THE WORLD BANK IN INDIA - Undermining Sovereignty, Distorting Development: Edited by Michele Kelley, Deepika D'Souza; Orient Blackswan, 3-6-752, Himayatnagar, Hyderabad-500029. Rs. 895. This book is a collection of essays covering an array of economic issues ranging from agriculture, poverty, food security, power, water, to governance, environment impact and sustainability of growth, and the impact of the World Bank on them. Even a cursory reading would show that it is a...
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Retooling laws for justice by KS Jacob
Many Indian laws do not reflect modern and enlightened concepts of justice and require major revision. The recent campaign in support of Dr. Binayak Sen has received much publicity. The mainstream media has enunciated his cause and dissected the evidence, conviction and judgment. Amnesty International argued that the case violated international standards for a fair trial. While Dr. Sen's conviction has received much attention, there is a need to foreground the...
More »Rural job plan turns 5, but wages need to grow more by Prasad Nichenametla
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, UPA’s flagship aam admi scheme, turns five on Wednesday. However, more than 30% of the rural India working under the right-to-work act would continue to receive wages below the guaranteed minimum as per the minimum wages act. On January 14, the ministry of rural development issued a notification revising the wage rates under the MNREGA from Rs 100 per day to between...
More »Arbitrary detention, torture of terrorism suspects in India: HRW by Dharitri Bhattacharjee
"When I asked my son if he was tortured, he said, 'They were hardly going to treat me with love...They used to make us memorize the police version of the case. We were not allowed to sleep until we could recite that version.' " These words by Nisar Ahmed are an excerpt from the106-page report released yesterday, by Human Right Watch titled, "The 'Anti-Nationals': Arbitrary Detention and Torture of Terrorism...
More »Civil society groups to do NREGA audit again
The Manmohan Singh government has moved in to restore the role of civil society groups in conducting the social audit of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in an attempt to weed out corruption from various levels. The Rural Development Ministry is in consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor General to remove the lacuna that had cropped up after social audit rules were amended in 2009 to eliminate...
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