-The Times of India The Right to Education Act (RTE) mandates that every child has the fundamental right to free and compulsory elementary education in India. March 31, 2013, is the deadline set for full implementation of the Act. However, several challenges need to be overcome, especially to provide education for children in areas of conflict. In the Indian context, three regions experience varying degrees of conflict - Maoist-affected areas, Jammu and...
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Show 'em the money -Josy Joseph
-The Times of India Crest Cash transfers have been described as the world's favourite new anti-poverty device. As India gets set to implement it, TOI-Crest finds out if the politics will ever be divorced from the cash The UPA government's ambitious plan to introduce direct cash transfers (DCT) by January 1, 2013 reflects both the political desperation of a beleaguered government and the urgent need to reform India's inefficient and corrupt public...
More »Myths of our making-Pratap Bhanu Mehta
-The Indian Express Too many of our economic prescriptions are based on dogma, empirical half-truths It has become fashionable to say, following the conclusions of Michael Spence’s Growth Commission, that there is no single recipe for growth, only some common ingredients. Such a claim brings a due degree of modesty to what we do or do not know about growth. And at the very least, such a claim has the virtue of...
More »Cashing in on schemes for poor -Narendar Pani
-The Hindu Any political benefit the Congress hopes to reap in 2014 will come at the cost of reducing the effectiveness of social welfare schemes In getting its ministers to endorse the shift to cash transfers from the AICC office in New Delhi, the Congress has highlighted the political nature of the move. The party clearly expects cash transfers to play the same role for it in 2014 that the National Rural...
More »Politicians corrupt, but few say won't pay bribes: survey -Abhijit Patnaik
-The Hindustan Times Arvind Kejriwal has resorted to publicly naming and shaming everyone from politicians to corporates, Anna Hazare has reignited the Jan Lokpal debates and scandals are being exposed with increasing frequency. The anti-corruption movement has gathered momentum in the last twelve months, and presumably, corrupt officials are running for shelter. Yet, according to a Hindustan Times survey, 41.2% of respondents feel that government officials are more prone to take a...
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