-Pratirodh.com If Year 2012 earned the sobriquet of “Year of Scams’ due to serial expose of “super social cop” Arvind Kejeriwal, and the year-end tragic death of girl in Delhi gang rape case reminded us about the most ugly manifestation of ‘Republic of Patriarchy’ in India, Year 2013 promises to be a game changer for the fortunes of welfare state in India as well as political fortunes of UPA-2.   If Narendra Modi,...

-The Indian Express On the eve of the launch of its ambitious Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) programme, the government Monday announced that the welfare plan will be rolled out in 20 districts and cover seven schemes, mostly scholarships, to benefit more than 2 lakh people. The programme will expand to another 11 districts on February 1 and 12 more districts will be added on March 1. A total of 43 districts in...

-The Hindu Unperturbed by protests against its proposed nuclear power plant in Jaitapur, Maharashtra, the French civil nuclear energy major Areva is now in the closing stages of striking an “early works agreement” with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited. This agreement, which is actually a series of studies to ensure that the reactor is in conformity with local conditions, is likely to take nine months. “Areva’s discussions with NPCIL are on....

-io9.com Wheat and grain-based foods are all around us. We love our bagels, pasta, bread, and breakfast cereals. For many, the thought of eliminating these staples from our diets seems wholly unreasonable, if not ludicrous. But a growing number of people are switching to wheat-free diets — and for very good reason. As science is increasingly showing, eating wheat increases the potential for a surprising number of health problems. Here's why...

-The Hindustan Times The Maharashtra chapter of the central government's flagship Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) has criticised the state government for lack of transparency in the contract allocation process, saying it was done to favour the same vested parties.   The principal adviser of the office of commissioner Biraj Patnaik, who drafted the reports, expressed the need for the institution of a Special Investigation Team to investigate the matter. Hindustan Times, on Saturday,...