-Rising Kashmir Jammu, Apr 14: Despite liberal funding from Government of India for its popular scheme of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), state government has failed to complete 34886 works since its inception from 2007. Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India in its report of 2011-12 found that the number of works taken up for execution each year had been very high and the number of incomplete works...

-The Times of India The expansion of UPA's flagship intervention - direct benefits transfer (DBT) - is likely to be pushed back by three months, shrinking the window for fullscale implementation of the scheme that Congress sees as its trump card for the 2014 polls. The scheme to ensure delivery of cash subsidies and entitlements to bank accounts of beneficiaries was launched in January 2013. However, for the scheme to live up...

-The Telegraph Ranchi: Jharkhand today logged on to a national grievance redressal system that gives voice to the citizen unable to shake up a lethargic bureaucracy, empowering him with the tools to ensure he is heard by none other than the governor or chief minister. From his office in Raj Bhavan, Governor Syed Ahmed launched "jharkhandsamadhan.nic.in", a new portal developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC) under the Centralised Public Grievance Redressal and...

-The Hindu Those opposing Justice Katju’s suggestion of minimum qualifications for journalists are out of touch with reality Some years ago, the journalism entrance test at a career development institute in Mumbai had this objective-type question: Kofi Annan is (a) a Nigerian footballer (b) lead singer of a Sierra Leone pop group (c) a Sri Lankan delicacy (d) Secretary-General of the United Nations. The 100-odd candidates who appeared for the test were...

Introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2011, the UPA government’s Food Security Bill is finally going to be discussed in the current (Budget) Session of Parliament. The proposed legislation is now slated to see many additional amendments from the government, following criticism from the States, NGOs and diverse stake-holders working on access to food and child health. Attempt here is to summarise in a Q & A format the...