After a long wait, a legislation aimed at protecting whistleblowers will be taken up by the Cabinet on Thursday. The bill has provisions to prevent victimization or disciplinary action against those who expose corruption in government. The proposed law is expected to encourage disclosure of information in public interest and will cover central, state and public sector employees. According to the bill, if a person making a disclosure is victimized...

The Left Front government has fast-tracked the creation of a parallel school education system under the panchayat and rural development department, ignoring opposition from both within and outside the coalition. The government is pitching the bill as a tool to bring more students to schools, but has stoked fears that a system under the panchayat and rural development department — which does not have the expertise to run an education system...

Acting with determination and firm action, it should be possible for India to step up its agricultural growth rate to 10 per cent. The 11th Five Year Plan seeks to achieve 4 per cent growth rate in agriculture by the end of the Plan period. The Planning Commission is working towards an overall 9 per cent to 10 per cent growth rate. But the target of 4 per cent growth rate is...

Three months after introducing reservation for SC/STs through a roster system in appointment of cooks for the mid-day meal scheme, the state government has withdrawn the order, following several incidents of boycott of these cooks by students, withdrawal of wards by parents, and even violent protests against their appointment. The official reason given by the Education Department is that the roster system was only applicable to regular government jobs, while cooks...

A conspiracy to siphon off MGNREGS funds to the tune of Rs 70 lakh by data manipulation has come to light in Jamkhandi taluk. The Hirepadasalagi gram panchayat members have alleged that fake bills have been created by entering false data in the Management Information System (MIS) meant exclusively to maintain accounts of the job guarantee scheme. The entire exercise has been carried out clandestinely without the knowledge of gram panchayat. The data...