-The Hindu Business Line   Input subsidy expenses not contributing to boost productivity The World Bank has said that South ASIa's foodgrain stock management, especially in India, needs to improve to tackle inflation. In its focus on food inflation in South ASIa, the bank said that high stocks have led to high wastage due to inadequate storage capacity and technology. According to World Bank's estimates, the Food Corporation of India lost 10-16 million tonnes...

-The Times of India   The Union Cabinet is set to approve a new law that will provide more rights to tribals in commencement and end of mining activity besides providing Rs 10,000 crore annually to 60 tribal-dominated districts. The bill for the new mining law and the repeal of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 is on the agenda for the Cabinet meeting scheduled for Friday. The bill, expected...

The re-classification of villages and towns, and the changes this brings to the nation's rural-urban profile, happens every decade. Yet only Census 2011 shows us a huge turnaround, with urban India adding more people (91 million) than rural India (90.6 million) for the first time in 90 years. Clearly, something huge has happened in the last 10 years that drives those numbers. And that is: huge, uncharted migrations of people...

-The Pioneer   The Government may go for a comparative study of RTI in different countries in order to check its misuse. The Government will table Public Procurement Policy Bill and a Bill on electoral reforms to check corruption in the public arena. “Undoubtedly, RTI is being misused…Even judges feel that it is hampering the work of courts in matters of decisions and appointments of judges…We can have comparative study on it,” said...

-Live Mint   In almost all instances, what is feared is the disclosure of “damaging” information—information that shows official lapses. Looked from another vantage, if officials have not done any wrong, they should have no fear at the release of such facts Six years after it was passed, the Right to Information (RTI) Act evokes contrasting feelings. Among politicians and in officialdom, suspicion and hostility are dominant moods. Among citizens, hope and despair—in...