-The Telegraph Bengal has rejected a central proposal for direct subsidies to kerosene consumers, fearing the users could spend the funds on other items and prompt Delhi to allot Bengal less of the Fuel. “This system is not going to help the consumers. We cannot accept it,” state food and civil supplies minister Jyotipriya Mullick said. Under the scheme, bank accounts would be opened for the consumers buying kerosene through the PDS. The...
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India's forests are in serious decline, both in numbers and health-M Rajshekhar
The government says area under forests has been increasing for the last 13 years. ET finds this is the outcome of statistical jugglery and the use of flawed definitions by India's forest bureaucracy. The bald truth is India's forests are in serious decline, both in numbers and in health. In February, the latest instalment of a little environmental kabuki played out when the Forest Survey of India released its biennial report...
More »Kolkata auto drivers' agitation leads to traffic chaos, several routes blocked by Caesar Mandal
Traffic in Kolkata was a mess on Tuesday after auto owners and drivers put blockades at different important intersections of the city and its fringes. The updated police report says that at least eight important roads are blocked since morning due to the agitation. Since Monday, hundreds of auto divers and owners descended on the roads in protest of the excessive hike in LPG price. "In the past one year LPG is...
More »Two years of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education
-The Times of India With a year left for schools to adhere to the norms under the RTE Act, Aaditi Isaac finds out what more needs to be done It has been two years since the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act came into force (April 1, 2010). As per RTE, every child in the age group of 6-14 years would be provided eight years of elementary education...
More »A very crooked line-Prahlad Shekhawat
It is worrying that the Tendulkar method, chosen by the Planning Commission to calculate the poverty line in its latest figures, underestimates the levels of poverty while overestimating poverty reduction. The figures show that 29.8% or 360 million Indians were poor in 2009-10 as compared to 37.2% or 400 million in 2004-05. A poor person has been defined as one who spends R28 per day in urban areas and R22.5...
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