In February 2011, India will become the first country in the world to issue its residents biometric-based numbers (UID) to establish identity. For this purpose, the Central government has constituted the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) under the Planning Commission. The UID number is marketed as a fundamental enabler for efficient delivery of government services and inclusive development. As per the Authority, benefits of the UID number include elimination...

Has India's poorest and most lawless state turned the corner? If you believe the government of the northern state of Bihar, the answer appears to be in the affirmative. According to it, Bihar clocked up a giddy growth rate of 11.03% in 2008-2009. This would make it India's second fastest growing state economy, just behind the industrially-developed western state of Gujarat. Not so long ago, Bihar was written off as a...

क्या छत्तीसगढ़ में विधि व्यवस्था और सांविधानिक संरचना टूट चुकी है। भले ही सूबे की सरकार इससे इनकार करे मगर देश के कुछ सबसे ज्यादा प्रतिष्ठित नागरिक संगठन कम से कम ऐसा ही मानते हैं। कई नागरिक संगठनों ने सरकारी अधिकारियों, अदालत और यहां तक की प्रधानमंत्री को भी ऑपरेशन ग्रीनहंट के तहत हो रही उस पुलिसिया ज्यादती के बारे में लिखा है जिसे सूबे की पुलिस और अर्द्धसैनिक बल...

What sets poverty in India apart is the effort that has gone into defining, measuring, recalibrating, contesting, recounting, refining and disputing its magnitude, nature and, at least, in the case of one protagonist, existence. This exegesis on poverty has been captured in a World Bank volume, The Great indian Poverty Debate, published before the latest estimates by Prof Suresh Tendulkar kicked off yet another round of heated discussion on the...

A complete overhaul of the indian Legal Service is in the offing. The law ministry is preparing a cabinet note for this purpose so as to bring the ILS on a par with the civil services so that the best students out of law schools join the government. It has started consultations with the department of personnel and training in this regard. A senior ministry official said recruitment will begin...