-The Hindustan Times The government plans to put up coal mines for bidding by private steel, power and cement companies and introduce changes in the law to enable commercial mining in the future, signalling its intent to fully open the sector to private players. The new auction-based system will replace the earlier controversial policy of allotting coal blocks based on recommendations of a panel of bureaucrats, which the Supreme Court had struck...

-The Hindustan Times India's wholesale inflation rate plunged to 2.38% in September, the lowest in five years, aided by a sharp drop in vegetable and petrol prices, data released on Tuesday showed, rekindling hopes that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will cut interest rates soon. The more than one percentage point drop in wholesale inflation rates over August's 3.74% should bring cheer to the NDA government, which rode to a landslide...

-The Hindu A systemic reform of the health sector in order to meet the key objectives of equity, efficiency and quality is long overdue. In this, the Central and State governments need to make interventions intelligently, decisively and strategically so that the poor reap the benefits How does Prime Minister Narendra Modi's focus on population, health and subjects like public hygiene, the facilitation of toilets and ensuring preventive health through yoga fit...

-The Statesman Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed anguish over suicides by farmers, whose condition has not improved despite the high rate of economic growth. The reason for this distressing state of affairs is that economic policies are badly crafted. The primary effort of the Government has been to increase agricultural production. The price factor is not taken into consideration, the perception being that the farmer will be better off...

-The Business Standard   The Jan Dhan Yojana has a lot of gaps to fill The NDAs financial inclusion programme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, targets poor households unlike similar schemes of the UPA, which focussed on villages. The scheme targets rural and urban unbanked households. That said, the scheme too has its own share of flaws. Misplaced enthusiasm A chat with poor casual workers after the launch of the Yojana gave the impression that...