-Press Information Bureau/ Ministry of Finance The plan outlay of 2015-16 reflects the compositional shift in the allocations for various Programmes and Schemes in view of high devolution; 42% of Union Taxes, to States as per the recommendation of 14th Finance Commission. Making his Budget Speech while presenting the General Budget 2015-16, the Finance Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley said that consequent to this substantially higher devolution, many schemes on the State...

-The Hindu The government's first full year budget is an excellent chance to recognise missed opportunities and take corrective action with regard to investing in addressing gender inequality The coming Union budget is significant for at least two reasons: first, this will be the new government's maiden full year budget. Second, with the NITI Aayog replacing the Planning Commission, the government is likely to abolish the distinction between plan and non-plan budgets. This...

-The Indian Express A few years ago I met a woman, let's call her Chandibai, in a village outside Udaipur. A former panchayat member, she was now a leader in her village - a person to whom others (particularly other women) turned for help. She wore her mobile on a cord around her neck and had the panchayat president, the village development officer and even the district collector's office on speed...

-The Hindu Six studies in four continents also reveal that small loans had no impact on women's Empowerment Six studies in four continents, including one in India, have shown no evidence of microcredit successfully alleviating poverty, researchers said on Friday. Microcredit also had no impact on women's Empowerment, the findings showed, upturning one of the articles of faith of development policy, including in India. Conducted by researchers affiliated to Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)...

-The Hindu Panipat (Haryana): Launching the ‘Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' scheme in Haryana, he said we must fight female foeticide and celebrate the birth of a girl child. The ‘Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' scheme, which seeks to address gender imbalance and discrimination against the girl child, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Panipat in Haryana on Thursday. This is the fourth major scheme of his government after Jan Dhan Yojana, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan...