-The Asian Age Sonia Gandhi’s economic and political ideology may have apparently triumphed over that of Manmohan Singh. The neo-liberal finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram may be conveying an impression that he’s turned socialist with a vengeance by increasing taxes on the rich in the run-up to the 16th general elections. But the truth is that Mr Chidambaram has made certain assumptions about subsidies, inflation and the expected growth of gross domestic product...

-The Business Standard FM allocates Rs 10,000 cr to implement the programme; this is apart from the usual food subsidy requirement of Rs 80,000 cr for the year The most ambitious social security programme of the government, the National Food Security Bill, got a leg-up in the 2013-14 Budget, with Finance Minister P Chidambaram allocating Rs 10,000 crore for implementing it. This allocation is over and above the usual food subsidy requirement of...

-The Hindu Chhattisgarh is all set to allow private diagnostic centres at public health facilities within three months. Critics are appalled by the idea of business space for private players in public health facilities while supporters feel it will improve the pallid health care infrastructure in the State. The architect of the new model, J.P. Mishra, chief of the State Health Resource Centre — the State Health Department’s technical assistance body...

-PTI The jobs scheme has expedited the financial inclusion of the rural population, says Manmohan Singh Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said bank and post office accounts opened under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) will help the government provide direct cash transfers to the people. “MNREGA has brought momentum in the financial inclusion of our rural population. Besides direct financial benefit, the scheme has given many indirect benefits...

-The Times of India The Supreme Court on Friday accused the government of trying to frustrate the functioning of courts and quasi-judicial bodies by not providing them any facilities as they found these bodies upsetting their decisions. A bench of Justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya made this scathing observation as the Union government failed to live up to its repeated commitment to bring in uniformity in service conditions and...