-The Times of India The Centre will stop direct transfer of funds to districts or societies operating in states, and will instead provide the money to the state exchequer, having concluded that the existing system was the reason for multi-crore scams like the one in the National Rural Health Mission. The new system to put funds in the consolidated fund of states is apparently aimed at putting central funds under the scanner...

-Live Mint Why do the central and state govts deliberately undermine the constitutionally created panchayats? The collector of any district in India would be heading 100 to 150 committees related to various development initiatives in the area. Collectors often don't get time to prepare for or preside over the meetings of these committees-imagine what happens to implementation then. On the other hand, the heads of district panchayats and municipalities in the...

-Frontline   But in Modi's Gujarat the difference between development and darkness is all too visible to those who care to see. NARENDRA MODI may have won three consecutive elections and ruled Gujarat for more than a decade after he was posted there almost as a night watchman, to borrow a cricketing expression. He may have mobilised a massive fan following that is shouting to catapult him into the Prime Minister's post,...

-The Hindu The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Rs. 22,507-crore National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) that seeks to address healthcare challenges in towns and cities with focus on urban poor. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Rs. 22,507-crore National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) that seeks to address healthcare challenges in towns and cities with focus on urban poor. The scheme will now be introduced as a sub-mission under the National...

-The Hindustan Times Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy said on Tuesday his government was expected to take a decision shortly on Attapadi, a malnutrition-afflicted tribal hamlet in Palakkad district below the Nilgiri hills of the Western Ghats. According to the district health office of Palakkad, 14 malnutrition-related deaths have taken place in the past four months, but NGOs working with the tribals say more than 40 children died in the past...