-Outlook Chandwa (J'hand): All districts in Jharkhand would be covered in the Direct Cash Transfer programme by middle of next year, Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said today. "Now Hazaribagh, Ramgarh, Sareikela-Kharsawan and Ranchi are among the Jharkhand districts in the country where Direct Cash Transfer programme will begin from January 1. We are trying to cover all the districts in the state by May," the Rural Development minister said while taking stock...

-The Times of India The Centre has set up an expert committee to determine the poverty mark to identify beneficiaries of rural development ministry's programmes. The committee, to be headed by Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen, will examine the figures of the socio-economic caste survey to decide who is below the poverty line in terms of deserving the rural welfare schemes focused on poor like Indira Awas Yojana, old-age pension and national...

-Frontline The Congress-led UPA seems to be betting heavily on the cash transfer scheme as a means to return to power in the next general elections. DECEMBER 2012 may go down in history as the month when the Congress party created its own “India Shining” moment: the moment when it started believing its own hype, and even deluded itself into thinking that its perception was so widely shared that it could provide...

-Outlook Opposing direct cash transfer and FDI in retail, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh today said inordinate delay in decision making and complicated procedures for statutory clearances were hurting the country's economy growth and investor sentiment. He told a meeting of National Development Council (NDC) here, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, that the 12th plan has been made on "patronage model" and impinges on the autonomy of the states by making...

-Outlook National Minorities Commission Chairman Wajahat Habibullah today criticised former army chief V K Singh for taking to streets against the gang rape of a girl here asking whether allegations of rape against personnel of the force in Jammu and Kashmir have ever been enquired into. A former IAS officer of the Jammu and Kashmir cadre, who was also the first Chief Information Commissioner of the country, said a productive way would...