-The Hindu With clean energy access a high priority for India, we must look beyond kerosene, ensuring alternatives After the success of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)/cooking gas, the government has now decided to launch DBT for kerosene (DBTK), starting with pilots in the State of Jharkhand. While the move is well-intentioned, it may not be simple to implement at scale, and may even fail to eliminate the...

-The Indian Express The NCC held that it is for the presiding member of the consumer forum to choose either of the methods to ensure its orders are not breached. New Delhi: IN A stern message to all builders, the National Consumer Commission (NCC) has held that officials of real estate firms can be arrested for failing to hand over flats or make refunds on time. Last week, the Commission bench, presided...

A recently released report shows that only a few enterprises belonging to the labour-intensive Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector could take advantage of the 205 number of public schemes (available in October 2015) of various Ministries or Departments of the Government, as listed at the website www.clusterobservatory.in.   (Please click here to access the report on MSMEs and the challenges they face). Prepared by the Foundation for MSME Clusters...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Every day 4,800 applications are filed to access information from the government across India. The first decadal study conducted after Right to Information (RTI) Act implemented in October 2005 has revealed that over 1.75 crore applications have been filed with one-fourth being requests to the Centre. A study conducted by Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), exclusively accessed by ET, reveals that 27.2% (47.66 lakh) of the total...

-Down to Earth How companies are supplying unsafe and unverified nutrition supplements to children in Karnataka A curious case has emerged in Karnataka. Well-known companies, including Biocon, Jindal Steel and Scania, are supplying spirulina granules to undernourished and malnourished children enrolled in anganwadis (child daycare centres) under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), in direct contravention of a 2004 Supreme Court order which said, “Contractors shall not be used for supply...