crore on probe panel of much-hyped Adarsh Housing Society scam in Mumbai. This led to rest the speculations about total amount spent on the scam report drafted by Justice JA Patil and former bureaucrat P Subramaniam. Earlier, it was speculated that the government had spent Rs7 crore on the panel constituted in 2011 by...