-The Hindu Business Line Welfare programmes do work these days. That's because their implementation determines poll outcomes In the last 15 years, India has seen the adoption of an "alphabet soup" of ambitious national anti-poverty programmes: a rural connectivity scheme (PMGSY), a universal primary schooling initiative (SSA), a rural health initiative (NRHM), a rural electrification scheme (RGGVY), a rural employment guarantee (NREGA), a food subsidy (Food Security Act), and a new digital...

-The Indian Express We have achieved close to universal enrolment. Now the focus should turn to the quality of education. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 states that every child in India has a right to a full-time elementary education of satisfactory and equitable quality in a formal school that satisfies certain essential norms and standards. Even a cursory reading of the law indicates that it...

-The Business Standard FDI in multi-brand retailing could be reversed if the party forms govt; India Inc seeks review of manifesto The Bharatiya Janata Party manifesto decision to oppose foreign direct investment in supermarkets has made the sector more wary. The United Progressive Alliance' policy to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail in September 2012 could be reversed if the BJP comes to power at the Centre. "The policy can be...

-Reuters OSLO: World powers are running out of time to slash their use of high-polluting fossil fuels and stay below agreed limits on global warming, a draft UN study to be approved this week shows. Government officials and top climate scientists will meet in Berlin from April 7-12 to review the 29-page draft that also estimates the needed shift to low-carbon energies would cost between two and six percent of world...

-Live Mint   What explains the mystery of job growth slowing so drastically just when growth spiked up so rapidly? The health of the economy occupied the centrestage of the political battlefield this week, as the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) engaged in a spirited debate on India's economic performance. A major bone of contention was the slower pace of job growth in the UPA's 10-year...