-The Hindu Business Line It provides infrastructure and a social safety net, but are there better ways of delivering both? The MGNREGA has been a subject of controversies from its inception. After much of the public dissension died down, the current government again stirred a hornet's nest by sending out what were perceived to be negative signals on this large public employment scheme. Not only has this raised political questions, it has...

-The Hindu Much of the National Health Policy document reads like a report of health issues and systemic challenges, and is sorely wanting on policy detail Health impoverishment - falling into poverty due to health care costs - affects 63 million individuals in India every year. This is a damning statistic, especially when read with the fact that 18 per cent of all households face catastrophic health expenditures (health expenditure greater than...

-The Times of India LUCKNOW: Girija devi was reduced to being an ordinary farm hand in Jalaun after the demise of her husband. As a widow, she was told she had no ownership rights to the land her family had held for many years. For years, she continued to till the land and worked on it as an agricultural labourer. Then, a local civil society organization helped her regain control over...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Comptroller and Auditor General Shashi Kant Sharma on Tuesday emphasized on the need for mandatory social audit of social sector schemes as they lacked transparency and accountability. Speaking at a conference on social audit here, the CAG said expenditure of central and state governments that directly impacts socio-economic development was estimated to be Rs 17 lakh crore in 2013-2014. "This implies that an average of Rs 2,656...

-Business Standard Amendments skip key controversial issues The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has made nine amendments to its land Bill, tabled in Parliament on Monday. Most of these were cosmetic in nature, leaving the key elements of the original promulgation intact - the lack of need for consent and social impact assessment while acquiring land for private projects; public-private partnerships and government acquisitions. Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh did move two amendments...