-The Economic Times One in four posts of government statisticians are lying vacant, the government has told a parliamentary committee. The news comes amidst repeated criticism by analysts of the quality of official government data in recent months. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has told the parliament standing committee on finance that there are about 26% vacancies in the Indian statistical Services and Subordinate Statistical Service. According to the report...

The National Green Tribunal's decision to suspend the environmental clearance given to Posco vindicates the project's critics. ON March 30, the Principal Bench of the newly formed National Green Tribunal (NGT) delivered a momentous decision suspending the environmental clearance (EC) given to the South Korean transnational corporation, Posco, to set up an integrated steel plant at Paradip in Odisha's Jagatsinghpur district. The former Union Minister for Environment and Forests, Jairam...

The ICDS' plight is symptomatic of the problems plaguing the Union government's flagship schemes for the poor all over the country.   INDIA may be the only country in the world where we describe the ensuring of the basic socio-economic rights of the people in terms of “flagship schemes” that are seen as the benevolent contribution of governments. One problem with this approach is that the delivery of basic services is...

-PTI In a huge relief to Maharashtra government, the judicial commission of inquiry looking into the Adarsh housing scam has held that the land on which the controversial building stands belongs to the state and not the Army. The two-member panel, which had submitted its interim report to the government last Friday, has also held that the building was not reserved for war heroes and Kargil widows. The interim report was discussed by...

A visually challenged woman who cleared the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) with distinction in 2008 but was denied posting got justice after a four-year battle and the intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Purnima Jain, with about 75% visual disability, has been offered an Indian Railway Personnel Services (IRPS) posting under Group B of Class I. Although Purnima is willing to take up the new job, she isn't satisfied with...