-The Hindu Difficulty in implementing schemes, owing to conceptual confusion at multiple levels: Khurshid External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Sunday attributed the difficulty in administering and implementing welfare programmes for Muslims to conceptual confusion evident at multiple levels — from courts through policymakers and social scientists and experts. Mr. Khurshid, who previously held charge of the Ministry of Minority Affairs, said a Supreme Court interim stay had facilitated the implementation of four...

The total expenditure on central schemes for the poor and on the major subsidies exceeds the states' share of central taxes. These schemes are chronic bad performers due to a culture of immunity in public administration and weakened local governments. Arguing that the poor should be trusted to use these resources better than the state, a radical redirection with substantial direct transfers to individuals and complementary decentralisation to local governments...

-Outlook Andhra Pradesh today asked the Centre to increase the number of wage days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Scheme (MGNREGS) from the present 150 to 200 to benefit non-farm labour and marginalised sections of the society. In his speech at the National Development Council meeting which was read out by Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy emphasised the need for synchronising MGNREGS with agriculture...

-The Hindu The Andhra Pradesh Assembly did itself proud by passing a Bill aimed at bringing the State’s disadvantaged sections on a par with the rest of society in economic, educational and human development terms in the next 10 years. The Andhra Pradesh Assembly did itself proud by passing a Bill aimed at bringing the State’s disadvantaged sections on a par with the rest of society in economic, educational and human development...

-The Financial Express The massive scale and complexity of major subsidy schemes are likely to delay the ambitious plan of limiting state subsidy on food, fertiliser and petroleum products only to the poor by directly transferring cash to their bank accounts using a unique identity number (Aadhaar). While other cash payments like pension, scholarship, wage under rural job guarantee scheme can be transferred directly to the beneficiary’s bank account, it is difficult...