The Centre has cited three shortcomings in the implementation of the rural job scheme in Bengal and linked the next instalment of grant to the resolution of the problems. In a letter sent to chief minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday, Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has identified the critical areas as low completion rate of works, delay in e-transfer of wages and inadequate action on complaints of irregularities. “Let me make it...

Between March 10 and March 17 this year, troopers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the CRPF's special Combat Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), and the Chhattisgarh Police's Special Task Force entered Abujmard: a 6,000 sq.km expanse of uncharted forest described, by some, as a liberated territory controlled by guerilla forces of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). Security forces have arrested 13 villagers suspected of belonging to the banned...

With 230 million people under-nourished, the country awaits some comprehensive policy intervention from the government to tackle this haunting crisis. One of the most logical measures would be to provide a fixed amount of foodgrain to all citizens. But wouldn't the costs be enormous, ask sceptics? The Center for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA), a Delhi-based think tank, crunched all the numbers and came up with the answer. It would take...

While welcoming the report of the High Level Expert Group on Universal Health Coverage for India for its comprehensive vision and many well-conceived recommendations, this article focuses on the conditions needed for its promise to bear fruit. Towards this, it explores the political dimension, which comprises the forces and interests that come into play to shape and reconfigure administrative policy and its implementation.   We are grateful to Anand Zachariah and Susie...

-The Shillong Times   The Tripura government has targeted to achieve paddy cultivation in more than 17,000 hectares of hill land under improvised Jhuming (shifting cultivation) method in 2011-12. State’s Agriculture Minister Aghore Debbarma said here on Wednesday that, the traditional method of Jhum (Slash and burn) had been banned in the state few years ago and the government had introduced various rehabilitation packages for the hardcore Jhumias. ”Despite sincere effort and initiative for...