The way has been cleared for public access to the data collected by Union government ministries and departments, with official approval being accorded to the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP). Following its recent approval by the Union Cabinet, the policy has been notified and is in the process of being gazetted, said R. Siva Kumar, CEO of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, and head of the Natural Resources Data...

The idea of interlinking rivers is appealing because it is so grand, but this is also the reason it is nothing more than a distraction The Supreme Court recently issued a diktat to the central government about the scheme to interlink rivers. The directions are straightforward. The government shall set up a high-level committee of ministers and other representatives on interlinking of rivers; the committee shall meet “at least once in...

The massive spread of the UP foodgrain diversion scam came to the fore when CBI told the Supreme Court that it has filed FIRs against over 2,000 people, including politicians and public servants, during its investigations in just five places. No other single scam in India's history has seen registration of FIRs against so many persons and this could also be worrisome for the Akhilesh Singh Yadav government as the list...

Montek Singh says he is willing to revise poverty estimates on the basis of expert opinion Though the incidence of poverty has come down over five years from 2004-05 to 2009-10, it is a startling fact that inequality has increased, with fewer people controlling income. Union Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia admitted on Tuesday that income distribution was not at the desired level and inequality increased in both rural and...

For a district feted by the state as the best performer in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) scheme, Aurangabad has perfected the art of graft. For, the Sillod taluka in the district has thrown up a case where nearly 800 tribal migrants, labouring since 2009, have not been paid a single rupee in wages, which have allegedly been siphoned off by the zilla parishad officials in...