-The Business Standard Team set up after movement began under Aruna roy, activist Baba Adhav 2 years ago demanding universal pension as a right for all A task force set up by the Government to look into reforms in pension for the unorganised sector has recommended universal pension for those below the poverty line, and a target of covering them in the next five years. It also recommended a slight increase in pensions...

-The Times of India While Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh waxed eloquent on the "success" of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and called it a key instrument for "financial inclusion" at a government conference in New Delhi on Saturday, latest data reveal a picture of declining employment generation under the scheme. Even more startling: Jobs created for the most marginalized sections - dalits and adivasis - have...

-The Business Standard The government runs out of money for fertiliser subsidy The government, according to recent newspaper reports, finds itself unable to clear the mounting subsidy dues of the fertiliser industry — the budgetary allocation for this purpose has already exhausted. This is as much a reflection on the shocking flaws in the Budget-making exercise for this financial year as on India’s misguided fertiliser subsidy policy. The arrears payable to...

-The Hindu The Direct Benefits Transfer Initiative is the real tool against corruption that will ensure that the welfare state doesn’t degenerate into a farewell state We are grateful to Narendar Pani (Editorial page, “Cashing in on schemes for poor,” November 29, 2012) and Bharat Bhatti and Madhulika Khanna (Editorial page, “Neither effective nor equitable,” December 4, 2012) for starting a useful debate on the United Progressive Alliance government’s Direct Benefits Transfer...

-The Times of India Is Aadhaar the difference between what happened in Kotkasim and what could have been? That's the stand the government is taking, but the critics of the Unique Identification (UID) disagree. After TOI wrote on Sunday of how payment delays were threatening to undo a pilot programme in which cash is transferred to a person's account in place of the kerosene subsidy in Kotkasim, Rajasthan, rural development minister Jairam...