-The Hindu     Nearly three years after the government began experimenting with Aadhaar-based payments in Jharkhand, it has not been able to start disbursing payments to beneficiaries at their doorstep Jharkhand was one of five pilot States chosen for an Aadhaar-enabled payment system (AEPS). Beginning with Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) payments in select blocks in four districts in 2012, AEPS added pension and scholarship schemes and the Janani Suraksha...

-The Telegraph Rohtas: The Kaimur plateau, once an arms training centre for Maoist cadres, is turning out to be a hub of medicinal plants. Thanks to Ritesh Kumar pandey, a progressive farmer, the plateau has turned from "red to green". Cultivation of medicinal plants such as ghreet kumari (aloe vera), ashwagandha (withania somnifera) and shatavar or satavari (asparagus recemosus) on the water-starved land has created a buzz among the residents of Maoist-hit districts...

-The Business Standard The recent US-India friction over trade is being driven by Big Pharma Apart from the deterioration of the business environment generally, which impacts both domestic and foreign investors, retrospective taxation has figured most prominently in the media as the principal cause of growing scepticism among foreign investors. Entirely missing from the discourse has been an equally potent factor with wholly foreign origins: the hijacking of the economic policy...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Days after senior lawyer Fali Nariman declined to be part of the Lokpal search committee, more embarrassment was headed the government's way with former Supreme Court judge K T Thomas turning down its offer to head the panel. Thomas wrote to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) declining consent and raising doubts over the two-layered procedure to finalize the chairman and members of the anti-corruption watchdog. Noting...

-Outlook Thiruvananthapuram: A nearby village panchayats been declared as the first e-literate panchayat, marking a milestone in Kerala's bid to become the first e-literate state in the country. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy made the declaration of Pallichal panchayat becoming the first e-literate grass root level civic unit via video conferencing yesterday. The e-literacy programme, implemented in Pallichal, would be extended to other village panchayats in the state soon, he said. Referring to the initiatives...