In the backdrop of the Comptroller and Auditor General's scathing reports on award of 2G telecom licences and projects related to the Commonwealth Games, an extra-cautious Ministry of Home Affairs is seeking the audit of the processes of the proposed Rs 30,000-crore housing project for the paramilitary forces by the country's statutory auditor. This would be the first instance of pre-award scrutiny by the CAG. "We have received the reference,"...

-The Times of India   Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh said states should invoke the penalty clause against government officials for not doing their work under the job scheme. Ramesh said rules should be framed to activate section 25 of MGNREGA, which seeks to impose penalty of up to Rs 1,000 on lax officials. He said the clause has remained dormant in most states. Reforms to make the job scheme effective have...

Long promised by the UPA government, the food security bill will be tabled in parliament in December this year. However, the National Advisory Council (NAC), which drafted the proposal, is tussling with the government over the “dilution and misdirection” of the Bill. The final Bill diverges from the original NAC draft on key issues: adoption of alternatives to the PDS such as cash transfers, the risk of inflation due to...

India’s new vaccination policy stresses increased domestic research and surveillance on local diseases; but has drawn criticism for endorsing new vaccines in the national immunisation programme without ascertaining need. The April 2011 policy, made public by India’s ministry of health and family welfare in August, provides guidelines for vaccine research and development; strengthening the evidence base for new vaccine introduction and regulation and patent issues. It highlights lack of indigenous baseline surveillance...

The rural development ministry has proposed several changes in the rural job guarantee programme to ensure timely payment of wages and eradicate graft at a time when the Congress party-led ruling alliance has come under fire for poor governance and its failure to tackle corruption. The ministry has listed nine challenges to the proper functioning of the programme and proposed possible modifications in a note. The challenges include ensuring demand-driven legal...