The Election Commission has admitted that it misplaced two complaints drawing the panel’s attention to the use of child labour in elections and Dalits being denied entry in some Rajasthan booths. Acting on one of the complaints by advocate Radhakant Tripathy, the commission had issued an order on May 1, 2009, to all state chief secretaries and chief electoral officers to desist from employing child labour in the election process. However,...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Starvation deaths in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan
At least two cases of hunger deaths have been reported from Jabalpur district of MP and Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan in the past few weeks. The two states are run by different political parties-- the BJP and the Congress-- but there is quite a lot common in the victims’ circumstances. Both families were among the poorest in their villages but were not included in the BPL list and both the...
More »Voting in Maoist Land by Jean Dreze
Why do poor people in rural areas vote when they know the whole system is against them? JEAN DRÈZE talks to some voters and observes the voting process during the recent Assembly elections in Latehar district, Jharkhand, and comes away with some pointers... At one booth (Rankikalan, Booth No. 69) a BJP activist was trying to influence voters before they entered the booth, under the guise of helping them. Latehar...
More »How Bihar can rise as a developed state by Kailash Nautiyal
It is presumed that the industrial development in Bihar is hampered by lack of investments. Is it because of 'unproductive' government policies or an unpredictable law and order situation? And how to increase the flow of investment in the state? In order to find out answers to all such questions and debate these issues, Business Standard Hindi recently organised a roundtable in Patna. The seminar was attended by various small...
More »PM sees reforms benefiting poor
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the economic reforms initiated by him almost two decades ago had reduced the number of poor, though much more was still needed to be done. “There is no evidence that the new economic policies have had an adverse effect on the poor,” Singh said at the annual conference of the Indian Economic Association here today. “The percentage of population below the poverty line has certainly not...
More »