In his general budget for 2011-12, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has announced an increase in allocation for the Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) of Rs10,000 crore to Rs58,000 crore.The finance minister has proposed an identical hike for the Bharat Nirman scheme, and also proposed to give Rs3000 core to the national agricultural development board, NABARD.Mukherjee also said the government has decided to index the wage rates notified...

Allaying privacy fears surrounding 'Aadhar', the Unique Identification Authority of India Chairman Nandan Nilekani today said the project would in no way put at risk citizens' security and rights. Delivering a lecture on 'Analysing and Envisioning India,' Nilekani said having an Aadhar number in no way puts the resident in a security risk or intrudes privacy. "The data collected of the individual by means of biometric system will only be for the...

The electronic post office launched this week has brought the familiar red and grey counters to your drawing room, making tiring trips and queuing up things of the past. The website www.epostoffice.gov.in offers money order service, stamps and e-tracking of registered posts to start with. It creates a virtual post office on computer screens and leads customers to the counters. The decision to launch an electronic post office was part of the...

Thanks to the Right to Information Act, 2005, and also the activism of NGOs and of the media, a culture of accountability is growing in the country. That is the good news. However, the media, NGOs and RTI activists can only do so much. They can focus the attention of the public and parliamentarians on egregious scams, but rarely address the systemic flaws that result in leakage of funds. We have...

A farmer and Right to Information activist from Kutch set himself on fire at a revenue office on Monday after his attempts to get information were thwarted. Jabbardan Gadhvi (45) died after dousing himself with kerosene and setting himself alight in the presence of 11 policemen. Kutch collector M Thennarsan suspended Dhavdi village's official Pravina Jadhav. The victim's brother Malhardan Gadhvi has lodged an FIR against the revenue officer Anirudhsinh...