-Frontline The tussle within some Central government Ministries over proposed cuts in the budget for rural development schemes has affected a promise made to senior citizens. THEIR wizened faces said it all. Though there was disappointment, there was also a glimmer of hope that their trek to the national capital would not go in vain. For almost a month, senior citizens, most of them poor, had been pouring into New Delhi from...

-The Hindu Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) is the first of its kind bank in India, meant for women. However, the bank is neither completely run by women, and nor is it exclusively for women. The first CMD of Bharatiya Mahila Bank, Usha Ananthasubramanian, explains to The Hindu the concept of the Bank which is just about two months old. Edited excerpts from the interview: * How is Bharatiya Mahila Bank different from the...

-The Hindu Business Line Clientelism - tying benefits to political choices - cannot work because voting preferences cannot be ascertained. Do parties and their local agents link access to government services and benefits from government welfare schemes to how voters vote, or are expected to vote? This political strategy, which social scientists refer to as clientelism, depends on a massive investment in local leaders who collect information on voters' party preferences, vote choices...

-Outlook Some moderation in vegetable and fruit prices eased December retail inflation to three-month low of 9.87 per cent, giving the Reserve Bank of India more leeway to manage Interest Rates. Inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for November has been revised marginally downwards to 11.16 per cent from preliminary estimate of 11.24 per cent. Vegetable prices on annual basis rose 38.76 per cent in December, a slower pace than...

-The Times of India Gujarat's much-touted Chiranjeevi Yojana, launched in 2006 to reduce maternal and infant mortality rates in BPL households, has not had any significant impact, says a new study by Duke University. The programme, which subsidizes the cost of delivery at designated private sector hospitals, has not led to increased probability of institutional child-delivery. Also, analyses of household expenditure of women who used the subsidized delivery scheme in private hospitals...