-The Times of India   Garhwa: Irregularities involving forged payment of labourers in construction of a road under the MGNREGA have come to light at Gobardaha village in Meral block of the district. The matter has been exposed after information was sought under the RTI Act by social activistDilawar Khan. Deputy commissioner Rajendra Pratap Sinha has taken the matter seriously. Under the scheme number 161112, construction of a road from Gobardaha-Chatania to Aqlim...

-The Times of India   BHOPAL: Driven by abject poverty and financial distress, a farmer along with his wife and two children committed suicide by jumping before a train in Harda district in western Madhya Pradesh, police said on Friday.   Rajendra Singh Rajput, 40, along with his wife aged 35, and two boys Aniketh, 14, and Mohit, 11, was run over by Guwahati Express (Mumbai LTT - Guwahati) in Palasnar area on Thursday...

-PTI Planning Commission, which is mired in a controversy over what constitutes the poverty line, has spent a whopping Rs 35 lakh for renovation of two toilets in New Delhi, an RTI reply has revealed. The Commission, which came up with a controversial poverty line figure of Rs 28 per day for an individual, has spent Rs 30 lakh for the renovation of the toilets on the lines of Indira Gandhi International...

-The Indian Express Jairam Ramesh’s criticism of NREGA highlights that a rights-based approach to poverty reduction cannot work without improving implementation The clamour for the right to social pensions is another attempt to deal with the Indian state’s inability to provide adequate social protection to its poorest citizens through targeted programmes. India’s vulnerable continue to be excluded from social safety nets. The multi-layered problems with social welfare schemes can be summarised in...

WHO panel proposed treaty requires all governments to share cost   India supports a proposed legally binding global instrument that requires all governments to share the cost of research and development (R&D). The treaty, recommended by a World Health Organisation panel, will boost access to countries least able to pay for medical innovations but need it most. This would also delink profits from medical discoveries. The “Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and...