The government has a plan to reach welfare to the poor without wasting money. It wants to put hard cash in their hands instead of spending on welfare programmes. To begin with, it wants to end the public distribution system of food grain and give money directly to the people. Its logic: the new system of cash transfer will plug leakages and save an enormous amount of money. But is it...

Even though the Central Government agreed to link the wages paid under MG-NREGA to the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers (CPIAL), it shied away from paying statutory minimum wages in various states of India. Their logic for this: Lack of clarity on who will bear the extra financial burden—the Centre or the states? A letter from the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to UPA and NAC Chairperson Sonia Gandhi dated 31...

An intense cold wave has gripped northern India, claiming more than thirty lives already. Five more deaths were reported across Uttar Pradesh as the mercury dipped due to rains at some places. While a 70-year-old man and a two-year-old boy died in Bahraich and Farukkhabad districts respectively, one death each was reported from Sitapur, Mahoba and Chitrakoot in the last 24 hours. Etawah was the coldest at 6.1 degrees, Lucknow was...

The cold wave continues to disrupt normal life across north India, and the death toll is now reported to be over 326. Another 38 deaths were reported from Uttar Pradesh, taking the death toll in the state to almost 300. The fresh casualties were reported from Barabanki and Sitapur (5 each), Gonda and Varanasi (4 each), Etah and Orai (3 each), Lucknow, Muzaffarnagar, Kheri, Kushinagar, Balia and Chandauli (2 each)...