A Planning Commission evaluation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) has questioned the effectiveness of projects implemented under the Act in boosting productivity and creating assets. NREGA, the Union government’s flagship anti-poverty programme that promises 100 days of employment every year to the rural poor, is partly credited with driving the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to victory in the April-May general election. In a presentation made at Prime Minister...

The US would consider using Sulabh International’s sanitation and water conservation techniques and help in its promotion globally, said US Ambassador Tim Roemer addressing a group of liberated scavengers and students from under-privileged sections of society here over the weekend. Mr. Roemer, who visited Sulabh International’s headquarters on a special request from its founder Bindeshwar Pathak, lauded the work done by the NGO in the field of sanitation and commended use...

Year 2010 could go down in history as a watershed for undertrial prisoners, who for long have been the silent victims of apathy of the police, prosecuting agencies, prison authorities and judiciary. The UPA government is setting a six-month deadline, starting January 26, for the release of 1.25 lakh of the 1.7 lakh undertrials languishing in jail though booked for petty offences and despite having served a major part of...

In an effort to unburden children, the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan has laid down stringent weight norms for school bags carried by students. KVS has asked its schools to maintain the lowest school bag weight of less than two kg for students in Classes 1 and 2 with the highest bag weight, six kg, allowed for those studying in Classes 8 to 12. KVS has directed the principals of its schools...

At least two cases of hunger deaths have been reported from Jabalpur district of MP and Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan in the past few weeks. The two states are run by different political parties-- the BJP and the Congress-- but there is quite a lot common in the victims’ circumstances. Both families were among the poorest in their villages but were not included in the BPL list and both the...