It's a Rs 50,000 crore annual business but those at the bottom of the supply chain -- mostly tribals -- make a mere Rs 4,000 crore out of it. The extraction of non-timber forest produce -- tuburs, leaves, seeds, plants and roots, besides other products from forest -- could soon become a bigger money-spinner for tribals. The government has set up a committee, which in three months will recommend how...

The RTI Act needs strengthening, but activists oppose the government's proposals as they suspect its intentions. AN Act is usually amended to address certain concerns that come up during its implementation. However, the beneficiaries of the Right to Information Act, 2005, oppose any amendment to the Act, because they suspect the government's intentions. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) admitted to considering 11 amendments to the Act in a letter to...

The Supreme Court on Thursday referred to a Constitution Bench for hearing an important question of law as to whether 100 per cent reservation in posts for teachers could be made in favour of Scheduled Tribes in schools in scheduled areas. A Bench, comprising Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma, referred the appeal to Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia for posting it before a Constitution Bench. The special leave petition...

Ahead of the visit of the Central team to the Posco site scheduled for August 27-28, the Jagatsinghpur district officials today held interactions with the villagers and village Forest Rights Act (FRA) committees to explain about the purpose of the visit of the team. Sources said, the district administration has formed seven village level FRA committees at Dhinkia, Gobindpur, Nuagaon, Gadkujang, Polang, Noliasahi and Baynalkanda. The officials are believed to have...

With the highest child malnutrition rate in the world, Madhya Pradesh needs to revise its food system if things are to be changed for the better. Officially, more than 56 per cent of ration cards are fake in the state, believed to have been issued by low-rank officials to cultivate benefits. The state food and civil supplies department is looking at institutions like GAIN, a Swiss foundation created at a special session...