Reacting to the bandh in West Bengal called on Friday by various trade unions in support of a demand for wage revision of tea garden workers, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declared that she would ban general strikes in the state by enacting a law. Banerjee reacted sharply to the strike that caused major disruptions in public life in Jalpaiguri, Terai and Dooars region. “In the name of bandh, hooliganism is going...
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Anti-Maoist war in serious trouble by Praveen Swami
Fighting the insurgency will need careful planning and sustained innovation. But New Delhi seems to have only big sacks of cash and even bigger words. Eleven weeks after the annihilation of an entire company of the Central Reserve Police Force in a Maoist ambush in April 2010 near the village of Tarmetla — the largest single loss India has ever suffered in a counter-insurgency campaign — Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram...
More »Nandan Nilekani's UIDAI and Census' NPR in role overlap for fingerprinting and other biometric data by Vikas Dhoot
Two ambitious government projects are competing for your fingerprints. While the National Population Register (NPR) of the Census office has been tasked with the mandate of providing biometric-based identity cards to all Indian residents, Nandan Nilekani's Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has sought more funds to expand the UID enrollment exercise to virtually cover the entire population over the age of five years. According to the original, but little-known proposal,...
More »Cash incentives to check school dropout rate by Meera Srinivasan
Total outlay for School Education is Rs.13,334 crore Students of classes X, XI and XII in government and government-aided schools will be entitled to an incentive after completion of schooling, Finance Minister O. Pannerselvam told the Assembly in the Budget speech for 2011-12 here on Thursday. The total outlay for School Education is Rs.13,334 crore. While students of classes X and XI would receive Rs.1,500 each per year for completion, students of...
More »Intelligent design for the environment by Prodipto Ghosh
The announcement last weekend by the prime minister that an independent National Environmental Appraisal and Monitoring Agency (NEAMA) would shortly be set up has been welcomed in the media. The PM indicates that it would be staffed by professionals, will set up a new process for environmental appraisal of projects, and monitor the observance of environmental management plans. It would be a recommendatory body, subject to final decision-making by the...
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