What’s Working... Cashless facility for hospital care, medicine for BPL families Ensures one-point diagnosis, treatment with empanelled hospitals Fixed charges for procedures reduces chances of fleecing Empanelled private hospitals help ease burden on state ones *** ...And What’s Not Lack of awareness leads to under-utilisation of the scheme Flaws in BPL data deprives many of the RSBY card Outcome dependent on regular monitoring of service providers Could shift focus from need to improve...

FOR THE human race to survive, Mahatma Gandhi would always insist, its women must eventually take charge of the affairs of men. In the last 150 years, incredibly courageous women’s rights movements have waged epochal battles across the world, most notably in the US, to wrest parity from generations of chauvinistic men, bringing themselves adult suffrage, working rights and numerous social, political and economic benefits. So, for India to become...

Vedanta Aluminium has violated forest conservation guidelines and failed to follow the Forest Rights Act in letter and in spirit at a proposed bauxite mine project in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa, according to a report submitted by a three-member team to the Union Environment and Forests Ministry. Following allegations about the project earlier this year, the Ministry constituted the team — with a forestry official, a former government wildlife official...

After ghost employees, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is being haunted by ghost pensioners. According to the civic agency, it pays Rs 1.5 crore per month to ghost pensioners, which add up to Rs 17 crore per year. The civic agency issues cheques of Rs 1,000 each as pension to approximately two lakh widows and old people having no source of income. However, it has come to light that many...

The Bt brinjal seed stock developed in the country should be deposited with the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources to prevent any potential leakage or contamination during the moratorium on its commercial release. The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee made this decision during its meeting on February 9, Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. He was answering a question on whether the...