-Press release from NREGA Sangharsh Morcha The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Swaraj Abhiyan in the Supreme Court on the severe drought conditions in the country had drawn the attention of the Court to the inadequate effort of the Central and state governments in implementing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), amongst other welfare programmes. In its last judgment on issues of MGNREGA workers on 13 May...

-Newsclick.in A World Bank study ignores slumping economy and raging joblessness to praise ‘reforms’. A charming little bromance seems to be brewing between the World Bank and India’s Modi-led government. A series of reports by the World Bank has praised Modi for various kinds of “reforms”. The latest is the so called “Doing Business” report of the World Bank which lavishes praise on the Modi govt. for making it easier to do...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Doctors who receive gifts from pharmaceutical companies are more likely to prescribe expensive versions of medicines and more drugs per patient, a US study released on Wednesday suggested. The study is among the first to quantitatively measure the impacts of such gifts and challenges claims by sections of pharmaceutical industry executives that industry gifts are not intended to influence prescriptions doctors write. Health policy researchers who analysed prescription patterns...

-Livemint.com Only RBI has the power to issue directives to banks, says Indian Banks’ Association Mumbai: The Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) has questioned the jurisdiction of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in issuing directions to banks under the Aadhaar Act, according to two people aware of the matter. IBA has written to the ministry of electronics and information technology, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the finance ministry’s department of...

-The Asian Age The fact is that even if India was a few notches higher, it still would be among the severe cases in terms of the magnitude of malnourishment. Do we really trail North Korea and Iraq in the malnutrition stakes? There have been outbursts of anger at India being ranked 100th out 119 countries in the latest edition of the Global Hunger Index by the International Food Policy Research Institute...