-Deccan Herald Cash transfer for public schemes is a “terrible lie”, said activists at a meeting held at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday. Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat said that if one compared India with African countries, India would beat them in terms of poverty. “The government is not willing to tax business tycoons and is making the common man suffer by cutting down subsidies,” she said. Karat added that her...

-The Times of India MYSORE: Around 100 rural women from across the district are participating in a two-day 'Panchayat committee mela' which began here on Monday. Panchayat members coming under Mahila Samakhaya Karnataka are attending the mela which is aimed at empowering them so they can be self-reliant by availing schemes and programmes. Series of programmes and lectures are being held to educate them on the facilities provided at the panachayat level....

-Rediff.com Bihar Rural Development Minister Nitish Mishra on Monday ordered an inquiry into the allegations that nearly 73 per cent of the funds allotted for implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in 38 districts of Bihar, between 2006 and 2012, have been embezzled by authorities "The department will inquire into the corruption and will conduct physical verification of all facts related to the scheme," Mishra said. The Bihar government...

-The Times of India The Congress moved with alacrity on Tuesday to put the stamp of its "hand" on 'direct cash transfers', calling it an election promise fulfilled and lining up Rahul Gandhi to lead the celebrations in the build-up to the launch of what it sees as a "game-changing" scheme. Finance minister P Chidambaram and rural development minister Jairam Ramesh chose the Congress party platform to announce the launch of the...

-The Economic Times Congress is hoping to reap political dividends from its move to provide direct cash transfer to the beneficiaries of welfare schemes just as it believes it did in the previous elections from the rural employment guarantee scheme. Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh, who, along with finance minister P Chidambaram, was deputed by the party to explain the details of the ambitious scheme on Tuesday, termed the initiative "a...