-The Hindu “We are the only country where vested interests want to keep the figures high” Even as the Centre is trying to find a face-saving solution to the issue of embarrassing poverty estimates put out by the Planning Commission, Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh on Sunday wondered why people were picking holes instead of celebrating the fact that the number of people living below the poverty line had come...
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Students discover true worth of RTI by Sweta Dandekar & Barkha Kaul
-DNA Country’s first chief information commissioner (CIC), Wajahat Habibullah, told law and mass communication students about the true strength of the Right To Information (RTI) Act, 2005. He said RTI Act is not a weapon to be used against the government but to strengthen the system, exposing the weaknesses within its functioning. He was speaking at a daylong workshop on ‘RTI and media—Partners for priority’ organised by Symbiosis Institute of Media and...
More »Anil Bairwal, National Convenor of Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) interviewed by rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa
A recent report put out by the Association for Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch revealed that 47 per cent of the newly-elected Uttar Pradesh assembly has candidates with criminal cases pending against them. Barring Manipur, none of the other four states that went to polls is free of a tainted MLA. In Uttar Pradesh, the number of criminal MLAs has gone up from 37 per cent in 2007 to 47...
More »Jairam clears massive outlay for Bihar's rural infrastructure by Shoumojit Banerjee
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday cleared the decks for a huge fund outlay which is set to bolster Bihar's rural infrastructure. Speaking to journalists here, Mr. Ramesh said the Union Rural Ministry would pump in Rs. 2,500 crore for laying of over 6,500 km of rural roads across the State for fiscal 2011-12. “Bihar is a top priority for us with Rs. 8,000 crore being allotted from the Central...
More »What Azadi means: Findings from a first-ever Home Ministry survey of Kashmiri youth by Riyaz Wani
Valley’s youth say peaceful political protests are the most effective means for achieving political aspirations. Estrangement from India is matched by the lack of interest in Pakistan In 2010 the Ministry of Home Affairs had commissioned a focussed survey on the priorities and aspirations of Kashmir’s new generation, which had spearheaded the long spell of unrest, and found that 54 per cent of them identified “Azadi” as their preferred “final status...
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