Once the unique identification (UID) project is fully launched, it will also serve as the number to track PF accounts of individuals. Most importantly , this number will not only help in online checking of the status of the account but also to ensure a smooth transfer once a person changes jobs. Labour secretary P C Chaturvedi says this will happen in the second phase of digitization of EPFO but the...

The problem of plastic waste in the city is getting acute by the day. Bangalore generates roughly 5,000 tonne of solid waste daily, of which nearly 50 tonne is plastic. But there is a ray of hope as an M Tech student has taken it upon himself to find ways of countering the menace. A N Ashwin, a student of R V Engineering College, is conducting a study, titled 'Effects of...

Safai karmacharis are set to end their two-decade-long movement for a life of dignity on a victorious note. DECEMBER 31, 2010. As revellers across the world prepare to celebrate the end of the first decade of the new millennium and the start of a new year, a million women across India will be celebrating not the end of a calendar year but the end of a centuries-old degrading and inhuman...

In a gesture to the growing public disenchantment over scams and corruption in public life, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's New Year resolutions for 2011 include “cleansing” the country's governing processes. Wishing all Indians a happy New Year, Dr. Singh said in a brief statement that it was time to take stock of the year gone by and make a new beginning. “Let us dispel the air of despondency and cynicism. We...

As doctor and human rights activist Binayak Sen spends New Year's Day in prison as the only person to be convicted on sedition charges in 2010, it is worth noting that at least five others have also faced the charge over the course of the year. Most of these have been charged for their statements with regard to either the Naxal issue or the Kashmir conflict, according to media watchdog...