The controversy-hit Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu is set to be operationalized, with its first 1,000mw unit to be opened soon as the project's safety Audits have been completed and local resistance now reduced to a few hundred protesters. While the report of the expert group set up by the Tamil Nadu government is awaited, the state government is more supportive of the project being commissioned and the Centre's...
More »SEARCH RESULT
India shuts aid groups involved in nuke protests
-AP India has shut down three aid organizations it says were diverting foreign funds toward rallying protests against a Russian-built nuclear plant in the south, but one group on Saturday denied any involvement in the protests while another said its efforts were entirely homegrown. Activists opposed to an expansion of India's atomic energy portfolio argue that Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster caused by a massive earthquake and tsunami last March showed that such...
More »Universal healthcare plan may be nixed-Sahil Makkar
The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is likely to run into a debate on public health policy after the Planning Commission moved to nix a proposal to include healthcare in the list of public entitlements such as education and food. Central to the proposal—initiated by a high-level expert group (HLEG) headed by K. Srinath Reddy, a leading advocate of preventive cardiology and president of the Public Health Foundation of India—was the...
More »Rural job scheme spending declines by Sreelatha Menon
Central allocation for the Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) has been falling in recent years, with this year recording the steepest decline. Money released for the scheme fell from Rs 35,242 crore last year to Rs 21,441 crore this year, while expenditure has gone down from Rs 39,000 crore last year to Rs 20,000 crore as of January-end. The average workdays under the scheme, which provides a legal entitlement...
More »CAG gets a toehold in RAW
-The Indian Express The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has got a toehold in the Auditing process of Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s premier intelligence agency. In directions issued by the cabinet secretariat earlier this month, RAW has been told to submit a copy of its annual internal Audit report to CAG. The report is prepared by a senior officer of the Indian Audit Service. A series of follow-up steps are...
More »