The government’s ambitious plan for setting up a business process outsourcing (BPO) centre for RTI filing is in a limbo as the company which won the bid has had no communication since winning the bid. The government was planning to set up a BPO for the process in Bangalore through which the general public could file petitions under the Right to Information Act. The project, which was expected to be...

Although the State Government issued an order to supply eggs and milk to severely malnourished children in anganwadis from April 1, many children have not received the promised nourishment even 20 days after the programme began. A majority of the anganwadis are either in the dark about the Government Order or, even if they have received information, there is little clarity on the details of implementation. The decision by the Department of...

RTE implementation must focus on improving standards in government schools The provision for reserving 25 per cent seats in Class I for private unaided schools in the Right to Education Act is a red herring. About 30 per cent of the 76 lakh primary school children in Karnataka go to unaided private schools, mostly in urban areas, according to District Information System for Education (DISE) data. A 25 per cent reservation...

The government is planning to tighten the rules for issuing and renewing driving licences to make the process “fudge proof” after a study showed drivers’ fault accounted for most road accidents in the country. A committee of state transport commissioners and officials from the National Informatics Centre recently came up with suggestions on possible amendments to the rules. The panel, headed by Andhra Pradesh transport commissioner Hiralal Samariya, has submitted its report...

Rising wages in both rural and urban India have contributed to inflation, and managing price levels when wages are rising is key to deriving benefits from higher growth, the Reserve Bank of India has said.  "The pressure on generalised inflation from sustained increase in wage costs has been one important characteristic of the recent high inflation episode. Wage increases for unskilled labourers in rural areas continue to be at a rate...