The youth will not take no for an answer. Five years on, the RTI comes of age. At four feet something, Santosh’s energy belies her petite frame. The school dropout was introduced to RTI through activist Arvind Kejriwal, and now, at Parivartan’s Sundar Nagri office, she holds fort, helping others acquire everything from BPL and ration cards to school admissions through RTI. Threats and attacks by local authorities who dubbed her...

Elsewhere, people may be obsessed with the Commonwealth Games, but games of a different kind are being played in UP villages these days. Panchayat elections in UP are round the corner and these are being fought with an intensity not seen before. The poll are still three days away and at least eight persons have lost their lives in the last 15 days in the polls-related violence. Hoardings dot countryside; feasts...

Activists at the ongoing mazdoor satyagraha near the Statue Circle here have demanded that the government first initiate action on complaints of anomalies which emerged during the audit of NREGS in the state and thereby set an example of a transparent system before discussing about the virtues of the rural employment scheme at the collectors’ conference here. They handed over a letter to chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday, pointing out...

With Aadhaar, a 12-digit number issued by the government, all set to become the single source as proof of identity and residence in India, the state government has begun a pilot project in some areas of the city and suburbs as a prelude to a massive exercise scheduled over the next five months. Food & civil supplies department officials have stepped up efforts to reach out to all residents as per...

State Rural Development Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh has written to B K Sinha, Secretary (Union Rural Development department) on Friday, saying that it has become difficult to provide employment under MNREGS due to paucity of funds. “There are several Gram Panchayats and executing agencies without any funds in UP. This is creating a situation, where it is becoming difficult to comply with the mandate to provide employment on demand in...