The government's flagship programme MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Emolyment Guarantee Act) has created a source of additional income for families living below the poverty line in tribal areas of Rajasthan but has failed to check distress migration as minimum 100 days of employment assured under the Act is not provided to all workers. Many villagers in Dungarpur, Udaipur and Rajsamand districts claim that the scheme is mostly attracting women and...

Lobbyist Niira Radia , who’s in the eye of major storm over her taped telephonic conversations with a wide variety of people, including politicians, corporates and journalists, was on Tuesday grilled by the CBI over her alleged involvement in swinging commercial deals which smacked of a quid pro quo. A three-member CBI team subjected Radia to an intense questioning at her Chhatarpur farmhouse in south Delhi this morning. The interrogation, which...

A lack of toilets and poor hygiene practices in India cost Asia's third largest economy almost $54 billion every year, the World Bank said on Monday. Premature deaths, treatment for the sick, wasted time and productivity, as well as lost tourism revenues, are the main reasons for the high economic losses, the bank said in a report. "For decades, we have been aware of the significant impacts of inadequate sanitation in India,"...

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offered Monday to appear before a committee investigating a telecommunications scandal that has rocked India’s political establishment. He rejected claims by opposition parties that he had been trying to avoid any questioning. “I wish to state categorically that I have nothing to hide from the public at large,” Mr. Singh said on the final day of a plenary session of the Indian National Congress Party. “As proof...

IT WAS a windfall five years ago that taught Panchali Satyavva the power of a lie. It happened one Monday afternoon in Someshwar village of Nizamabad district in Andhra Pradesh. It was raining in sheets and she had just placed a bucket under the steady trickle of water from the roof of her hut. Two men were at her door, holding umbrellas and offering her an unsolicited Rs. 5,000. They...