A number of questions on the Unique Identification (UID) project continue to remain unanswered while the project itself is necessitated by the government's policy shift to play an indirect rather than direct role in providing services, a panel of researchers told journalists on the sidelines of a public talk on the subject at St. Xavier's College here on Saturday. Usha Ramanathan, researcher on jurisprudence, poverty and rights, said it was not...

8 lakh girls, from 11 to 18 years, will benefit from scheme Rajasthan Women and Child Development Minister Bina Kak launched the “Sabala Yojana” here on Monday for empowerment of out-of-school adolescent girls through supplementary nutrition and life skills training at anganwadi centres, ensuring their mental and physical growth, and enabling them to become self-sufficient. Addressing the inaugural function at Jawahar Kala Kendra here, Ms. Kak said about eight lakh girls in...

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has found several inadequacies in the implementation of the Swarnajayanthi Gram Swarozgar Yojana (self-employment scheme) by the State government, including inadequate coverage of the SC/ST and disabled beneficiaries and ineffective monitoring mechanism. The report of the CAG (Panchayat Raj institutions) - 2009, tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday, points out that non-utilisation of grants on time resulted in the loss of assistance to...

The new era of price rise can be turned into a profitable proposition for the farmer. The decade that passed can safely be called agrarian. For good or bad reasons, the world spent the decade talking about agriculture. Food grain price rise was the talking point across the continents. To note a landmark, the decade ended an era of cheap food. After the food crisis in 1974 there was a continuous...

The government has begun discussions with Dalit entrepreneurs on what can be done to promote business ventures set up by members of their community. As a part of its discussions with various groups before it finalizes the 12th Plan for 2012-17, the Planning Commission has sought suggestions from the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Dicci), a business group, on what can be done to spur Dalit capitalism, how these...