-The Hindu The U.S. special supplement scheme for women, infants and children to prevent undernutrition is a model that India can learn from India’s economic growth over the last 15 years, and the growing size of the middle class, have become a source of attraction for international investors, especially in the retail food industry. However, the gap between the rich and the poor has only widened: nearly 40 per cent of the...

-The Telegraph The CPM today claimed the government was legally bound to have its decision on allowing foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail ratified by Parliament and urged the Centre to agree on a discussion under a rule that entails voting. Party MP Sitaram Yechury said according to Section 48 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, amendments to permit FDI in the sector have to be endorsed by Parliament within a time...

-The Indian Express Cash transfers seem to be the latest fad. With elections looming, the Prime Minister’s National Committee on Direct Cash Transfers has been tasked with an ambitious mandate to provide vision and direction to enable direct cash transfers of subsidies under various government schemes and programmes to individuals to enhance efficiency. Certain activists warn against an ill-considered and hasty transition from food to cash. Others believe directly transferring the...

-The Hindu Act needs urgent amendments in order to plug loopholes in implementation: Union Minister The Union Government will bring in amendments to the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, during the Budget session of Parliament next year. Addressing a National Dalit Adivasi Sammelan at Ramlila Maidan here on Friday, Union Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment Kumari Selja said the Act needed urgent amendments in order to plug loopholes in...

-The Times of India LUCKNOW: A cash-strapped Uttar Pradesh government wrote off loans worth Rs 1,650 crore to farmers on Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's 74th birthday on Thursday, fulfilling an election promise that is bound to further deplete the state's already dwindling coffers. Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said 7.2 lakh farmers, who've taken loans of up to Rs 50,000 from rural cooperative banks, will benefit from the waiver. "Farmers who've...