The HRD ministry has sought Rs 45,000 crore every year from the next financial year to implement the watershed Right To Education law. It is almost double than what the ministry had received for elementary education in the 11th five year plan. In a presentation made to the Planning Commission for 12th five year plan starting from 2011-12, the ministry complained that although Rs 1.84 crore was allocated for elementary education...

NCM orders compensation for boys framed in Mecca Masjid blast case Four years after the Andhra Pradesh police picked up 21 Muslim boys and wrongly accused them of involvement in the Mecca Masjid bomb blast, there is finally some hope that they can resume normal life without the stigma of terrorism. The hope comes via the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), which recently made four key recommendations to the State government. A...

Sharp differences persist in the government over whether and how much of an impact the impending food law is likely to have on open market food prices. At a time when input costs for farmers have already gone up significantly and threaten volatility in food prices, the food ministry has dismissed apprehensions voiced by Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices ( CACP) chairman Ashok Gulati on the issue. Last week,...

-The Indian Express   Accepting the Uttar Pradesh government’s request, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) will start a special audit of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in the state from Monday. The CAG, through the Principal Accountant General (Civil Audit), Uttar Pradesh, will audit NRHM schemes since the beginning of the scheme up to March 31, 2011 in 24 districts. For the auditing, five zonal auditing wings have been created in Lucknow,...

Draft Bill on land acquisition pegs compensation on market value but how government agencies will reach this value remains a concern In response to farmers’ agitation in the last few years over faulty land acquisition and poor compensation—the Tata-Singur fiasco in West Bengal, Posco in Orissa or the recent farmers’ agitation in Noida—the ministry of rural development is planning to replace the archaic Land Acquisition Bill, 1894. It has come up...