-The Business Standard A sting, Operation Prime Minister, by a TV news channel had said opinion polls could be manipulated by research agencies The Election Commission (EC) of India cannot ban opinion polls ahead of elections; all it can do is remind the Union Government about its long-pending request. And, this is what India's highest poll-conducting body is planning to do, following a TV news channel's sting operation code-named ‘Operation Prime Minister', which...

-The Hindu The programme will cover Hassan, Mysore and Mandya Bangalore: The State government will provide ragi at Re. 1 a kg to below the poverty line (BPL) families in Hassan, Mysore and Mandya districts under the public distribution system (PDS). Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will launch the programme in Nanjangud, Mysore district, on March 1. Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies Dinesh Gundu Rao told presspersons here on Tuesday that the department...

-The Business Standard The IEO which has been modeled on the lines of Mexico's CONEVAL India's first independent evaluation office (IEO) was formally launched on Wednesday. The office is mandated to suggest radical changes in the government's social sector initiatives, as well as in its interface with the private sector through public-private partnership projects. The IEO, modelled on the lines of Mexico's National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy, will give...

-The Hindu     Some changes were ordered on the direct instructions of the Prime Minister The Prime Minister's office has repeatedly ordered and orchestrated dilution of environment and forest clearances in order to fast-pace industrial projects, documents with The Hindu show. In a series of orders and missives sent to the Union Environment and Forests Ministry over 2012-2013, the PMO instructed that regulations and norms had to be diluted or done away with. These...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Keeping an eye on the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the UPA government is considering to raise the workdays under its ambitious rural employment guarantee programme- MNREGA- from 100 to 150 days per year for forest dwellers and tribals. The Union Cabinet on Friday will consider the proposal for additional 50 days of employment to beneficiaries who have been granted land titles under The Scheduled Tribes and...