-The Hindustan Times Adhering to Mao Tse-Tung's guerrilla warfare style of surrounding urban centres from the countryside, Communist Party of India (Maoist) has unleashed a long-term grand plan of expansion. Their target is the restive northeast where they plan to build their presence steadily in villages. "The plan is five-pronged and is centred on building up support networks in the villages of Assam and Tripura as of now. Then it will move...

-The Economic Times The revised, but not yet passed, National Food Security Bill (NFSB) represents a crucial political-economic approach to welfare. But how well do we understand the financial and, more importantly, distributional consequences of the revised Bill? Although the revised Bill is likely to simplify the identification of beneficiaries, financial implications will still be substantial. Calculating these implications must include not only the cost of food subsidy, but also additional costs...

A recent statistical study by Indian researchers suggest that the MNREGA program in rural Andhra Pradesh might be having a positive effect on school enrolment and grades by improving the bargaining power of women within their household, as a consequence of earning wages in the rural job security program. The study is based on data from rural households in 5 districts in Andhra Pradesh and comprised of 3006 children, comparing...

-The Indian Express The Right to Education (RTE) Act to ensure students from economically weaker sections (EWS) get 25 per cent reservation in admissions has left much to be desired at the ground level as far as execution is concerned. Education officials have pointed out some loopholes that enable private schools to take it easy. As per the latest GR, flying squads have to be formed in every district to ensure schools comply...

-The Hindu The south leads in the number of medical and nursing seats, with for-profit private colleges dominating the scene. It will take major capacity expansion in the government sector to meet WHO norms on access to health professionals. India has achieved major organisational and technological successes but the health system's performance is abysmal. This cannot be attributed to poverty. It is Poor health that places India 134th in the Human Development...