Despite tall claims, the NREGA programme is just a dud as most other “in the name of the poor” expenditures - and as much of a dud as predicted by Rajiv Gandhi A decade or so ago, Booker prize winner Arundhati Roy claimed that the building of dams in India had displaced more than 50 million people. This implied that one out of every three rural Indians had had to move...

The state has received Rs 5,942 crore, or 19% of the total Rs 31,149 crore released by New Delhi this financial year, it is followed by UP, allocated Rs 4,726 crore, or 15% and Andhra Pradesh, with Rs 3,781 crore, or 12% Rajasthan remains the top beneficiary of funds released by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government for its flagship income generation scheme. The state has received Rs 5,942 crore, or 19%...

THE sharp criticism of the State administration by the National Commission for Scheduled Castes for perceived inadequacies in enforcing the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and in implementing various welfare measures aimed at empowering Dalits has put the Tamil Nadu government in a tight spot. Despite denials by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, who is also a top leader of the United Progressive Alliance which is...

The cost of health care is known to push millions into poverty every year, a fact from which India is not exempt. In fact, rural Indians spend nearly 27 per cent of their income on health care. Given that the Indian state spends only 0.9 per cent of its GDP on health one of the lowest allocations in the world it is not surprising that a large part of the...

One looks forward to the Finance Minister's budget speech with a hope that it spells some new major initiatives and schemes for development, and that it might promise any major allocation of resources to any sector, besides fresh tax proposals. In the case of education sector, one might feel disappointed at the proposals made in the Union budget for 2010-11 on both counts. No new initiatives are proposed; no major...