A deafening silence hovers over Jerua three days after firebrand activist Niyamat Ansari was dragged out of his home, beaten up and killed for exposing fraud perpetrated by unscrupulous contractors, possibly in cahoots with Maoists, while implementing projects meant to ensure financial empowerment for villagers. Around 150km from the state capital, Jerua is part of Manika block in the Maoist hub of Latehar district. The 10-km mud road through dense forests...

This article documents and then examines the various benefits that, it is claimed, will flow from linking the Unique Identity number with the public distribution system and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. It filters the unfounded claims, which arise from a poor understanding of how the PDS and NREGS function, from the genuine ones. On the latter, there are several demanding conditions that need to be met in order...

Smart card technology can be used to streamline India's unwieldy PDS. But it is yet to prove itself under real world challenges. Smart cards have become the latest buzzword to remedy India's public distribution system (PDS) — one of the largest food grain delivery networks in the world with more than 500,000 ‘ration' shops. Electronic voting machines have streamlined Indian elections. Credit cards, which can be swiped for payment at any...

Mizoram Police arrested a postmaster who was fleeing to neighbouring Myanmar with Rs.13.50 lakh meant to be disbursed for work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), police said here Monday. The Money was deposited with Lalrodinga, 36, a postmaster at Vaphai branch Post Office in eastern Mizoram, by the rural development department for subsequent disbursement among the MGNREGS workers. 'Lalrodinga Sunday took the Money from the post office...

Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has launched a legal battle, one day after he was sacked from the Grameen microfinance bank he founded. Prof Yunus lodged a case in Bangladesh's High Court challenging his dismissal from the post, lawyers said. The central bank sacked him saying he was past retirement age and had been improperly installed in his post. Grameen Bank disputes the accusations. He has been under pressure from the government to...