-Pratirodh.com The fanfare with which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi launched a service delivery scheme in Rajasthan based on the Aadhaar (foundation) unique identity (UID), and celebrated the issue of the first Aadhaar number topping the 200-million mark, should make the Indian National Congress a very worried party indeed—assuming it has a good survival instinct and basic grasp of practical politics.    To put it starkly, the Congress and...

-The Economic Times The Food Security Act would encourage below poverty line women to have more children, defeating the government's population-control efforts, says one of the 1.6 lakh opinions the standing committee on food and consumer affairs has received. The suggestion, hence, is to remove pregnant women from the list of beneficiaries of the food security bill. This is not the only shocking suggestion. Another suggestion is to avoid nutritional protection to...

-The Times of India Everyone agrees that India needs to deliver social protection to the aam admi; the forthcoming Food Security Bill is one such attempt. Everyone also agrees that the government service delivery pipelines are riddled with leakages and largescale corruption. Direct cash transfers have been proposed as a way to remedy this defective system. However, as could be expected, the debate has become polarised, with one side believing that cash...

-DD News Indian Union Cabinet has approved Rs 4,000 crores proposal for multipronged strategy for the prevention and control of Japanese Encephalitis and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome. The meeting chaired by the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh approved the proposal of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare recommended by the Group of Ministers. The scheme will be implemented in 60 priority districts for a period of 5 years from this year. This scheme will...

-The Times of India An average Indian lived 4.6 years longer in 2008 compared to a decade earlier. An average Indian woman lived three years more than her male counterpart in 2008. While the life expectancy at birth for women was 67.7 years, for men it stood at 64.6 years. This was an increase of 2.5 years and 1.8 years, respectively, when compared to the life expectancy (LE) in 2002. According to the...