-The Hindustan Times What does it mean to be poor across the world? It means different things in different countries depending on the definition of the poverty line-an income threshold below which families are considered poor. In most of Europe, a family with a net income of less than 60% of the "Median net disposable income" - a broad measure of the national average income net of taxes income - is counted...

-The Telegraph Ranchi: Implementation of MGNREGS, the Centre's flagship scheme to provide employment to the rural populace, has not been up to the mark and has failed on several fronts in Jharkhand, the office of the accountant general has said. This meant funds to the tune of Rs 4591.47 crore, which could have been utilised in creating infrastructure under Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, besides providing more jobs to village people,...

-The Hindu     Women are essential for the success of schemes like the mid-day meal programme. Improving their wages and working conditions would be better than blaming them when things go wrong. Mahatma Gandhi once declared, "A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members." By this yardstick, India does not fare well. Consider recent headlines alone: 23 Bihari children die after eating poisoned midday meals at their schools. Six-year-old...

-The Indian Express The discussion on the political economy needs to be rescued from the current bout of bad taste Amartya Sen has found himself at the centre of an unseemly round of name-calling this week. While promoting his new book, he said, when asked in an interview, that he would not want Narendra Modi as prime minister. That, coupled with his qualified approval of the food security bill, was sufficient for...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Centre intends to exempt political parties from RTI scrutiny on the ground that they are not "substantially funded" by the government and so are not required to reveal details such donors and other funding sources. The government expects to consult political parties to firm up a consensus on undoing the Central Information Commission order putting parties under the ambit of the Right to Information Act...