-Express News Service Ahmedabad: The state government has decided not to purchase and distribute Monsanto maize seeds to tribal farmers any more following fears expressed by them that these seeds could cause male and female infertility. Instead, these farmers can buy any of the government-certified seeds from open market and then claim subsidy from their respective district agriculture officers. The decision was taken jointly by the state’s agriculture and the tribal ministry on...

Difficult times call for difficult measures. Pushed into a corner by an unsustainable fiscal deficit and various sectors and programs (including the proposed food security legislation) screaming for a greater share of the budget pie, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in India has been forced to do what it might not have otherwise—reduce its marquee job guarantee scheme’s allocation in a big way for the first time.  In one...

MGNREGA can only succeed if politics is taken seriously in the design of accountability mechanisms Does political competition enhance a poor person’s access to anti-poverty initiatives such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA)? Just as some economists believe that competition is an effective way to improve management and productivity, in politics too, some hold that political competition is better than single-party monopoly, because it forces political parties...

Dispur has decided to seek the intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resolve the contentious D-voter issue as well as consider the case of Hindus who came to Assam after Partition on humanitarian grounds. These issues will be part of the memorandum Dispur will be submitting to Singh, who will be here on a daylong visit to attend the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Assam Assembly, despite the 12-hour Assam...

-IANS The Rajasthan High Court Thursday issued show-cause notices to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director and other agency officers on allegations of harassment by a local politician during investigation into the case of missing nurse Bhanwari Devi, a lawyer said. The notices were issued to CBI director, a deputy inspector general of police (DIG), a superintendent of police (SP) and an inspector-rank officer, the lawyer added. Shabhu Singh Khetasar, a former Bharatiya...